Thomas Tuchel is working his magic already - but he still needs to fix England's dodgy defence: Winners and losers as A-Listers Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham make statements in opening World Cup win over Croatia

Well, there's the penalty miss out of the way early...

Kane hadn't failed to convert from the spot for England since that famous miss against France in the 2022 World Cup, burying seven in a row. He technically made that eight on Wednesday, albeit only after he was given a reprieve by the officials after Livakovic was spotted to have moved off his line before parrying the Bayern Munich forward's penalty.

Kane's retake was emphatic, and he followed that with a classic Kane performance - dropping deep to connect play, getting into dangerous areas and drawing the odd foul. His link-up with Noni Madueke was impressive throughout, and he took his second goal equally well. Croatia's marking was certainly suspect, but Kane buried the header all the same, nodding into the bottom corner.

He has now scored the most penalties in World Cup history, is only the second England player to score at three World Cups and has moved level with Gary Lineker as the top-scoring Englishman at World Cups, all while ensuring he didn't get left behind in the Golden Boot race. A job well done.

Luka Modric, it must be remembered, is a simply sublime footballer. He broke the Lionel Messi-Cristiano Ronaldo duopoly and won the Ballon d'Or in 2018, and sits among the greats when it comes to central midfielders.

But here, he looked all of his 40 years. Modric struggled to find a foothold from the first minute, and gave away the penalty early after being a second late to a 50/50 with Madueke. And while he completed the vast majority of his passes, Modric never imposed himself on the game.

In fairness, the Croatians were rather outnumbered in midfield, but there used to be days when Modric was able to battle through those situations. Here, he looked what he really is - an aging player who can be outrun opponents who are younger and more physically dynamic than him.

Croatia replaced their captain before the hour mark with Mateo Kovacic, who immediately offered more energy. Modric cannot be benched - ever - but he certainly cannot carry this team like he used to.

For all of the talk of Kane's brilliance, Bellingham feels like the true make-or-break player this summer for Tuchel and England. If the Real Madrid man can provide goals and assists from midfield, it gives the Three Lions an added dimension.

In truth, Bellingham struggled his way through the opening exchanges despite a lot of breathless bursts of pace. But things soon changed. A dash through the middle showed what he could do - even if it was unsuccessful - and in the second half, he got the goal that he deserved.

Anderson, another who was slow to get involved, pinged a ball down the line, Bellingham ran onto it, and finished tidily. He stood with swagger, arms spread, in front of adoring fans.

Later, he dropped into a slightly deeper role, going from No.10 to No.8, and he was good there, too, working well while allowing Morgan Rogers to get forward. England fans will hope there's plenty more to come.

"You can rely on Jude in these moments. He loves these pressure games," Tuchel said after full-time.

Tuchel was not happy at half-time. That's the least of what fans could glean from his assistant coach, Anthony Barry, when made his feelings known in a half-time interview with ITV.

"We made some decisions where the energy was not free in our mind, playing long when we should play short, playing short when we should play long, really not playing through the gaps so not allowing us to accelerate our game the way we wanted to," Barry said.

"From there, then we made some decisions where the energy was not free in our mind, playing long when we should play short, playing short when we should play long, really not playing through the gaps so not allowing us to accelerate our game the way we wanted to. Then you think the penalty would free us up, allow us to play more like us, look more like ourselves, but again we fall back into some fearful patterns.

"We get the second goal again. We're hoping that's the moment that would allow us to move forward in the game, but okay, we concede the second goal later on, and now we have to speak about that at half-time."

We obviously do not know what was said at the break, but Kane spoke of Tuchel giving a "speech" while Rice felt that Tuchel's words proved why he is a "top manager". Tuchel himself said that he and his staff "encouraged them to go for it".

Whatever the German said, it clearly worked. England played like a completely different team after the break, grabbing a goal almost immediately before controlling the game in full.

This England side were always going to be able to score goals. They possess too much attacking firepower, too many good ideas in the final third, too many difference makers. There are options off the bench, too. It would seem to be very unlikely that England are kept off the scoresheet at any point this summer.

But the defence? Well, that looks a bit shakier - if not downright uncertain. Tuchel went with a back four of Reece James, Konsa, Stones and Nico O'Reilly, and none can claim to have had a good game defensively.

Stones was sent for a hot dog for Croatia's first goal and Konsa dropped too deep for their second while James chased shadows. O'Reilly doesn't have much defending to do for Manchester City on a weekly basis, and it showed here, too.

It's not time for alarm bells - not yet. But Tuchel certainly has some thinking to do - about both personnel and tactical set-up - when it comes to his backline.

Ahead of the tournament, Anthony Gordon and Marcus Rashford were pitted in a straight shootout to start on the left of England's attack. Eventually, Gordon won out, valued for his pressing and defensive effort. And while Gordon wasn't poor here, he lacked a bit of cutting edge.

Rashford offers more quality. He is an elite attacker who has found himself again during his season-long loan at Barcelona. The way he took his goal encapsulated his new-found confidence : tidy footwork and an effortless finish, making the whole thing look as if he were running on autopilot.

Perhaps this is the way of things now: Gordon for energy, Rashford for goals. If there ever was a 60-minute trade off, then that's not a bad one whatsoever.