Thomas Tuchel is in the firing line after England were dumped out of the World Cup by Argentina on Wednesday, his tactics having been branded ‘cowardly’ and a ‘coaching disaster’.
England were on the precipice of their first World Cup final in 60 years after taking the lead in the 55th minute through Anthony Gordon, but Tuchel opted to park the bus rather than try for a second goal.
The German moved to play five at the back, with Gordon coming off for Ezri Konsa in the 72nd minute. Declan Rice and Reece James then made way for Dan Burn and Nico O’Reilly 10 minutes later.
This left England vulnerable to Argentina’s high press, and the Three Lions were met by wave after wave of attack before they eventually succumbed to two late goals from the defending world champions.
Enzo Fernandez equalised with a thumping strike in the 85th minute before Lautaro Martinez headed a 92nd-minute winner – both goals coming from assists by Lionel Messi.
It is now Argentina who will meet Spain in Sunday’s New Jersey showpiece, with England left to contest third and fourth with France on Saturday.
Tuchel insisted he had ‘no regrets’ about his tactical decisions, arguing that England’s problems began before any of his changes were made
England were left vulnerable to Argentina’s high press, and the Three Lions were met by wave after wave of attack before they eventually succumbed to two late goals
After the match, Tuchel insisted he had ‘no regrets’ about his tactical decisions, arguing that the problems began before any of his changes were made and that his side simply lost control after taking the lead.
Despite this, many have insisted that the blame should be left at the German manager’s door, including the likes of World Cup winners Thomas Muller and Iker Casillas.
Muller, who worked under Tuchel at Bayern Munich for a brief spell between 2023 and 2024, said in a video posted on X: ‘Argentina played a hell of a game and I cannot believe and understand how England approached this game, especially after they’re leading.
‘I cannot understand how they invited Argentina to play one cross after the other in perfect crossing positions.’
Casillas, who lifted the World Cup with Spain in 2010, slammed England’s ‘cowardly’ approach, after they managed to hold onto just 12 per cent possession from going ahead to conceding the second goal.
‘England score the goal and then sit back – cowardly approach,’ the former Real Madrid star posted on X.
‘They haven’t left their own box and have allowed Argentina to come forward more. The logical outcome happens.
‘England lost the match all by themselves with that approach. They let Argentina do whatever they wanted. That can’t happen. The final will be incredible.’
Former England striker Chris Sutton also criticised Tuchel, calling the defeat a ‘coaching catastrophe’.
Former England striker Chris Sutton criticised Tuchel’s decision to leave key attacking players such as Marcus Rashford on the bench
Sutton said: ‘The fact that England get themselves in front and then basically hand Argentina the initiative.
‘Defending deep and putting more and more defenders on, it’s quite a simple game, football, you have to get up the pitch.
‘You can’t expect to defend for 30 minutes against the quality Argentina had. It’s all on the coach where I’m concerned. He made the changes.
‘He was negative, so the question which I’m going to ask is how can you trust Thomas Tuchel to take this team forward?
‘I don’t care what anyone says, England have had a generous run in this competition and they have not played well in one 90 minutes.
‘A World Cup semi-final, there’s a big opportunity to get over the line against an average Argentina side and they didn’t look average in the last 30 minutes, far from it, but I think England helped them with that.
‘I think that was a coaching disaster. ‘There certainly needs to be questions asked about Thomas Tuchel.
‘Looking at the game and the way the game turned that was down to his coaching. He was so super negative when he should’ve been positive. He could’ve been more positive with his substitutions.
‘You had Ollie Watkins and Marcus Rashford on the bench. And why not take Harry Kane off when he was looking like a passenger? He’s got a lot of questions to answer.’
Roy Keane meanwhile took issue with Tuchel’s post-match press conference, particularly his insistence that England had ‘played one of our better matches, maybe the best match in the circumstances.
Speaking on Stick to Football podcast, Keane said: ‘That’s rubbish, that’s what I have to say. You can’t say they played our best game – they didn’t play our best game.
‘How many touches did you have in the box? Seven? If you’re playing your best game and you’ve had seven touches in their box, you’re not asking a lot of yourselves. Argentina had 28.’
