The defensive stability of the side has come under scrutiny, particularly with the absence of Declan Rice in the final group game. Neville highlighted that Panama found it too easy to breach the England backline, warning that stronger nations will not be as forgiving in the upcoming rounds.
“In Thomas Tuchel’s interview he said, ‘we’ll step up in bigger games’, they’re going to have to,” Neville added. “I don’t think he’ll be looking at the analysis with his coaching staff and think everything’s perfect now. We’ve got to get together in the next four days, we’ve got to get Declan Rice back in the team, we’ve got to get the back four more solid, it looked like they (Panama) cut through us a few times, they didn’t have the quality to punish us but they’re going to have to step up.”
