Tuchel defends keeping Kane on as Toney and Watkins unused in England's goalless draw with Ghana

Thomas Tuchel has explained why he left Ivan Toney and Ollie Watkins unused as England were frustrated to a goalless draw by Ghana in their World Cup Group L match on Tuesday, insisting that substituting Harry Kane was never a serious option.

Ghana deployed a deep, aggressive low block that stifled England throughout, with Jude Bellingham and Elliott Anderson among those repeatedly fouled as the game lurched from one stoppage to the next. Tuchel introduced Bukayo Saka, Eberechi Eze, Morgan Rogers, and Marcus Rashford in search of a breakthrough, but neither of his specialist strikers left the bench.

“Change Harry Kane in a game that is stuck and 0-0?!” Tuchel said after the match. “Taking Harry off, no?”

The England head coach elaborated on his reliance on the captain, pointing to Kane’s appetite for responsibility and the structural difficulties his side faced against a packed defence. “Everyone is pushing and I think we had three different goalscorers in the first match and to rely on Harry is just a natural thing because he loves responsibility and he takes it,” Tuchel said.

“He was not involved as much as we like to, it was just so, so narrow. Our two central defenders were responsible for the build-up and then it was basically eight against 10. It was difficult to find space. The little moments that he had was just unlucky and the last one is normally a clear goal and that would have got us a deserved win.”

Tuchel was keen to stress that his trust in Kane does not amount to over-dependence. “We rely on Harry because we can, because he’s our forward, but we don’t over-rely on him,” he added.

Neither Toney nor Watkins featured against Croatia in England’s opening fixture either, though the tactical context of that game differed. With Panama next up in Group L, there is speculation that Tuchel may finally hand one of the unused strikers an opportunity, but the German was in no mood to look that far ahead.

“I have no idea. Panama is in four days,” he said bluntly.