Neville: Rogers should replace Gordon against Panama

Gary Neville believes that Morgan Rogers should come into the England team for the game against Panama in place of Anthony Gordon but is otherwise preaching calm after a frustrating goalless draw against Ghana at the World Cup.

England were held 0-0 in Group L as they failed to build on a thrilling 4-2 victory over Croatia in their World Cup opener. While progress to the knockout stages is assured, Neville makes the case for two changes to Thomas Tuchel's team against Panama.

"I do not want to pile in on Anthony Gordon because he is a really good player and, to be fair, he has had two difficult games. But I did not think that Marcus Rashford should have come on. I actually thought it should be Morgan Rogers," Gary Neville tells Sky Sports.

"We are talking about this Rogers or Jude Bellingham debate about who plays there. Well, Bellingham's going to play number 10. I actually like the idea of Rogers coming off that left-hand side. I think he's just got a little bit more.

"I don't mind [Eberechi] Eze there either, but I prefer Rogers just because he has got a little bit more legs in him. But I think someone who maybe can just sort of connect on that left-hand side a little bit better for us, someone with a little more game intelligence.

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"Rashford and Gordon are explosive. They're the players that, really, if you're counter-attacking, you'd want them on the pitch.

"But if Panama are going to be very difficult to break down, you are going to need players with a little bit more invention, a little bit more subtlety in the game. I think that is Rogers or Eze on that left-hand side. I don't think it's a Gordon or Rashford argument.

"If we were playing France or playing Spain, I would say Gordon or Rashford. But just because we are playing Panama, I would like to see Rogers off the left-hand side a little bit. I don't think it has to be that he plays in the centre. We can move him to the left.

"So I would like to see a little bit of a change there. I like Djed Spence a lot, I have a lot of time for him. I can see that he works hard. But I think Nico O'Reilly would probably come back in. So I would like to see Nico O'Reilly and Morgan Rogers off that left-hand side.

"The rest of the team, I'm pretty comfortable leaving it as it is. I don't think you should throw the baby out with the bathwater just because you've not been able to break Ghana down."

Neville was not particularly surprised that England struggled to find a way past Ghana, having worked with their head coach Carlos Queiroz before. The Portuguese has a reputation for being defensively-minded and was seen as instrumental in Manchester United's 2008 Champions League success as an assistant to Sir Alex Ferguson.

"I didn't get hugely excited after the Croatia game, and I don't get actually that down after the Ghana game. Carlos Queiroz was our coach at United for two or three years. There aren't many better at organising a team defensively than him.

"Against [Lionel] Messi, [Thierry] Henry and Ronaldinho in 2008, Manchester United kept a clean sheet against them for 180 minutes because he orchestrated the performance. That is what he does; he's a brilliant defensive coach. So when Thomas Tuchel after the match said that he wasn't surprised by the outcome of the game, I think he knew it was going to be really tough.

"We knew before the tournament that Thomas Tuchel had selected a profile of his squad that was quick runners on the outside that ran past Harry Kane, and that maybe players that played in pockets and were a little bit more creative like [Phil] Foden and [Morgan] Gibbs-White and [Cole] Palmer, they were being left behind.

"Probably because of form, but also just because of their profile not fitting what Thomas Tuchel wanted. So I don't think it was a huge surprise, the game against Ghana. What I think England will do is learn from that game against Ghana.

"Maybe put more crosses in, get more bodies in the box earlier in the game. I am not saying throw the kitchen sink but take a few more risks and make sure our set pieces are better. I thought our set pieces against Ghana were the most disappointing thing."

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Given that England appeared much less effective when breaking down a low block, there is a feeling that Tuchel's team might fare better in the latter stages of the tournament. The top teams are unlikely to focus on defending as deep as Ghana did.

"When Croatia started high pressing against us, I suspect at that point Thomas Tuchel and his coaching staff were rubbing their hands because when you go punch for punch against a team, I think we're quite good at that, we can take anybody on.

"You saw the electricity in our counter-attacks, you saw the way in which we flooded forward from deep positions. The Croatia game was perfect for us. A team that maybe haven't got the physicality and organisation of Ghana, going punch for punch.

"But there were little things in that performance that would worry me. I know it was a great game to watch, and for the neutral it was exciting. But the coaches might have liked parts of the Ghana game a lot better than the Croatia game.

"If you remember Anthony Barry's interview at half-time against Croatia, he was angry. And I was a little bit worried about how vulnerable we were. So let's not rewrite history and think that everything was perfect against Croatia. It wasn't.