FA Backs Tuchel Despite World Cup Exit
Thomas Tuchel retains the support of the Football Association and its chief executive, Mark Bullingham, despite England's devastating defeat to Argentina in the World Cup quarter-finals. The German head coach has come under scrutiny for England's approach after going ahead against the World Cup holders.
Tuchel is set to remain in charge for the Three Lions' Euro 2028 campaign, reports the Times. The former Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain boss signed a two-year contract extension in February which lasts until after that tournament.
Argentina 'Smelt Blood' After England Dropped Deep
Argentina boss Lionel Scaloni admitted that his team 'smelt blood' after England started to drop deep before Enzo Fernandez and Lautaro Martinez turned the match on its head following Anthony Gordon's opening goal. England's approach saw them swap to a back five, bringing on Ezri Konsa, Dan Burn and Nico O'Reilly for the final 18 minutes.
Tuchel has been unable to escape criticism, with former World Cup winners taking aim. Ex-Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas described England's approach as 'cowardly'.
'They [England] score the goal and drop back. A cowardly approach,' Casillas posted on X. 'They haven't ventured out of their own half and have allowed [Argentina] to push forward more. The inevitable happens.'
Muller and Sutton Join Criticism
Thomas Muller, who lifted the trophy in 2014, said: 'I cannot believe and understand how England approached this game after they're leading. I cannot understand how they invited Argentina to play one cross after the other in perfect crossing positions.'
Former Premier League striker Chris Sutton was scathing in his assessment and questioned Tuchel's future. He said: 'That was a coaching catastrophe from Thomas Tuchel.'
'The fact that England get themselves in front and then basically hand Argentina the initiative. Defending deep and another defender 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.'
Tuchel Defends Approach
Nevertheless, Tuchel appears to have no regrets and defended his approach. Asked about his changes following the game, he said: 'You can discuss this with a million coaches [but] I have to make a decision on the pitch.'
'I analysed the match and I did it a certain way so that's my responsibility. In the moment, no regrets. The team gave everything and we were very, very close. We deserved to be up 1-0.'
'We played one of our better matches, maybe our best match in the circumstances. The team was top, we couldn't get over the line but no regrets.'
