“When we were sat there watching the game and I saw the three lads coming on, Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka and Morgan Rogers, I said ‘I absolutely love these subs’,” said ex-England forward Wayne Rooney, who was working as a pundit for BBC Sport.
“I loved how positive Thomas Tuchel was being because if you sit back and wait for Croatia to come on then it gets nervy. It’s brave and shows he’s trying to win the game. Then Djed Spence came on and all four involved in that [Rashford] goal, I think it’s brilliant.”
Paul Robinson, the former England goalkeeper who will watch their games as a BBC Radio 5 Live pundit, agreed: “The way he made his subs was brave and bold. They came on and affected the game.
“The biggest thing I can take from this is that the players who came on gave Thomas Tuchel a real headache and that’s the biggest thing for the manager.”
And former England keeper Joe Hart added: “He [Thomas Tuchel] said ‘we’re going to blow these out of the water’. We have the legs, we have the ability. He brought them on and it’s so good for the squad for the bench to come on and impact like that.”
England’s first steps in this World Cup were hesitant and uncertain – but when they hit their stride it brought to mind that word again.
Fun.
Tuchel knows winning the opening game is crucial to provide the platform for progress from Group L. Now they must lay further foundations against Ghana in Boston on Tuesday.
