Gareth Southgate has pointed to the depth of England’s attacking options as cause for optimism after praising the impact made by his substitutes, Marcus Rashford and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, in the Group G victory against Tunisia on Monday.

Two from Harry Kane eventually saw off stubborn opponents, with England eventually rewarded for their second-half patience having been pegged back by a soft penalty, conceded by Kyle Walker. Rashford and Loftus-Cheek staked their claims to be included from the start against Panama on Sunday with eye-catching cameos after replacing Raheem Sterling and Dele Alli in the second period, though it was deep into stoppage time before the captain nodded his side’s winner.

Harry Kane double ensures England defeat Tunisia in World Cup opener Read more

Southgate had resisted switching systems in pursuit of a winner, but instead flung on fresh personnel who carried a different threat to pluck victory at the last. Loftus-Cheek barged forward at will down the right, while Rashford combined smartly with Kane and injected yet more pace into the frontline. “We talked about this with the players at St George’s Park over the last few weeks before coming to Russia,” the manager said. “The way we’ll change the game is by bringing on a different profile of players, who carry a different sort of threat.

“When you are attacking, you need some structure to your play. You can put attacking players on in various positions, but you can lose shape and be counterattacked. Against Tunisia we kept control and the composure, but the guys who came on had a different threat. The freshness of Marcus and Ruben brought energy and a different threat to the one we’d posed.

Play Video 1:16 England fans ecstatic after late Harry Kane winner during group stage clash with Tunisia – video

“They had a good impact on the game. That’s all you can do as a team. Keep working. We could have run out of time, but we would have been the dominant team. The best sides keep their belief in what they’re doing and break the opposition down in the end.”

The win moved England level with Belgium at the top of the group before the second fixture against Panama in Nizhny Novgorod on Sunday, with Southgate – who will check on the fitness of Alli back at the team’s base in Repino after he complained of discomfort in his quadricep muscles – wary of the threat that will be carried by the central Americans.

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“We have to prepare as perfectly for Panama as we did here to get the result we need,” he said. “It’s hard to win a match in the World Cup against anyone. Tunisia were respected. Panama were obdurate opponents against Belgium for 45 minutes [before losing 3-0], so we’ll have to prepare 100% for that game to get the right result. And remember, we are a team who are improving and developing. There will always be things we can get better at. We’re a long way from perfection.

“What pleased me was there has been a long period of work gone into tonight’s result, from the players and the support team. If you don’t get the win, that can breed a bit of doubt. There’d be a different feel from the outside looking in, and the next few days would be a lot less comfortable. Now we have to enjoy this, but make sure we don’t stay too comfortable.”