World Cup Group L: England v Ghana, Gillette Stadium, Boston, Tuesday, 9pm Irish time – Live RTÉ 2 and BBC OneThomas Tuchel believes England were given a wake-up call by Croatia and must focus on improving their defensive structure as the World Cup progresses.England would clinch top spot in Group L with a game to spare if they beat Ghana in Boston on Tuesday night and Panama fail to defeat Croatia, but Tuchel is determined not to take anything for granted. The head coach has placed a heavy emphasis on aggressive football and has admitted his side were too quick to fall back during the first half of the 4-2 win over Croatia.Tuchel, who regained momentum with a stirring half-time team talk in Dallas, gave an in-depth assessment of where England went wrong during a chaotic opening period. The German felt the shape was wrong before Croatia scored their second equaliser moments before half-time.Cape Verde on the verge: Weekend World Cup round-up with Gavin Cooney and Kevin Kilbane Listen | 49:59“We need to do things better,” Tuchel said. “Defensively we dropped a little too deep from a middle block into a low block and deep block, which is in itself not a problem, but we went a bit too early. We were a bit too man-man focused and didn’t rely enough on our structure to be able to push out again.“If you just look at our goal that we conceded we played a back seven formation, which is just not us. Maybe it is good that we conceded, because it just tells us: ‘Let’s not do this again’. It makes no sense, it’s not us, it doesn’t play to our strengths. We had too many easy ball losses after ball wins, so we had a huge effort against the ball, win the ball, gave it back straight away.Petar Musa scores Croatia's second goal against England in Dallas. Photograph: Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty Images “We need to manage these ball wins better and in ball possession there is also stuff to improve. When do we accelerate the game, and how do we give the man on the ball more options in the gaps and show a bit more confidence into what makes us strong? That’s the beauty of it: we don’t need to invent anything new.“But I was also very clear to the team: we deserved this win. We had a well-deserved win. And we have a lot of positives to take away, and I expect a very different team and a very different set-up now. We need to improve especially our structure with the ball to be ready to defend counterattacks before they become dangerous.”England hit an impressive level during the second half against Croatia and Tuchel is keen to keep standards high. “That is a tricky part, to keep the level up,” he said. “But first of all I am very happy because we found an answer to adversity.“We conceded in a very tricky moment, last shot of the first half and then came up with the best 25 minutes, or best 30 minutes, as an answer. The team knows that. We saw the physical input, we saw the ball wins, we saw the chances and we still have stuff to improve.“It is important to learn from all that and the beautiful thing is that the things that were not so good we do not need to amend anything new. We just need to do our stuff better from the first half.”Tuchel has been delighted with England’s attitude before facing Ghana. “The players keep themselves on edge,” he said. “The guys who did not get the minutes from the beginning are pushing but we try to make sure in training exercises that everyone is pushing. That is why I love the team anyway. At the moment I cannot see any signs of complacency.” – Guardian