Gary Neville was left unimpressed by England’s first-half showing against Panama, claiming they are “struggling badly” with three weaknesses.
After beating Croatia 4-2 in their World Cup opener, England crashed down to earth in their second group game as they were held to a drab 0-0 draw against Ghana.
The Three Lions struggled to break down a resolute Ghana side and they had similar troubles in the first 45 minutes against Panama after head coach Thomas Tuchel made five changes for the match.
The scoreline was 0-0 at half-time and Neville hit out at England’s attackers during the interval, having pointed out three weaknesses.
“We lack subtlety, creativity and innovation. The players in wide areas, the final part of their game has been really poor,” Neville said on ITV Sport.
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“We are struggling badly to break them down. He may have to bring on two strikers and do something different.”
Roy Keane added: “England seem to have been dragged down to their level. Their top players haven’t turned up.”
Alan Shearer hits out at two England players
Alan Shearer has also been critical of England’s forwards and claimed that Marcus Rashford and Bukayo Saka “haven’t done enough”.
“I haven’t seen the stats but I can see it with my eyes that Rashford and Saka have been involved in a lot of what England have done but they haven’t done enough with it,” Shearer said on BBC Radio 5 Live.
“It’s been really disappointing from the first 10 minutes when we moved the ball with purpose and I expected us to carry that on but that hasn’t been the case.”
England assistant Anthony Barry has also been outspoken about his side, having stated at half-time that “talent isn’t enough” for them to get past sides like Panama.
“We just concentrate on our own game, another example there are no easy games at the World Cup,” Barry said at half-time.
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“Our guys wanted to start the game fast, the stadium was amazing and felt like a home game. With all of this energy it almost skewed our risk management – we had too many ball losses and that opened up to counter attacks against a dangerous team.
“From there we got more control and started to use our attacking talent, but talent isn’t enough and we need synchroicity and rhythm and routines.
“We will go for verticality and speed on the last line. We have to take care of counter attacks.”
