It’s job done for England, who topped their World Cup group to give themselves the best possible route in the knockout stage.
But Thomas Tuchel has some big decisions to make, with not every player looking in great form just yet.
If you strip out the star names and expectations and look purely at the statistical output, which players have performed best and are most worthy of keeping their place?
We’ve taken a look at WhoScored‘s famed player ratings to get an answer to that question.
“The ratings are based on a unique, comprehensive statistical algorithm, calculated live during the game,” reads WhoScored’s explanation.
“There are over 200 raw statistics included in the calculation of a player’’s/team’’s rating, weighted according to their influence within the game.
“Every event of importance is taken into account, with a positive or negative effect on ratings weighted in relation to its area on the pitch and its outcome.”
Using said ratings, here is the best-rated England XI from the World Cup so far:
GK: Jordan Pickford – 6.83
The two sweetest words in the English language – de-fault!
Pickford gets in by virtue of being the only goalkeeper to feature in the tournament so far.
He’s had some shaky moments, albeit not nearly enough for Tuchel to consider dropping him, but back-to-back clean sheets have helped after an unconvincing display in the opener.
RB: Jarell Quansah – 6.9
Remember when England had an abundance of top-class right-backs? Halcyon days.
Take Quansah’s inclusion with a pinch of salt, given his average rating is entirely from his outing against soft opposition in Panama.
The Liverpool academy graduate is likely out of the next match. As is the considerably more experienced Reece James (6.85).
CB: Ezri Konsa – 6.63
Konsa has played every minute of England’s World Cup campaign so far. His ratings have improved as the group stage progressed (6.01, 6.75 and 7.07) but that might be more a reflection on the quality of opposition (Croatia, Ghana, Panama).
He had a bit of a stinker on his World Cup debut and might’ve received a worse rating against Ghana had the referee or VAR punished his foul for a penalty – but fortunately for him an officiating error doesn’t factor into the statistical algorithm.
Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville weren’t convinced by the centre of England’s defence going into the tournament, and Konsa is doing little to change their mind. The lowest-rated player in this XI.
CB: Marc Guehi – 6.93
England are yet to concede a goal at this World Cup with Guehi on the pitch.
His omission against Croatia was a bit of an eyebrow-raiser, and John Stones (6.3) hasn’t been seen since.
You’d expect the Man City defender to keep his place from here on out after solid 7.4 showings against Ghana and Panama, his average only dragged down by the default rating of 6.0 from his three-minute sub appearance against Croatia.
LB: Nico O’Reilly – 6.80
The 21-year-old hasn’t quite replicated the best football of his exceptional breakthrough campaign at Man City, particularly in the final third, but it’s been a decent enough start.
We can’t see him losing his place any time soon, particularly with Djed Spence (6.43) likely to be required on the opposite flank.
DM: Elliot Anderson – 7.47
Alongside his midfield partner Declan Rice, the only player in this XI to receive a 7.00 or above in each of his outings to date.
The midfielder is on the cusp of becoming the most expensive English footballer in history, and his strengths – his ball retention, physical dominance and engine – both see him score highly on the stats algorithms and make him an ideal prototype for the modern Premier League midfielder.
Whether that same meta also applies to this World Cup remains to be seen, but it’s a promising start.
CM: Declan Rice – 7.50
Rice hasn’t looked at his sharpest, evidently carrying an injury niggle, but even so he remains as dependable as ever.
Morgan Rogers came in for the rested Rice against Panama (6.6 in his only start against Panama; 6.53 average), although it was Bellingham (a goal and an assist and a 9.5 rating – the highest for any England player in any game so far this tournament) who dropped deeper and nominally fulfilled his role, albeit with a different style.
A small mention for Jordan Henderson (6.3 for his six-minute cameo against Panama, almost completing the full set of outfielders used in the group stage), who unsurprisingly isn’t offering much competition for the Arsenal star.
FWR: Bukayo Saka – 6.83
Even a half-fit Saka gets in just ahead of his Arsenal team-mate Noni Madueke (6.73), but let’s be honest – neither of them are pulling up any trees just yet.
As with the other flank, Tuchel will be desperately hoping one of them can play themselves into form as the World Cup progresses into the knockout stage.
The burden carried by Bellingham and Kane might just be too much to carry otherwise.
CAM: Jude Bellingham – 7.77
England’s best player at the World Cup, according to the WhoScored ratings. Delivering big moments will do that.
Some suggested that Bellingham shouldn’t have even made the squad, let alone start for England. That’s Real Madrid superstar Jude Bellingham. These people live amongst us. Mad.
FWL: Marcus Rashford – 6.72
On the evidence of the World Cup group stage, you wonder if Barcelona are questioning their decision to spend €80million on Anthony Gordon’s signature as opposed to less than half that on signing Rashford (14 goals and 14 assists as a squad player on loan last season) permanently.
Gordon (6.2 against Croatia, 6.7 against Ghana) endured a poor start to the tournament, so Rashford was always going to feature here. He scored off the bench against Croatia and earned a 7.1 rating from his 90-minute outing against Panama.
ST: Harry Kane – 7.53
England’s all-time World Cup goalscorer has three goals in three group-stage games, and he seems to be enjoying doing some quarterbacking in the home of the NFL.
All going to plan. But his relatively ineffective display against Ghana (6.36) does raise some alarm bells if England face a similarly well-drilled low block again in the coming weeks.
Ollie Watkins (6.00 for his cameo against Panama) obviously isn’t moving the needle.
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