Thomas Tuchel dismissed the idea that England are over-reliant on Harry Kane after a frustrating World Cup goalless draw with Ghana in Boston.
The Three Lions came back down to earth after the exciting 4-2 win over Croatia in their opener, held to a stalemate in their second game.
It was a dominant performance from England in terms of possession and producing efforts on goal, but Thomas Tuchel’s side rarely looked like breaking the deadlock.
They did come close near the death, with Bukayo Saka forcing a smart save from Benjamin Asare, Nico O’Reilly hitting the bar with a header and then Kane firing the rebound into the stands.
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With the captain drawing a blank, Tuchel was asked if his team is too reliant on the Bayern Munich superstar to score goals, but he rejected that idea.
The German pointed out that, while Kane scored twice, Jude Bellingham and Marcus Rashford also found the back of the net in the previous match.
‘Do Argentina rely too heavily on Lionel Messi, and France on Kylian Mbappe? That’s what it is – it’s world-class players who normally do what they do,’ said Tuchel.
‘We had three different goalscorers in the first match, to rely on Harry is a natural thing because he loves the responsibility and takes it.
‘He was not involved as much as we’d like to but that was not his fault. Our two central defenders were responsible for the build-up and it was eight against 10 then.
‘The little moments he had were unlucky, and the last one was a clear goal. We rely on Harry because we can, he’s our forward, but we don’t over-rely on him.’
Tuchel did make attacking substitutions, but did not throw on Ollie Watkins or Ivan Toney, believing that Kane’s miss is a one in 100 error for England’s record goal-scorer.
‘I didn’t see taking Harry off as the right choice,’ he said. ‘It fell to him and he is the right player for it to fall to, 99 times out of 100. The headlines would be a little bit different.’
England now face Panama in their final group game and will likely face the same problem of a team largely intent on defending.
Asked how his team can improve creatively, Tuchel was a little crytic, hinting that he has something up his sleeve.
‘I have some ideas, and I had an idea in the last water break but it was a bit hesitant,’ he said.
‘I have an idea how we can commit a little more through the middle – I don’t want to explain it here because we might try it later in the tournament.
‘We haven’t become predictable, we have wide wingers, we have full-backs in half positions who commit to an attack.
‘We have options to go through the middle, but it was very difficult today because of a very strong defensive performance.’