Tony Cascarino said Mason Mount‘s tenacious performance in Friday’s stalemate between England and the USA but insisted the Chelsea midfielder lacked quality.
It was a disappointing result for England, who had an incredible start to their World Cup by beating Iran 6-2 last week.
Gareth Southgate’s men had more possession of the ball, but the USA had created the better goalscoring chances in the game.
Mount, who played as a number 10, has understandably received a lot of criticism.
The 23-year-old failed to create any chance and only managed two passes into the final third.
“Mason Mount was tenacious last night,” former Blues striker Cascarino told talkSPORT.
“Never had the quality, but he could certainly play in that [attacking] position. Left or right, he’s an option.
“He will go either way; inside or outside of the [opposition] fullback.”
To be fair, England had a hard time competing in midfield against USA’s Yunus Musah, Tyler Adams, and Weston McKennie, who were simply dominant in the middle of the pitch.
England wingers; Raheem Sterling and Bukayo Saka, also had a poor game, which only made it difficult for the rest of the team to break through from the centre.
“It was tough to play our stuff, they have a very physical midfield and a team where they can play and great individual players,” Mount admitted after the game (via England’s official website).
“It wasn’t easy but we stuck with it, and we tried to play our stuff, with maybe a little bit of a lack of technical ability in the end in the final third with that final pass or shot to create a chance.”
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