Tactical analysis: England look exciting but how can they tighten up?

In the first half, England launched numerous dangerous direct attacks. They did this by first looking to pass the ball back hoping to entice the opposition to press high. Declan Rice pulled into a wide position, vacating his central midfield position, leaving space into which Harry Kane would drop deep. With Croatia pressing high in numbers, Kane then looked to launch long passes into England's runners – Anthony Gordon, Jude Bellingham and Noni Madueke - who found themselves three against three at times. This resulted in England creating big chances but it also meant that if they were to lose the ball in earlier parts of their build-up play, Kane rather than Rice would be in central defensive areas. This partly explains some of their defensive instability and can be seen in the example below.