Thomas Tuchel names four England stars he needs to 'show up'
Thomas Tuchel is confident more of his forward players will ‘show up’ at the World Cup, but has named four that he is still waiting on.
England have produced a mixed bag so far, but did finish top of their group after wins over Croatia and Panama and a goalless draw with Ghana.
Parts of the 4-2 victory over Croatia were scintillating, but large chunks of the other two games were frustrating as England struggled to break through stubborn defences.
Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham did eventually find the net against Panama, with Kane taking his summer’s tally to three and Bellingham to two.
Marcus Rashford is the only other Three Lions star to score so far at the World Cup and Tuchel says he needs other players to step up to the plate.
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The German has called upon Morgan Rogers, Anthony Gordon, Noni Madueke and Bukayo Saka to ‘show up’ but is confident they will.
‘On a certain level, we want these guys in a key moment to show up. Harry did it. Jude did it,’ said Tuchel. ‘I am convinced that Nico O’Reilly almost did it against Ghana (referencing his headed effort hitting the crossbar).
‘I am sure Morgan Rogers, Anthony Gordon, Noni Madueke and Bukayo Saka will do it when the time is there, and we need that.’
Tuchel also suggested that his players are contributing in attack without necessarily notching goals or assists.
‘If you look carefully, sometimes it’s just a run from someone else to open the space up for Jude so that he can shine,’ he said.
‘They work in units. Nico O’Reilly took an opponent out to create space for Jude in the first half.
‘We have to work in patterns to have a higher amount of attacking threat. If we all just play freestyle, no one knows what the other one is thinking. Jude is a part of it.
‘We want to be consistently finding players in these spaces, and then they should take advantage with their quality. That is what we need and what we demand.’
Bellingham was the star of the show for England on Saturday against Panama, which was no surprise to Rashford, who started the game on the left wing.
Rashford admits that the Real Madrid superstar, along with the Bayern Munich man up front, are vital to England’s hopes.
‘It’s not surprising. That’s the type of performance he’s capable of,’ said Rashford of Bellingham.
‘We’re for sure going to need similar performances from him, definitely the goals from H [Kane] if we want to do what we set out to do in this tournament.’
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