England sweat on Rice fitness
Vice-captain’s injury check as team medics monitor James Tuchel could play Saka from start to seal group top spot
England are expected to make fitness checks on Declan Rice and Reece James as head coach Thomas Tuchel faces a selection problem for the crucial group game against Panama on Saturday.
Rice limped out of the Boston Stadium after England’s goalless draw against Ghana with strapping on his left calf, which may require rest and will be checked by medics.
There is no concern that Rice has suffered a significant injury and sources insist he will be fine. But Tuchel must decide whether it would be a risk to start him again in the final Group L game.
Given Rice was also taken off in the game against Croatia with nerve pain in a hamstring that he has been managing, Tuchel may have to consider resting the vice-captain – even if he declares himself fit.
The draw with Ghana has complicated matters, as England still have work to do to clinch top spot in the group. Tuchel’s selection could also be affected by James, who was thought to have felt something amiss in the Ghana game.
James had trained in midfield last week, perhaps in preparation for the Panama game after taking Rice’s position at the end of the Croatia victory. But, as with Rice, it is expected he will be checked in the build-up to Saturday’s match in New Jersey after looking uncomfortable at times in Boston.
Both players completed the full game against Ghana, and James also did so against Croatia.
Midfielders Kobbie Mainoo and Jordan Henderson are yet to play and Tuchel is having to balance the temptation to rotate against the need for a positive result against Panama. As well as facing decisions over Rice and James, he is considering unleashing Bukayo Saka.
Saka is pushing for his first start in the United States after managing an Achilles injury and making two substitute appearances, although Tuchel cannot change his entire team as England need victory to guarantee a top-placed finish.
“Bukayo seems to be more and more ready, and will hopefully push, and then we will see what is coming,” Tuchel said. “He’s getting there, and there’s more and more training sessions, so he needs to have more sessions now. Two sessions to be ready for Panama. Noni [Madueke] tried everything as well. It’s not only about Bukayo but it was good he got some minutes under his belt. Hopefully there is no reaction and he is good to go.
“We need it from everyone. It’s not like Bukayo comes back and everything is solved, and I don’t want to put this on his back, he is a top player, that’s why he is with us, we need him desperately, like every other player, in top shape, and pushing.”
Tuchel added: “There is some fatigue in some players. We only have three days.”
A penny for Cole Palmer’s thoughts. If any game underlined why Thomas Tuchel’s decision to leave the Chelsea midfielder at home was so risky and controversial, the goalless draw with Ghana was it.
Here was a scenario we have seen so often at international level: England drawing a blank against a side defending deep, challenging us to find the wizardry to open them up. For that, you need a magician and from the moment Tuchel selected his squad, the worry was that he left out the No10 with all the best tricks.
Tuchel has his reasons for that decision, and they will be respected. He could argue no one was mentioning Palmer’s absence after the victory against Croatia. That is true, but the tactical strengths that were so apparent in the first game had much to do with an opponent who wanted to dominate the ball – a side more suited to Tuchel executing his plan of playing a Premier League style.
England could demonstrate high energy to win possession and attack quickly. It is harder to win the ball high up the pitch when a side’s game plan is to have as little possession as possible.
Games such as Tuesday’s were always going to be a more accurate measure of whether we needed something different from the bench. Which England player will unlock that kind of defence? Are we going to rely too much on set-pieces again?
Tuchel’s England are not set up to play like Gareth Southgate’s, but regardless of the formation, the questions asked in attack are identical. A criticism of Southgate in his last tournament was that he wanted too many No10s, and was occasionally guilty of trying to get too many on the pitch at once. Tuchel wants his wingers to do the damage, so could not find room for the Premier League’s most skilful and creative English No10.
A fair analysis of this goalless draw is that the wingers did not do enough. Anthony Gordon and Noni Madueke needed to be more proactive and braver in one-on-ones. Tuchel was urging them to run at their full-backs, and stop worrying so much about being tackled. Instead, they kept stopping and passing backwards.
It is equally true that the most advanced central midfielders, Declan Rice and Jude Bellingham, rely more on power and energy than on silky smooth dribbles or defence-splitting passes. When the inevitable substitutions arrived in the second half, Tuchel looked for fresher versions of the same players. That has been his intention since picking his squad.
As the tournament progresses, Tuchel’s intent to stick to his formula will either be his triumph or downfall. We witnessed the positives in game one and the flaws against Ghana.
If a winger is underperforming, Tuchel will replace him with a like-for-like winger. Likewise his advanced midfielders and full-backs. To me, that is the fundamental issue with the balance of the squad. The chance to pick 26 players lends itself to the inclusion of at least one maverick – that “X-factor” footballer who has a different profile to everyone else. This was never about selecting Palmer necessarily to start every game. It just feels wrong that a player who scored in a European Championship final, and ripped Paris St-germain apart in the Club World Cup last summer, was not picked as an option.
Tuchel sending on Eberechi Eze for the final 20 minutes will have provoked many to think, “surely Palmer would have been a better option?”
The blueprint of the match against Croatia was as close as England have come to playing in the style of Jürgen
Klopp’s Liverpool. That is what was so exciting about the second half. But even Klopp was prepared to embrace the unorthodox when looking for a game-changer to alter the flavour of a game. At different times, he had Xherdan Shaqiri and Harvey Elliott. They were not his style of player – they lacked pace – and were vastly different to any of the typical Liverpool front three. Sometimes, a match needs that spark of difference.
Prior to kick-off, Tuchel explained the defensive changes to his line-up because he knew Ghana would defend and counterattack. At half-time, his assistant Anthony Barry said Ghana were playing 12 yards deeper than anticipated. Having the personnel on the bench to react to and fix such situations underlines why Palmer should be in the squad. This was the first sign of it being a decision we might come to regret. The enthusiasm after the win over Croatia was understandable, but there were hints that the euphoria was going overboard. The mood might swing too far in the opposite direction now. It should not. A point is a great result because Ghana were denied a clear penalty in the second half. The disappointment stems from the fact that the promise of an opening win was not matched in game two, so it feels like momentum has stalled. The bigger picture is England are in an ideal position to top the group having played the two strongest sides. A win against Panama will be enough to finish top, which is what matters. The deeper England progress, the less likely they are to face teams who approach games in the same way.
Equally, there will be coaches studying England who will be readying their players to follow the Ghana blueprint.
The rest of the world now knows exactly what England will do. When Tuchel’s plan A works, it can be as thrilling. But when it does not, Tuchel is pinning his hopes on his substitutes executing a better version of it.
It is just a shame he did not take a chance on Chelsea’s perfect plan B.