The internet never forgets. Barely had the final whistle blown in Atlanta than an old interview with Thomas Tuchel quickly found its way to the surface once again.
‘They were more afraid to drop out of the tournament than having the excitement and hunger to win it,’ lamented new England boss Tuchel when asked to reflect on what had gone wrong at the Euros 2024 under his predecessor, Gareth Southgate.
Too right, Thomas. Finally, an England manager who would ‘take the handbrake off’ and thrill our way to glory. About bloody time.
Well, there was little excitement or hunger to win as Argentina bombarded England’s penalty area for the final half an hour of a World Cup semi-final. Just, in fact, fear. As Baddiel and Skinner once said, everyone has seen it all before.
This time, though, it came via one of the most staggering acts of self-sabotage by an England manager, one appointed and heralded as a tactical wizard.
Thomas Tuchel has come under intense scrutiny for his tactics in England’s World Cup semi-final defeat to Argentina
But the stats show that it was not only his defensive substitutions that saw England lose control after going 1-0 up
GORDON SUB GAVE ENGLAND NO ESCAPE
Tuchel’s decision to take off Anthony Gordon, England’s goalscorer, on 72 minutes for central defender Ezri Konsa and switch to a back five will haunt England for a long, long time. It will go down as one of the biggest mistakes ever made by an England manager at a World Cup.
Tuchel’s men had targeted Argentina’s right side for much of the game with Gordon and the excellent Djed Spence combining and overlapping.
A goal ahead, they had the South American side where they wanted them. Lionel Messi and Co. would have to attack and throw bodies forward, leaving even more space for England on the counterattack. Tuchel’s side had just exploited space in behind the full-backs, now it would surely be even easier to do it again.
Yet, suddenly, England had nowhere to go. In their Group Stage opener gainst Croatia, when England were again holding on to a narrow lead, Tuchel brought on Bukayo Saka and Marcus Rashford. Fresh legs to attack the space and England duly bagged another goal. Where was that this time? Where were they?
There was no out ball. England were trapped in a cage of their own construction and couldn’t get out. England attempted just three dribbles after the change, and succeeded with none of them.
England dribbles before Gordon sub on 72mins
England dribbles after Gordon sub
HAD THE ROT ALREADY SET IN?
England had already gone into their shell by the time Tuchel made his doomed change. It just exacerbated an age-old problem; that England retreat into their shell in the biggest moments on the biggest stage once they take the lead. The memories of Croatia in 2018 soon came flooding back.
Up until Gordon’s goal, England had enjoyed 45 per cent of the ball. From the second the ball hit the net until Tuchel’s first sub, that figure had already plummeted to 17 per cent. They had no touches in the opposition box and just nine passes in the Argentina half, while they had 90 in ours, and only five of them in the final third.
England’s senior players, again, were allowing the game to drift away from them. No one – not Jude Bellingham, not Harry Kane – was grabbing the game by the scruff of the neck.
Tuchel had to make a change. It’s just when he did, he made it worse. In the 10-minute spell between Konsa’s arrival and the next double change, when Dan Burn and Nico O’Reilly replaced Reece James and Declan Rice, England’s possession dropped to just nine per cent. NINE. Four passes in the opposition half, two in the final third. England, during this desperate spell, completed just a third of all their passes. And still no touches in the Argentina box.
A look at England’s average position maps shows just how far even Gordon was dropping after he scored before being replaced. Even when Tuchel brought on Burn and O’Reilly, England didn’t muster a single shot.
England average positions before Gordon’s goal on 55mins
England average positions after Gordon’s goal
BIG DAN BURN NOT ENOUGH TO STOP THE CROSSES!
By this stage, Messi was doing what he did to turn the match around against Egypt in the Last-16. Late on in that game, he began to drift into wide areas and started whipping balls into the box.
As Daily Mail Sport explained ahead of the semi-final, England would have to find a way to stop it – but they couldn’t.
Messi passes after Gordon goal
Messi gave England enough warnings. He whipped one ball in to Nico Gonazalez but Jordan Pickford made a stunning save. They didn’t heed that warning.
When Messi laid off his pass to Enzo Fernandez for the equaliser, every single England player was inside their own penalty area. Yes, it was from a corner, but England left no one high up the pitch to spring an attack once they cleared the ball.
Only Bellingham tried to race out to close Fernandez down but the Chelsea midfielder already had so much time and space to drive the ball past Jordan Pickford.
Every single England player was in the penalty area when Lionel Messi passed to Enzo Fernandez for the Argentina equaliser
Even bringing on Dan Burn for the last eight minutes of normal time wasn’t enough. This wasn’t the same as doing it while down to 10-men at the Azteca, when Mexico just hit hopeful balls into Raul Jimenez and Big Burn could just nod them away.
Instead, they just gave Messi all the space he needed. O’Reilly allowed Messi to pick his spot and find Lautaro Martinez to head in the winner.
‘I always got told to stop the cross,’ former Premier League-winning right back Danny Simpson posted on X. ‘Stop it at source and that doesn’t happen. Why do we let people just cross it and hope we head it out? Get against the wingers and stop the cross. Simple.’
England simply couldn’t.
