Gary Neville’s shock take on England draw vs Ghana as Man Utd hero admits ‘I’m going to get heavily criticised for this’
GARY NEVILLE has shockingly claimed that England’s performance against Ghana was BETTER than their win over Croatia.
The Three Lions slumped to a goalless draw against the African side in a game that saw few clear chances created.
England came close to a winning goal in the closing stages as Nico O’Reilly headed against the bar and Harry Kane skied the rebound.
Thomas Tuchel‘s side could have even ended up on the losing side if Ezri Konsa had been punished for an ill-timed challenge in the box.
The Three Lions only mustered four shots on target over the course of the match.
Bukayo Saka‘s effort from the edge of the box was the only one that forced Benjamin Asare into a good save.
Despite the lack of penetration, Neville was impressed with England’s performance and even rated it better than the one that beat Croatia.
Kane, Jude Bellingham and Marcus Rashford were all on the scoresheet in the 4-2 win.
But Neville has insisted that he liked what he saw from Tuchel’s side in Boston.
He said on the Overlap: “[On England’s performance against Ghana] I enjoyed the game.
“I’m going to get heavily criticised for this, but there’s part of me that thinks that was a better performance than the game against Croatia.”
Neville did admit that it was a struggle at times due to the physicality of the Ghana team.
He added: “It will be interesting to see how that game is received at home.
“I played in those games quite a few times for England, where you are knocking on the door, and they are sitting so deep.
“That was an interesting game, that was a struggle of a game, in terms of just generally trying to score, physical.”
Ghana boss Carlos Queiroz was left feeling hard done by after VAR did not intervene on Konsa’s challenge on Parince Adu.
Speaking after the game, he sarcastically claimed that the VAR had “gone for a coffee”.
Before the game, Djed Spence appeared to snub a handshake with former Arsenal star Thomas Partey before the clash with Ghana.
Footage captured the full-back walking past the Ghanaian midfielder.
Partey is charged with seven counts of rape and one count of sexual assault relating to alleged incidents in London between 2020 and 2022
Spence was also singled out by Tuchel for some harsh instructions during the first-half hydration break.
England will continue their World Cup campaign with their final group game against Panama on Saturday.
A funny moment was created by Hollywood star Alexandra Daddario as she cheekily trolled David Beckham in the stands.
