Thomas Tuchel is coming on for a lot of criticism after England’s defeat to Argentina, but former Three Lions winger Andros Townsend feels the manager did little wrong.
Argentina came from behind with two late goals to beat England 2-1 in Atlanta and book a spot in the World Cup final against Spain.
The Three Lions were in a brilliant position when Anthony Gordon put them ahead on 55 minutes, but they could not capitalise.
Instead they retreated, Tuchel switched to a back five, making defensive substitutions and Argentina attacked at will.
Enzo Fernandez got the breakthrough for the defending champions, equalising on 85 minutes, before Lautaro Martinez headed in a winner in stoppage time.
The England boss inviting pressure has been widely slammed, but Townsend reckons he had little choice, given how Argentina set up after falling behind.
‘What Argentina did really changed the course of the game rather than anything Thomas Tuchel did,’ Townsend told talkSPORT.
‘I’ve watched the second half twice since the game finished, it’s been trauma but I wanted to make sure I spoke with sense.
‘After England scored, Gordon didn’t have many touches because he was having to chase Argentina back the other way.
‘Argentina made changes, they went to a 3-1-6 in the 65th minute they brought on Nico Gonzalez.
‘Thomas Tuchel tried to stay brave as long as he could, defending a 4-4-2 against a 3-1-6 is quite stupid, but he left that XI out until the hydration break, when he thought he couldn’t leave it any longer. I’m going to have to make a change, I’m going to have to be a bit more defensive. 5-3-2.
‘He gave that unit as long as possible to try and get themselves back into the game. But 20 minutes after the goal, England had probably one or two attacks, they couldn’t get themselves into the game, so the manager had to make a change, to try and contain it.’
England possessing no attacking outlet late on appeared to be a problem for them, but Townsend also feels it was the right thing to do to bring on a defender to try and contain Lionel Messi.
‘I think Nico O’Reilly was the right change,’ he said. ‘Every game, Messi starts high and tries to get the ball in the pockets as the game goes on he drops deeper and deeper and deeper. You saw the positions he was picking up in the second half, it was like a centre midfield position on the right
‘That’s what he likes to do. Thomas Tuchel getting Nico O’Reilly on to defend Messi in the left wing position was a smarter choice than getting a [Marcus] Rashford on to mark Lionel Messi. That doesn’t make sense.’
Instead of blaming the manager, Townsend felt the players’ nerves were natural in the situation but ultimately cost England a place in the World Cup final.
‘Imagine you haven’t won a World Cup in 60 years, you’re 30 minutes away from a World Cup final,’ he said. ‘You don’t want to be the man to be the scapegoat, you make a mistake. Its natural for a player to think ok, we’re going to be defensive first because I’m not going to be the man that makes a mistake.
‘I think that honest way of thinking cost them the game.’