England hero ‘not that important’ to Tuchel as Three Lions were ‘a man less’ because of Gordon | OneFootball

Jude Bellingham is “not that important” to England despite scoring a goal as the Three Lions beat Croatia 4-2 last week at the World Cup, according to Paul Parker.

The Three Lions produced a great performance against Zlatko Dalic’s side to put them in a great position to qualify out of Group L.

Strikes from Martin Baturina and Petar Musa cancelled out Harry Kane’s first-half brace to get Croatia back on level terms against England but the Three Lions took the game away from them in the second half with goals from Bellingham and Marcus Rashford.

Despite Bellingham’s wonderful individual effort to score against Croatia, former Manchester United and England defender Parker insists the Real Madrid star is not a “key figure” for Thomas Tuchel’s men.

Parker told Betarades: “I don’t look at Jude Bellingham as a key figure. I am just being honest, he is not that important. This team very much depends on Harry Kane, definitely not on Jude Bellingham.

“I don’t consider Jude Bellingham as an important player, because I really don’t think England’s performances will drop drastically even if he has a bad game. They are not dependent on him. Other players can come in and do a similar job, maybe even better to be honest.

“He has a way to go and you can’t rely on him because he is very much up and down. You never know what you will get from him. You know what you will get from Rice or Anderson but never from Bellingham.”

Parker was pleased to see Kane score two goals and put in a great performance for England, he added: “I think if I said similar things about Harry Kane as I have said before, I think everyone would be questioning me to be honest. If we were to speak about an all-round performance for England, the match Harry Kane played against Croatia is the best I have ever seen by him. He wasn’t just a centre forward. He was a playmaker, almost like a quarterback in that role.

“If we look at England’s midfield, we don’t really have any players who look to project balls forward. Declan Rice only plays sideways and backwards. Bellingham will run around but Harry Kane will always think about a positive pass, so for me he is incredible. Even his defensive work was fantastic. He is like a greyhound chasing his target. When he made a mistake, he helped the team to get the ball back.

“His time in Germany has definitely changed his game completely. His mindset has changed and he understands he can work hard now. His game has changed and he is still scoring goals. As an individual player he has revitalised himself and has taken a step up in his career.”

But Parker thought the inclusion of Anthony Gordon against Croatia was a mistake by Thomas Tuchel with England looking like they were down a man.

The former England man continued: “Gordon was really poor against Croatia. People will say he worked hard but you need more than that. He is there to cause problems but he only caused England problems because they were a man less than Croatia because he played.

“The truth is that his teammates doesn’t want to give him the ball. I was surprised he started the second half. I am sure Tuchel saw it but maybe he didn’t want to create a big situation out of it. I will be shocked if he starts against Ghana.

“There is no way Tuchel will allow Gordon to start the game against Ghana. Marcus Rashford would also be thinking that he deserves this opportunity ahead of Gordon. Even Rashford would think like that.”