Thomas Tuchel admits England’s defensive shortcomings ahead of Ghana test | OneFootball

Thomas Tuchel has spoken to the media ahead of his side’s clash with Ghana this evening in Boston. The England head coach admitted the Three Lions’ defence “needs to do things better” following their 4-2 win over Croatia.

He opened by saying, “Defensively, we dropped a little too deep from a middle block into a low block and deep block, which in itself is not a problem, but we went a bit too early. We were a bit too man-man focused and didn’t rely enough on our structure to be able to push out again.

If you just look at the goal that we conceded, we played a back seven formation, which is just not us. Maybe it is good that we conceded, because it just tells us: ‘Let’s not do this again.’ It makes no sense, it’s not us, it doesn’t play to our strengths. We had too many easy ball losses after ball wins, so we had a huge effort against the ball, won the ball, and gave it back straight away.

“We need to manage these ball wins better, and in ball possession, there is also stuff to improve.”

The England boss did, however, have equal praise for how his players overcame the challenges Croatia posed. “I am very happy because we found an answer to adversity. We conceded in a very tricky moment, the last shot of the first half and then came up with the best 25 minutes, or best 30 minutes, as an answer” The Three Lions flew out of the traps after the break, with Jude Bellingham regaining their lead just moments into the second half.

Substitutes Djed Spence and Bukayo Saka combined to create the fourth goal for England, which was then finished off by Rashford, who had also been introduced from the bench. Meaning Tuchel will likely have somewhat of a selection headache ahead of tonight’s match.

The 52-year-old also had his say on the hydration breaks that have come into play at this tournament. “I like it as a coach, of course, because it is good to have influence and have my team together.

“Overall, though, I think I like football more when it’s played in one go in one half because it builds momentum. It’s part of the game. It’s hard to build momentum, and it’s hard to keep the momentum, when there are breaks. If you do not have a break, then it’s just like the battle on the field between the players and the teams. It plays out over a longer period of time. It just adds to the character of the beautiful game.”

Tuchel’s men will get underway this evening at 9pm BST.