England’s World Cup dream ended in Atlanta on Wednesday night, as a 2-1 semi-final defeat to Argentina turned from routine heartbreak into a source of real fury among fans.
Thomas Tuchel’s decision to substitute goalscorer Anthony Gordon for an extra defender in the second half, while England held a one-goal lead, has been blamed by many for gifting Lionel Messi and Argentina the platform to turn the game around.
But not everyone agrees that the manager is the one to blame. Plenty of readers argue Argentina had already begun to dominate before the substitutions were made, and that England’s real problem runs deeper than one tactical call – pointing to a familiar pattern of promising sides losing their nerve once they take the lead against stronger opposition.
Others have gone further still, arguing this was simply a case of the better team winning, and that no amount of tinkering with the substitutes’ bench would have changed the outcome.
Here’s what you had to say:
Tuchel threw the game away
TUCHEL THREW THE GAME AWAY! Why on earth pick a substandard Declan Rice, who was way off it all game, and take off the left winger – one of the few bright sparks, along with Spence – and replace him with a centre-back? Obvious we were going to concede, and once the equaliser went in there was only ever going to be one winner. Just like France crashed out last night against Spain with barely a whimper, this was a total damp squib of a performance. I always knew when Tuchel turned his back on Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw that we would regret it, and seeing the ball banged long for Dan Burn simply underlined what idiocy it was to let a personal prejudice get in the way of selecting players in form. Kobbie Mainoo now has two managers who don’t believe in him.
The real problems came with the substitutions
People everywhere complaining Kane and Bellingham weren’t in the game. Fair enough, they weren’t really, but that’s because Argentina did a job on them, particularly by making the middle of the park so tight. We used that well to exploit space on the flanks, from which our goal came – winger Morgan crossing for winger Gordon to score. Kane actually did a reasonable job dropping back to help keep Messi quiet, and Bellingham was always looking for a way to get forward with the ball even when he was being chopped down by the Argentinians. The real problems came when Tuchel sacrificed our attacking ability by bringing off our goalscorer and throwing on too many defenders. I’m sure everyone else will have their own opinions, though.
Easy to criticise after a loss
The lads did well. Tuchel made the best decision he could given the circumstances – it’s easy to criticise after a loss; had it been a win, he would have been highly praised for his clever defensive tactics. Argentina played well; they were, unfortunately, the better team.
History repeats itself
In 1970 England played West Germany in the World Cup quarter-final in Mexico and raced to an early 2–0 lead. Then England started replacing forwards with defenders and lost 3–2. History repeats itself. As they say, “the best form of defence is attack.” Perhaps they’ll listen next time?
Tuchel was between a rock and a hard place
I think Tuchel was between a rock and a hard place. We were quite good and mainly in control until we scored. Then straightaway we had two or three minutes of defensive confusion, which seemed to ignite Argentina, who began to really push. We couldn’t get a touch – twelve per cent possession after Gordon scored until their winner – and when we did get the ball, we were indecisive. We were being pushed deeper and deeper. Did it look like adding fresh legs up front would bring us any joy when we couldn’t win or keep the ball? Honestly, I don’t think that would have worked either.
There is a mental issue with successive England teams – the players, not just the managers – they don’t believe they can win against top opposition, so they don’t. They may get in front, but they stop what they were doing to get the lead and sit back. Tuchel is and will get stick, and if we had lost following attacking substitutions, which I think we still would have, he would have been crucified for not recognising that Argentina were dominant in the game and leaving our defenders tired and exposed. Unfortunately, Argentina, with Messi, are a better side than us, and they deserved to win.
The style of football was pedestrian
Despite a long line of excellent managers going back to Terry Venables, the style of football has remained pedestrian and much the same. They stole a lead against Argentina, sat back and tried to kill the game with almost a whole half still to play, and eventually they were broken down and beaten by a far better team, tactically and technically, and – perhaps more importantly – with a tremendous desire to win.
He would be hailed a genius if it had worked
He put more defenders on when we were defending a one-goal lead. If it had worked, he would be proclaimed as a German football genius. It didn’t, and now he’s accused of incompetence and cowardice.
No tradition of winning
The simple fact of the matter is that England are, in international terms, a smaller team. England haven’t won a tournament in sixty years. They have no tradition of winning, no memory of winning, and consequently they do exactly what all smaller teams do in their position – they can’t believe they’re ahead, they don’t really believe they’re going to win, they panic, crawl into their shell and try to “hold what we have”. It almost never works, and certainly not with thirty minutes still to play. Egypt did exactly the same, with exactly the same result.
It’s not all on Tuchel
Was sitting back on a one-goal lead a wise decision? Clearly not in hindsight, but Argentina looked the more threatening throughout the game, albeit without creating much in the way of clear-cut chances – but their game plan changed as much as England’s after the goal, so it’s not all on Tuchel.
We were scared to win
England are an average international team. Argentina are a very good one. Messi is literally a footballing god. We were never likely to win. In fact, unlike Argentina, we were scared to win.
Not good enough to beat a top power
England just haven’t got players good enough to defeat a top power like Argentina – it’s as simple as that. Everything was in England’s favour, a goal totally against the run of play in the second half against an Argentina side who showed what they’re made of, and, let’s be honest, should have won by a lot more.
Argentina should have been carded more
We did lose – that much is true, and well done to Argentina. However, one point I must make is that if Argentina’s players had been carded correctly throughout the tournament, the aggressive confidence that wins them games would have knocked out key players and forced them to play with the care and self-control that can lose challenges and hinder drive. The only team carded less for fouls than Argentina was Norway.
Teams that even our own commentators praise liberally as strong and powerful are actually often exhibiting behaviour that is devious and privileged – I thought commentator Guy Mowbray was going to put on an Argentina shirt and get on the pitch, the amount he adored them as they got away with foul after foul.
Some of the comments have been edited for this article for brevity and clarity.
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