Thomas 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 will qualify for the knockout stages from Group L with a game to spare if they beat Ghana in Boston on Tuesday night, and will top the group if Panama then fail to beat Croatia in the later game, but Tuchel is determined not to take anything for granted. The head coach has placed a heavy emphasis on aggressive football and has said 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 at Dallas Stadium, gave an in‑depth assessment of where his side went wrong during a chaotic opening period. The German felt the shape was wrong before Croatia scored their second equaliser moments before half time.

“We need to do things better,” he 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.

“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 setup 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 when. 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.”

England are unlikely to make major changes against Ghana, who beat Panama 1-0 in their opening game. Declan Rice has trained after complaining of discomfort against Croatia and Bukayo Saka, who is nursing an achilles injury, has trained fully in the past two sessions. Tuchel said he was now pain-free. Saka is still expected to start on the bench. Marcus Rashford is competing with Anthony Gordon for the left wing spot.

Tuchel must decide whether to rejig his back four. Marc Guéhi will hope to dislodge John Stones or Ezri Konsa in central defence. Djed Spence’s speed could be a useful asset against Ghana’s biggest threat, Antoine Semenyo, but Reece James will hope to start again at right-back.

A big talking point from the win over Croatia was a brutally honest half-time interview given by Tuchel’s No 2, Anthony Barry. “Everyone is speaking about this,” said Tuchel, who will not stop Barry from speaking out in future games. “I’m so happy if he does that at half-time – then I don’t have to do it.

“I’m so happy if he speaks. You see the quality. The guy is a top coach. He is an inspiration, and he pushes me, and helps me and supports me. It’s just top level.”

England arrived in Boston to heavy rain on Monday afternoon and temperatures
that were a long way from being stifling. It is likely to be similar for the game – a chance of rain and temperatures of around 19C. There will nevertheless be hydration breaks in both halves, which Tuchel is plainly unhappy about.

“They interrupt and change the identity of a football match much more than I thought [they would],” Tuchel said. “Now they break the match almost into four quarters. As a coach, of course I like to have influence [during them] and have my team together.

“But overall, I like football more when it’s played in one go in one half because it builds a momentum, which is hard to keep. This just adds to the characteristics of the beautiful game and it [a hydration break] takes away [from that.] But in a point of fairness of course it makes sense that every match here gets them.”