For all the pre match chatter about Panama parking the bus, the real shock in New Jersey was that they never really bothered. There was no low block,...
For all the pre match chatter about Panama parking the bus, the real shock in New Jersey was that they never really bothered. There was no low block, no grim back seven, just a team who fancied their chances against an England side that is beginning to carry the unmistakable scent of a side destined to implode in the knockout rounds. Thomas Tuchel's men got the result, yes. They topped Group L by grinding Panama down in the second half thanks to two moments of pure class from Jude Bellingham. But let's not kid ourselves. The first forty five minutes were a skittish, nervy affair that left the defence horribly exposed.This was supposed to be the game where England proved they could cope without Declan Rice. It was billed as a glimpse of a post Rice world, a chance to go gung ho and overwhelm a lesser opponent with sheer attacking intent. Instead, what we saw was a side that looks psychologically brittle at the back. Panama cut through them with alarming ease. There was no fear from the underdogs, no cautious game management. They just went at England, and England wobbled. If that happens against a team with a functioning attack, a top side with clinical finishing and transitional pace, this World Cup adventure will end in tears before the quarter finals.Tuchel is too smart to be fooled by the scoreline. He will have watched that first half and felt his stomach drop. The gung ho approach only works if the defensive structure is solid, if the midfield screen is intact. Without Rice firing, without his engine room dominance, England are playing a dangerous game. They are relying on Bellingham to bail them out time and again, which he did here with two moments of magic. But football is a team sport, and one man cannot paper over cracks this wide.The worry for England fans is that this feels familiar. A slow start, a defensive fragility, a reliance on individual brilliance to rescue a disjointed collective performance. Panama might not have punished them, but the next team they face will. Squeaky bum time is coming, and unless Tuchel finds a way to tighten that backline and get Rice back to his snarling best, the plane home will be booked much earlier than they hoped.
