England hero ‘was never comfortable with a German’ managing Three Lions

Former England star Joe Cole is a fan of Thomas Tuchel but ‘was never comfortable with a German’ managing the Three Lions.

Tuchel is coming under fire after England’s 2-1 defeat to Argentina in the World Cup semi-finals as his team tossed away a lead late on.

Anthony Gordon had given the English the lead on 55 minutes, but the Three Lions then retreated, with Tuchel replacing attacking threats with more and more defenders.

Argentina gladly accepted the invitation to attack and eventually found their way to goal, with Enzo Fernandez slamming in an equaliser from 20 yards on 85 minutes.

The attacking waves continued to crash down on England’s defence and the fairly flimsy backline crumbled in stoppage time, with Lautaro Martinez heading in a Lionel Messi cross.

The defending champions go on to face Spain in the World Cup final on Sunday while England have the deflating task of facing France in Saturday’s third place play-off.

Cole, who won 56 caps for England, thinks Tuchel is a brilliant boss but got it wrong on Wednesday and admits he never wanted a non-Englishman in charge of the Three Lions.

‘I loved Thomas Tuchel as a Chelsea manager and what he did, I think he’s brilliant,’ Cole said on The Rest Is Football. ‘I was never comfortable with a German managing England.

‘I think we’re England, right? I think we should be able to have an Englishman managing England. I just feel that should be something that we look at. I think it’s okay for some of the smaller nations to bring in someone else to help them develop.’

Tuchel was initially brought in on a contract that only ran until this summer, but that deal was extended until 2028 earlier this year.

Cole reckons that has now proved to be a mistake as the former Chelsea boss has not proved to be capable of what he was hired to do.

‘I love Thomas and he was brought in for that moment, when we’re at the back end of a tournament to be the difference, to make the right decisions at the big times,’ said Cole.

‘With that, it was madness to give him the two-year extension to his contract when he hasn’t delivered what he was brought in for. Gareth [Southgate] was seen to be someone who could get us close but not get us over the line, and he was brought in to be the person who makes big decisions in big moments.

‘He got it right in Mexico, we beat Norway, today was a day he needed to make big decisions and he didn’t do it.’

Tuchel’s decision to go five at the back, taking off Gordon for Ezri Konsa, has been roundly criticised, but he has explained his decision-making.

‘I thought we were the better team until we scored, but the mindset shifted, they took a lot of risk and played with a lot of quality,’ the manager told ITV.

‘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.’

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