England star Marc Guehi appeared to hit out at England’s second-half tactics after the Three Lions lost their slender lead to be knocked out of the World Cup by Argentina on Wednesday.
Anthony Gordon had opened the scoring in the 55th minute after the Three Lions were put through an attritional first-half which saw midfield stars such as Jude Bellingham and Elliot Anderson repeatedly targeted with fouls.
But with 10 minutes plus injury time left to play, Thomas Tuchel made a raft of defensive changes which allowed little room for England to extend their goal cushion.
Enzo Fernandez duly scored an 85th-minute equaliser, with England punished further when Lautaro Martinez bundled his injury-time effort into the back of the net.
But while Tuchel has been roundly criticised by voices outside of the camp, Guehi was one of those in the squad to suggest that England’s approach had not been right for the occasion.
‘Once we went 1-0 up, we seemed to just try and hold on, which at this level is just not enough, so I’m gutted,’ the Manchester City defender told BBC Sport after the final whistle.
Marc Guehi cut a despondent figure after England were knocked out of the World Cup by Argentina on Wednesday
The Manchester City defender appeared to suggest a tactical mis-step from Thomas Tuchel
‘We should have carried on. We should have carried on pushing. It kind of felt like we scored and the mentality was, go back, defend.’
Tuchel later threw on Marcus Rashford and Ivan Toney as the game ticked into added time, but it was too little, too late, for England to force extra time and hunt a potential winner.
When asked whether he thought that this was the squad that could finally win England silverware, Guehi continued to cut a deflated figure.
‘I don’t know. I don’t know,’ he said. ‘It’s hard to think about the future right now.
‘At the moment, it’s just disappointment. That’s all.’
Tuchel defended his decision-making in the aftermath of his defeat, suggesting that his critics would have had a different view with an alternative outcome.
‘If it doesn’t go well, it’s easy to say that it was wrong,’ Tuchel told the BBC – and then suggested England were on the back foot before his changes.
‘We just tried to help the players. We conceded straight away. We decided to go to a back five because the gaps were far too open.
‘Straight after our goal, without a substitution we conceded way too many crosses and chances. We tried to help but the responsibility was on the coach.’
Between Gordon’s opener and Enzo Fernandez’s leveller, England had just 12 per cent of possession.
‘We couldn’t get out,’ Tuchel said. ‘Of course we wanted to go for the second goal but I didn’t feel an offensive substitution would help.
‘We stayed in our 4-4-2 but we became passive, couldn’t win any balls or keep the ball. It wasn’t a structure problem.
‘We changed nothing after the goal but the match changed completely. I understand these discussions are out there and other coaches know it better after the game.’
Among those to hit out at Tuchel were Alan Shearer and Wayne Rooney, who claimed that his tactics had ‘cost’ England their meeting with Spain in New York.
World Cup-winning goalkeeper with Spain Iker Casillas described his coaching as ‘cowardly’, while Chris Sutton was unafraid to speak out, dubbing it a ‘coaching catastrophe’ from the former Chelsea manager.
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