Supersubs: how England’s bench applies a crucial finishing touch

Morgan Rogers, Marcus Rashford, Djed Spence and Bukayo Saka combined to vindicate Thomas Tuchel’s approach to substitutions and squad brotherhood. Composite: Getty / PA View image in fullscreen Morgan Rogers, Marcus Rashford, Djed Spence and Bukayo Saka combined to vindicate Thomas Tuchel’s approach to substitutions and squad brotherhood. Composite: Getty / PA Supersubs: how England’s bench applies a crucial finishing touch The way substitutes combined for the fourth goal against Croatia vindicated Thomas Tuchel’s desire to instil a brotherhood ethos It is Bukayo Saka who ignites the move. Tight to the right, approaching halfway, the England winger turns on a sixpence and surges away from Josko Gvardiol. Saka’s work in tight spaces, his close control, is a consistent delight. He plays a pass up and inside for Morgan Rogers and, at this point, Djed Spence is running on the outside. Rogers looks for him but Nikola Vlasic slides in to challenge and the ball breaks. Saka is alive to it, slicing inside and beating Josip Sutalo. England sense the knockout blow because Saka has options, the best being Marcus Rashford over to the left. Croatia have only Josip Stanisic back. Saka goes to Rashford, who steadies himself, jinks inside Stanisic and sidefoots low into the bottom corner. England’s second-half forward surge against Croatia fails to mask defensive frailties | Jacob Steinberg It is a beautiful goal and it gives England an unassailable 4-2 lead in the 85th minute. Their World Cup is off to a flyer and if they have confirmation – validation, too – of a swashbuckling second-half performance, a shift in the collective mindset, there is a detail that Thomas Tuchel cannot ignore. Ever since he came into the job, the England manager has been obsessed with the creation of a brotherhood in his squad; players who can put their main-men club personas to the side for the greater good, who, if they are asked to play 20 minutes or even only 10, will do so with everything they have. For Tuchel, the clinching goal against Croatia was the purest example of what he has wanted to see because Saka and Rogers, Spence and Rashford had all come on as substitutes. View image in fullscreen Djed Spence takes on Croatia’s Nikola Vlasic in one of several important performances from substitutes. Photograph: MI News/NurPhoto/ShutterstockFor Rashford, in particular, it must have been a tough one to take when Tuchel said he was starting with Anthony Gordon on the left rather than him.