Gary Lineker livid over Tuchel U-turn as England boss slammed over ‘nonsense’ | Football | Sport

Gary Lineker believes Thomas Tuchel ‘went completely against’ his philosophy of attacking football during England’s loss to Argentina. Micah Richards also dismissed the 52-year-old’s reasoning for the defeat as ‘nonsense.’

England were knocked out of the World Cup in the semi-finals on Wednesday in heart-breaking fashion. While Anthony Gordon gave his nation the lead 55 minutes into the match, Enzo Fernandez levelled with five minutes to play. Lautaro Martinez then stole the win for Argentina two minutes into stoppage time.

However, Tuchel has faced severe criticism for his tactics after England seized the lead early in the second-half. Instead of pursuing a second goal, the Three Lions gambled everything by adopting a deep defensive line almost immediately after taking the lead.

The side dropped into a low block and limited their forward play, as they endured relentless waves of Argentinian attacks. Tuchel’s substitutions also mirrored this approach, at one stage fielding six defenders following the introductions of Nico O’Reilly, Dan Burn and Ezri Konsa from the bench.

Tuchel, in fact, didn’t introduce an attacking substitution until the damage was done, summoning Marcus Rashford and Ivan Toney when England trailed 2-1 in an attempt to regain control of proceedings. That strategy proved unsuccessful, as England crashed out of the tournament.

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Speaking following the fixture, Tuchel directed criticism towards a failure to keep hold of the ball, telling journalists: “I think ball possession plays a crucial role. It’s maybe not in our DNA like it is in the Spanish, Argentinian or Brazilian DNA.

“To take the ball and control the game and the ball, which is also a big problem. But like in every structure, it was important to stay active and push out and fight duels…we just couldn’t.

“I think in this moment my feeling is that no structure in the world could have helped us because we were too passive. We were not physical enough. We didn’t stop runs arriving in our box and the deliveries were then too good. Right after our goal, the momentum swings completely in ball possession and chances and it drops dramatically.

“We got too passive within our structure. I tried to help, not to become more passive with a back five, but to be more active, to be quicker out to the wingers, not to open up the gaps between the back four.

“We encouraged everyone to step out, to be more active within the structure, but we just struggled. We needed to get back on the ball otherwise you cannot break the pressure and you cannot get the momentum back.”

Yet those remarks have been branded ‘nonsense’ by Richards in the latest episode of The Rest Is Football. He said: “Those quotes are nonsense, aren’t they? And I’ve been talking and singing the praises of Tuchel all tournament.

“I basically said he’s been very brave, we were talking about, ‘He should have took Cole Palmer, should have took [Phil] Foden, should have took Trent [Alexander-Arnold]. I like the fact that he doesn’t listen to anyone, and he’s direct in what he wants to do.

“But then you hear these quotes and he says you’ve got no-one who can get on the ball and control the game. Well, Cole Palmer can do that, Foden can do that and Trent can do that. Kobbie Mainoo can do that, [Adam] Wharton can do that. So I feel as though he’s passing the blame when he should just be taking responsibility.”

Lineker, meanwhile, suggested that Tuchel had been somewhat contradictory with his pre-tournament pledge to embrace the England way and deliver thrilling, attacking football this summer before executing a dramatic about-face. The 65-year-old said: “His whole thing before the tournament..

“‘If we’re going to lose, we’re going to lose our way. We play aggressive football, we’re going to play attacking football.’ And then he went completely against everything that he said.”

England will now face France in a third-place play-off on Saturday. Meanwhile, Argentina will take on Spain in the World Cup final on Sunday.