Passive. Cowardly. Negative. All words England fans and detractors levelled at former boss Gareth Southgate during a promising but ultimately flawed reign.
Opportunities came and went. A World Cup semi-final against Croatia in 2018 presented itself as a golden chance to reach the sport’s showpiece occasion for only the second time.
An early lead and spirited first-half made way for a loss of control and an exit that left fans wondering if they would ever have a clearer path to the final.
The story repeated itself two years later at the Euros. A blistering start, a slow retreat and another fall, this time at the final hurdle.
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Four years on, the medals were silver again. In one of his first interviews as Southgate’s replacement at the start of 2025, Tuchel was asked for his assessment of the nation’s Euro 2024 campaign – and he aimed some pointed words at the old regime.
What was missing? ‘The identity, the clarity, the rhythm, the repetition of patterns,’ he said. ‘The freedom of players, the expression of players, the hunger.
‘They were more afraid to drop out of the tournament, in my observation, than having the excitement and hunger to win it.’
That final line was lauded by fans.
‘This is what we want to hear. He’s spot on as well with his assessment of the last tournaments. They were there for the taking and we were too afraid to lose rather than go out and win it.’
‘So refreshing. Been crying out for a manager who actually has the bravery to let them play with freedom and get the best out of what is a very talented group. World Cup can’t come soon enough.’
That World Cup has now also come and gone, ending in defeat to Argentina, and with Tuchel left facing all the same criticisms he had passionately spoken out against.
Opta stats show that in the 30 minutes after England took the lead last night they had just 12% possession, ‘the lowest by a team in the lead for at least 10 minutes at the World Cup in the last 60 years’.
Pundits heavily criticised Tuchel’s tactical changes and substitutions in the aftermath, with former England captain Wayne Rooney saying: ‘If you’re an attacking player on that pitch and you go 1-0 up, and you see the changes that the manager is making, you’re losing belief.
‘And you’re thinking there’s only so many times we are going to get away with it. The changes we made didn’t help us.
‘It’s a panic, a real panic, you can’t go a goal up and then surrender the ball, surrender any opportunity to try to get the second goal.
‘You want to be on the front foot, the pressure is on Argentina to get back in the game, if you go and put pressure on the ball, put tackles in, make runs in behind, they’ll feel it.’
His former international teammate Joe Hart suggested the mentality Tuchel criticised simply hadn’t changed. ‘I think Gareth Southgate will be at home watching this game. He took a lot of criticism when it came to the big moments with England when they had the lead and when they were in big games about shutting up shop, but I don’t see anything’s changed in that big moment out there,’ he said.
‘Thomas Tuchel, for as much praise as we’ve given him, for him to change it as soon as he did, I think he realised, that’s him saying that he didn’t believe in his team, they didn’t think they could land any more punches on Argentina.’
Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni even offered up a scathing analysis of his opponent, saying he felt England ‘doubting themselves’ as they got closer to the finishing line.
‘We all felt it, we smelt blood and went for it,’ he said. ‘There was a vacuum inside [England’s] goal. The ball went in after hitting the post twice. After England scored we showed a lot about our football. It’s more than tactics and playing pretty football.’
While Gary Lineker labelled Tuchel’s decisions ‘unfathomable’ and Chris Sutton branded it a ‘coaching catastrophe’, Tuchel sought to defend the approach.
‘We tried to help, but of course the responsibility is on the coach; if it doesn’t go well, it’s easy to say it was wrong’ he said.
Asked if England should have instead pushed for a second goal, he responded: ‘Yeah, but it doesn’t help if you don’t have the ball. You can discuss this with a million coaches. I have to make a decision on the pitch. That’s how I analysed the match and I took the responsibility.
‘The team gave everything and we were very, very close. I think we deserved to be up 1-0. We played one of our better matches, maybe the best match in the circumstances.
‘The team was top, but we couldn’t bring it over the line.’