World Cup 2026: Ghana draw a reality check for England but we need to trust Thomas Tuchel, says Paul Merson

Paul Merson says England’s 0-0 draw with Ghana was “back to reality” for the Three Lions but the Sky Sports pundit insists we need to have trust in Thomas Tuchel to get it right.

Having kicked off Group L with a thrilling 4-2 victory against Croatia, England returned to earth with a bump six days later as their second group game ended in a draw for the fourth straight tournament.

But the result edges them closer to what is all but certain to be a place in the round of 32 and while Merson thinks there is still plenty to work on for Tuchel’s side, he is backing them to deliver the further they go in the tournament.

Read the Magic Man’s England verdict in full below…

‘Ghana draw a reality check for England’

It’s back to reality. You can’t score four in every game, but you’d expect to break them down in the end.

Ghana defended really well but we made it easier for them to do so.

That’s something for Tuchel to look at, but you’re not winning the World Cup in the second game of the tournament.

It’s better to have those reality checks earlier in the tournament than later on.

‘It was subbuteo football’

A lot of these second game draws have been against teams who like to sit back.

We just find it difficult to break teams down. It’s strange, really, because a lot of our players play for the top teams where everyone sits 10 players behind the ball against you.

It was Subbuteo football against Ghana. There wasn’t a lot of movement.

Jude Bellingham was in the pocket and showing for the ball a lot, and there were so many times they didn’t pass him the ball. When you watch Lionel Messi, they just play the ball into him wherever he is on the field. He plays one touch football and that touch takes two or three players out of the game.

They have to trust Bellingham more and get him the ball. He’s a top player and he’s getting into really good positions.

There’s a lot to work on.

‘Lack of creativity a concern’

I just don’t think we have that guile in midfield.

Elliot Anderson and Declan Rice are very similar players. They don’t spray the ball around the pitch and we haven’t got that passer in the team.

The lack of creativity is worrying. To have that much of the play and not use it, that will be a concern for Tuchel.

You’ve got to have movement. You’ve got to make runs off the ball to drag defenders around. The only thing that beats a defence is movement – but credit where it’s due, Ghana defended amazingly. Every time we had a chance of scoring, they had three or four players blocking the ball.

However, you’re looking at Cole Palmer and Phil Foden after a result like this – and that shouldn’t be the case.

Neville: Gordon will find it difficult to keep his England place

Former England defender Gary Neville believes Anthony Gordon is “under the most pressure” in the team following the 0-0 draw with Ghana.

The 25-year-old winger, who joined Barcelona from Newcastle ahead of the tournament, has started both games but struggled to make an impact.

“Anthony Gordon, he’s probably the one that’s under the most pressure now,” Neville told the Stick to Football podcast.

“We all thought he probably wouldn’t play (against Ghana), we thought maybe Marcus (Rashford) would come in or something like that, but he stayed on

” I think he’s the one who’s going to find it a little bit difficult to keep his spot.”

In Tuchel we trust?

We need to have trust in the manager.

There are always ups and downs.

Croatia took us on and got punished, but Ghana were never going to do that. Panama aren’t going to take us on.

We’ve got to have more belief. But we didn’t take enough chances, and I thought this team was picked to have no fear.

I now don’t see him resting too many players against Panama with the group still very much on the line.

England have to get going again. They need some continuity now after what was a bit of a bump in the road and that means they won’t want to be disrupted by five or six changes.

They will not want another sloppy performance and will want to go into the last 32 off the back of a confident performance.

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