After bailing out of the World Cup to Argentina in a pretty embarrassing way. Questions are being asked of England Head Coach Thomas Tuchel who has been under heavy pressure for the way he played and managed the team. Tuchel says that he fully commuted to England but the fans are not convinced.

What Went Wrong?

    England have been knocked out of the FIFA World Cup in the semi-finals to Argentina after losing 2-1 after 2 late goals from the South Americans. England took the lead through Anthony Gordon getting on the end of a sublime pass into the box from Morgan Roders. However, after that, for some reason, Tuchel decided to park the bus and played a very passive 5 at the back for the remainder of the game. His substitutions were also very passive taking off attacking players and goal threats such as Anthony Gordon and bringing on defensive anchors like Dan Burn. In that time, England recorded 12% possession and has 2 successful passes in a 14 minute period, which were Stones to Pickford and back. This sitting deep allowed Argentina to come forward again and again and again until the 85th minute where Enzo Fernandez bent one in to make it 1-1; a few minutes later, Lautaro Martinez headed home in the 91st minute to flip the game on its head to make it 2-1 to the holders. It almost cowardly of Tuchel to do this and it's like what a relegation threatened team does, try and nick a goal and park the bus. This is England, a nation with some of the best players and they're going to par the bus. When do you ever see Spain or France do that?

Image: Getty Images

Why Did This Fail?

    There are a plethora of reasons on why parking the bus failed. One key reason is that you give Argentina, one of the best footballing nations in the world with amazing players and tactical excellence, 88% of the ball, there is only one outcome, chances, then goals. Since the 55th minute, Argentina registered 10 shots, with 20% of them hitting the woodwork. They had an xG of 1.45 and registered 266 passes compared to England's 26, which is 9.8 times smaller than their South American opponents. Another factor on why the England all out defense failed was because Thomas Tuchel took off nealy all of his attacking sources. He took off Anthony Gordon for Ezri Konsa, Reece James for Dan Burn and Nico O'Reily for Declan Rice. He did make 2 attacking substitutions with minutes to go, but by that time it was too late. Not only did Tuchel bring off star forwards, but he surrendered the midfield. He took of key midfielder Declan Rice, who is key in breaking up play and getting it forward. This therefore allowed for more space for Argentina and specifically Messi to exploit and put even more pressure on England. On top of that, Thomas Tuchel left many elite forwards on the bench, such as, Ollie Watkins, Bukayo Sake and Ebere Eze. This rubs salt into the wounds of England fans due to the fact that he left so many amazing, creative players on the bench to basically let Argentina come at them.

What Did Argentina Do Well?

    Despite poor descisions by England, Argentina have to be credited. Throughout the tournament, they have proven time and again, that they have the guts and fight inside them to grind out results. For example, against Egypt, they were 2-0 down with 20 minutes to go and went on to win 3-2. Against England, not many teams could pull off a comeback with 15 minutes left, Agentina can. The shear will to win and fire in the belly has really pushed them through in the tournament. Additionally, they have used a system that maximises their players' capibility. Basically, their whole squad is centred around Lionel Messi. They do this by almost orienting Messi from tracking back when out of possession. Then, on the transition, when can give the ball to him so he can exploit the space with his unbelievable skills. When England retreated after scoring, Scaloni immediately saw this and pushed his defensive line forward. This allowed for their creative, attacking midfielders to push forward and join the onslaught and create chances. With England's low block, the spaces out wide were wide open for the Argentinians to attack. Lionel Scaloni put on Nicolás González on to inject Mattel wide pace as Mesi cut inside. 

Is Thomas Tuchel The Right Man For The England Job?

    Long term, Thomas Tuchel probably isn't the right man to take England into the 2028 Euros, in England. His scared, passive style is not, and never will never get the best out of the unbelievable set of elite players that England have. It's all well and good beating Albania and Panama, but when they really matter, against opposition ranked higher than them, they bottle it and don't have the guts and mental toughness to win games and most importantly tournaments. Countries like Spain and France must be laughing at England as they think 'It's Coming Home' every 2 years, just to see them chicken out of going forward and sit back and stink the place out. England need a serial winner, someone who knows that winning formula. A manager like Pep Guardiola.

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