Is this new or same old England under Thomas Tuchel at FIFA World Cup 2026 after Ghana draw? It's complicated, according to the data

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Thomas Tuchel's England side have completed two games at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, so let's have a look at how they have fared, particularly after the disappointing 0-0 draw against Ghana in the second match. Is this genuinely a 'new' England? Or just the 'same old' England? The answer is complicated.

'It is what it is, long way to go' - Tuchel reflects on Ghana stalemate

Video credit: SNTV

England won their opening game of the World Cup 4-2 against Croatia, which gave fans plenty of optimism, particularly after a stellar period just after half-time that seemed to change the game.

For their part, Ghana only scraped past Panama in their first game, but they showed a resoluteness in their defending when they faced Tuchel's team.

Coming up against teams that play in an extremely low block has long been the Achilles' heel for England, and proved their undoing again.

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So what can we take away from England after two matches? Let's run through some talking points, shall we?

'New' England or 'same old'?

As we've alluded to already, after the first game against Croatia, we explored how a 20-25 minute period not only completely overwhelmed Croatia, but also showed how England might have other ideas on how to win games.

All of that creativity and hope was extinguished after the Ghana draw, and it brought people back to other famous examples of England's struggles at times in the group stage, notably the disasters in 2010 and 2014.

But how does this game compare to some of the failings of previous years under former manager Gareth Southgate? Looking at that period allows us a more direct comparison with this group of players.

We've looked at the data England produced in a number of their games in their Euro 2024 run when they made it all the way to the final. You may remember that England looked particularly uninspiring in a number of their games, especially early on, and even when they won.

We've also tacked on the draw with the USA in Qatar 2022 for good measure, as another relevant game.

Game	Ghana - '26	USA - '22	Switzerland - '24	Slovakia - '24	Slovenia - '24	Denmark - '24	Serbia - '24
Goals	0	0	1	2	0	1	1
Expected Goals (ex. penalties)	1.4	0.8	0.7	1.5	0.8	0.9	0.5
Total Shots (inc. Blocks)	19	8	13	16	12	12	5
Shots on Target	3	3	3	2	4	4	3
Touches in the Opp Box	33	25	37	38	28	13	12
Passes played into the box (inc. crosses)	43	24	30	53	36	17	18
Passes Successful	586	472	615	708	682	455	527
Successful Passes, ending in Final Third	173	91	200	153	176	70	115

The data shows us that not only did England have their highest xG, and their most shots, against Ghana out of all of these frustrating results, but they scored highly in other areas as well.

Now, we'll look at the data for England's opponents in each game.

Game	Ghana - '26	USA- '22	Switzerland - '24	Slovakia - '24	Slovenia - '24	Denmark - '24	Serbia - '24
Goals	0	0	1	1	0	1	0
Expected Goals (ex. penalties)	0.17	0.63	1.47	2.15	0.15	0.82	0.18
Total Shots (inc. Blocks)	2	10	11	13	4	16	6
Shots on Target	1	1	3	3	1	7	1
Touches in the Opp Box	10	20	30	19	6	21	11
Passes played into the box (inc. crosses)	9	22	31	20	9	19	26
Passes Successful	127	352	571	379	203	476	438
Successful Passes, ending in Final Third	22	76	131	91	48	106	69

The data shows how effectively England restricted Ghana, producing some of their best defensive numbers.

Now, is this down to Ghana's extremely defensive tactics? Or is it down to the way England are structured? We'll learn slightly more against Panama, and maybe in the last 32, but clearly England are a more solid team, even the goals Croatia scored were sort of fashioned out of nothing.

There's also an argument to be had that England are creating better chances, and perhaps it was more a combination of bad luck and stout Ghanian defending, rather than England's own ineptitude.

Winger Woes

However, one area to be concerned about has to be the wingers. Arsenal star Bukayo Saka has had to come off the bench in both games, and when he has done, he has looked bright, but the options behind him, or on the other flank, have not been inspiring confidence.

Yes, Marcus Rashford did score against Croatia, but it's clear that Tuchel prefers the energy that Anthony Gordon brings as his starting left-winger. However, Gordon hasn't scored a competitive goal for club or country since March, so is his hip injury still bothering him? Or is it something else?

Is the solution moving either Jude Bellingham, or Morgan Rogers, out wide? Perhaps things will look better when they play teams who don't defend quite as deep as Ghana did...

How to beat a low block?

But they will still face those teams, and barring the top three or four teams in the tournament, there will be sides that explore dropping their block far deeper against England to see if they can frustrate them, whilst offering a bit more on the counter than Ghana did.

So, how do England beat the low block? Well, if we knew the answer to that, we wouldn't be writing this article would we?

'VAR went for a coffee' - Queiroz questions officials over Ghana penalty incident against England

Video credit: SNTV

However, one option, in our humble opinion, would be to look at dropping Kane deeper and playing with another striker. Kane loves to drop deep regardless, but against low blocks that can be problematic if your wingers are penetrating and allowing him to find them with his excellent range of passing.

So would starting Ollie Watkins or Ivan Toney up front, and playing Kane slightly behind them, help? It would at the very least give teams something else to think about.

Is Tuchel's overthinking a problem?

Tuchel is a tinkerer, everyone knows that. There is a mad scientist kind of energy to how he sees football and sets up a team.

However, much like his compatriot Julian Nagelsmann with the German national team, there is a worry that sometimes he can get too deep in the weeds.

A good example is choosing to start Djed Spence over Nico O'Reilly at left-back. Tuchel's reasoning - that he needed the defensiveness of Spence to counter Ghana's threat on the break down the right - is perfectly logical.

England will 'see where we could have been better' - Bellingham, Tuchel react to Ghana draw

Video credit: SNTV

However, it was clear before the game that this wasn't a particularly special Ghana attack, and that became even clearer as the game went on. To wait until the 66th minute to bring on O'Reilly, a gifted player in attack, feels like overthinking.

Conclusions

It is easy to feel frustrated as an England fan after a game like the Ghana one, but, in reality, England are still in a great place - and on the same points as European champions Spain - and should qualify as group winners in all likelihood.

There are signs of improvement at both ends of the pitch, and England have made a habit of starting slowly and getting better in recent tournaments.

Yes, the Southgate-bracket meme does have merit, but this England team reached the finals of successive European Championships, and before that they reached the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup.

That's a record any team, outside of the winners of those tournaments, would envy.

It's not time to panic yet, not even close to it, we're just still waiting to get a proper idea of what this England team is.

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