Gary Lineker expressed bewilderment at Thomas Tuchel’s tactical decisions during England’s 2-1 World Cup semifinal defeat to Argentina, labeling the approach ‘unfathomable’ and ‘astonishing.’ Argentina rallied with two late goals in Atlanta to reach the final, overturning Anthony Gordon’s 55th-minute opener.
Defensive substitutions backfire
After Gordon’s goal, England retreated, and Tuchel made defensive changes: Ezri Konsa replaced Gordon in the 72nd minute, followed by Nico O’Reilly and Dan Burn for Declan Rice and Reece James ten minutes later. This left England with five at the back, inviting pressure. Argentina equalized through Enzo Fernandez in the 85th minute, who scored from 20 yards with ample space. In injury time, Lautaro Martinez headed the winner from a Lionel Messi cross.
Lineker’s criticism
Speaking on The Rest Is Football, Lineker said: ‘He said after the Croatia game that if we lose we’ll lose our way, by playing aggressive, attacking football. He went totally against that, didn’t he? You’ve got to believe in yourself. As soon as we went a goal up, they sat deep and the substitutes that he made made that even deeper.’
Lineker added: ‘He took Gordon off and obviously Konsa on, he turns to a five at the back and he brings Dan Burn on. So we’re going to play a really low block against a team that are very good at playing against a low block because they’ve got Messi. What they don’t offer a threat in is if you play a high line and play up because they’ve got no threat behind. It made zero sense to me. I think tactically it was astonishing.’
‘Inexplicable’ defending against Messi
The former England striker continued: ‘A lot of frustration. I found it absolutely unfathomable that you’ve got as a tactic, you sit everyone deep, playing against the greatest player that’s ever played football – and I think he’s just cementing that game after game after game. He moves to the right, you play in a back five and you still don’t get tight to him. Just put someone on him! He had so much space, he just whipped ball after ball after ball into the box. It was inexplicable to me that they didn’t try and get tight to the one player that can destroy you.’
Tuchel takes responsibility
Tuchel acknowledged England were the better side until they scored, but the mindset shifted. He told ITV: ‘I think we were deservedly up 1-0, I think the momentum changed after that. They had nothing to lose and we suddenly played like we had a lot to lose. They took more and more risks and turned the game around in the last 10 minutes. We didn’t have enough possession, couldn’t escape the pressure anymore and tried everything but couldn’t get hold of the ball. Then it’s like you’re dying a slow death.’
On his substitutions, Tuchel said: ‘I take the responsibility for the substitutions. It’s easy to be a coach after the game and tell the story from the result. No one can prove what would have happened with other substitutions. I thought we needed a back five to close the gaps for all the crossing. They played with two wide wingers and two strikers so they had four players in the last line, so it made sense to me to have five players in the last line. But we didn’t stop the second line from coming through the gaps. We were not physical enough in these moments. Anyway, it’s not a matter of structure, you can play in any structure, but we got too passive and got punished for that.’
