The first thing Thomas Tuchel did after walking into the England dressing room at half-time was to sit down. His team had just conceded with the last kick of the first half, a second sloppy, preventable goal, and he knew the players would be on edge. He knew that what they needed first was a quiet moment to catch their breath.Then Tuchel explained to the team that his perception of them and their work would not change if England lost their opening game to Croatia. And if they lost here in Dallas, so what, they would still have two games left to put it right. The only thing that mattered was to play in their way, the way they had been working on ever since Tuchel took over. Brave, courageous, aggressive and proactive. To show the world who they are and what they can be.At the same time, Anthony Barry, Tuchel’s assistant, also did a television interview, and with more freedom to speak candidly, was scathing about England’s use of the ball, saying their performance was “complicated and confusing”.Tuchel’s must already go down as one of the more decisive half-time interventions in English World Cup history.Because it produced a quite remarkable spell of football, as England turned up the intensity higher and higher, faster and faster, spinning Croatia around on their carousel, taking them to places they never wanted to be. England won 4-2 in the end but they could have scored six or seven and it would have felt right.Tuchel was not impressed with England in the first half (Photo: Hugo Rivera/Jam Media/Getty Images)Within the first 12 minutes of the second-half they had as many shots — nine — as they had in the first. They finished with 22. Their next best in recent tournament history was 20 in the Euro 2020 final, which went to extra-time. They finished with an xG of 2.8, the third highest of the World Cup so far. And the top two were recorded against Qatar (by Switzerland) and Curacao (by Germany).