Croatia were the better side in the end. England had a good first half where they gained the lead via a fantastic free-kick from Trippier. Croatia looked a little slow and weary, with no incisive passing to break England down. England did well in the first half, with Harry Kane wasting a golden chance to put two past Croatia. However, Croatia came out in the second half very strong, with Modric and Perisic eventually growing into the game.
Tactically, Croatia had three players up top with Mandzukic, Rebic and Perisic against the three defenders of England. In the first half, or at least in the first 30 minutes, Trippier and Young ventured forward enough to create width and trouble the Croatian defense.
However as the game went on, Trippier and Young were pushed back by the three forwards of Croatia as they dominated midfield, and creating dangerous opportunities. The fullbacks of Croatia, then also pushed further forward, overlapping the wings. This provided extra width and men to attack England.
The blue indicates the fullbacks. This is moments before the Croatian goal came in. Look at how further up the field the Croatian fullbacks are. The the wing-backs of England were so preoccupied with the wingers, Perisic and Rebic that no-one was pressuring the fullbacks. This led to Vrsaljko putting in a good cross for the equaliser. Furthermore, none of the English midfielders challenged the Croatian midfield. Look at how much space Modric and Rakitic had. They had so much space and time to pick out passes, switching the game from one side to the other.
Again the Croatian fullbacks pushed up so high to support the attack, leaving England exposed.
Furthermore, the midfield of England became non-existent as Croatia started dominating the midfield. As the three forwards of Croatia as well as the midfielders of Modric and Rakitic pushed and pressed forward, the three centre-backs of England became isolated and lost possession often. Henderson was the only passing passage from the back to the front. The three centre-backs simply weren’t good enough to find the likes of Dele Alli and Lingard.
There were no English midfielders dropping back to create the chances in the middle of the park. With Lingard, Alli and Rashford all looking to make runs off the Croatian defenders, there was no midfield. The only thing that Croatia had to deal with was crosses in from Young or Trippier. Lingard occasionally dropped deep to support the attack but was largely ineffective. With no real midfield, England eventually resorted to long balls over the top, which was even less effective when Sterling came off. Sterling’s pace and movement was the only source of attack from England. I didn’t understand why Southgate took him off.
Again, the three forwards of Croatia pressured the centre-backs. Stones, being the type of player he is, should have been braver and put forward passes into either fullbacks or into midfield. Henderson, as you can see is the only player deep enough to collect the ball from defense. Even then, Croatian players were marking him out of the game and England were forced to resort to long-balls.
At times England looked like a glorified Burnley, with Pickford being forced to make long balls into Kane. None of the centre-backs of England could make any forward passes. They should have passed the ball quickly into the wingbacks to add width, and they were ultimately England’s best chance creators.
Gareth Southgate made a tactical mistake against Croatia last night. IMO, he should have taken off Alli and put in Delph. They should have also changed the shape to a 4–4–2, with Trippier pushing up further forward. He should not have taken off Sterling either. Whilst Southgate has proven to be a solid manager and has improved England in areas such as set-pieces, he does seem to be tactically naive. England had no Plan B. They also struggled because they had no creative midfielders. Someone like Shelvey or Wilshere, whilst not necessarily the hardest-working, provides impetus and chances from open play. It is a shame that football didn’t come home.