Anthony Gordon under pressure after England's Ghana draw

Gary Neville did not hide where he thinks the heat is after England's goalless draw with Ghana. He said Anthony Gordon is "probably the one that's under the most pressure now", while Roy Keane went even harder on the winger's place in the side after a night that left England short of ideas.

Gordon's position in the side

The worry for Gordon is simple enough. He started England's first two group matches, then came off after 65 minutes against Ghana with no goal or assist to show for it. Anthony Gordon has logged 137 minutes across 2 World Cup appearances, and he has not given Thomas Tuchel the sort of end product that makes a place feel secure.

Neville's point was blunt. "Anthony Gordon, he's probably the one that's under the most pressure now and we all thought he probably wouldn't play today, didn't we?" he said. Keane was just as direct: "Now he'd be under huge pressure." That is the selection story here, and it is hard to see Gordon emerging from it untouched.

England's blunt evening against Ghana

The wider issue is that England did not create enough to make the left side debate go away. They registered 19 attempts against Ghana, but only 3 troubled the goalkeeper, and the attack never really found a rhythm against a deep block.

Jamie Carragher's reading was that England lacked a player who could do the awkward work between the lines. "Rice and Bellingham are all about power and energy; they aren't magicians in the spaces between the lines. If this continues, the debate will start regarding Cole Palmer's absence," he said. That is why the alternatives matter. Marcus Rashford and Bukayo Saka both keep coming up as cleaner attacking options, while Nico O'Reilly also offers a different profile on the left.

The draw itself can be dressed up or down, depending on your point of view. Patrick Vieira tried to play it down, while Carragher's side of the argument treats it as a warning sign. The cleaner read is that the performance sharpened the pressure on Gordon more than it changed England's whole tournament, because the next group match against Panama is coming on 2026-06-27T21:00:00Z.