I have no idea how good England are, and it’s partly my job to know. If you think you have a handle on where Thomas Tuchel is, what his defence will be for the next match and whether we have actually played well or how Tuchel wants us to play yet, fair play.
England were good for one half against Croatia, no halves against Ghana and one half against Panama, albeit winning 2-0 was probably just about par for the course.
I would posit that this has been the most confusing England group stage of my lifetime. And here is why.
The lurches in performance
It didn’t feel inappropriate to praise England after the second half against Croatia. It was England’s most fluid major tournament performance against decent opposition since the 4-0 against Ukraine in Euro 2020. We thought we knew what this England team were going to be and we liked it.
