England told to sack Thomas Tuchel immediately after damning stat emerges | Football | Sport
England have been urged to immediately give Thomas Tuchel his marching orders in the wake of their dramatic World Cup semi-final collapse against Argentina. Two late goals from Enzo Fernandez and Lautaro Martinez broke English hearts as the Three Lions capitulated after taking the lead through Anthony Gordon. Rather than pushing for an insurance goal, England sat back and invited pressure, a strategy that ultimately backfired.
Tuchel made a number of defensive changes in an effort to protect England’s lead in the closing stages of the match. They ended up with six defenders on the pitch as they adopted a 5-4-1 formation, with Nico O’Reilly coming into central midfield. They essentially invited Argentina to launch wave after wave of attacks, which led to Fernandes scoring a late equaliser before Martinez headed home deep into stoppage time.
England were so passive after taking the lead that they only had 12 per cent of possession between Gordon’s opener and Martinez’s winner, a damning illustration of just how dominant Argentina were.
The manner of their collapse has led to Tuchel’s position coming under fierce scrutiny, given that he was brought in to manage exactly those types of situations.
A furious Jamie O’Hara tore into the England manager as Argentina battled back to claim a famous victory, claiming that his ill-fated defensive shift was a “sackable offence”.
Reacting to Fernandez’s equaliser on talkSPORT, the former Tottenham midfielder said: “He cannot play like this against Argentina. They will not quit. It’s a terrible, terrible decision from Thomas Tuchel. We retreated way too early.
“We could’ve had [Marcus] Rashford [coming off the bench], we could’ve had Saka. We had so much more to give in this game and we just retreated. It’s a terrible decision. This is what he was brought in for, to get this decision right.”
A few minutes later, when Martinez rose highest to win it for Argentina, O’Hara shouted: “Oh my God, we’re out. It’s the worst decision ever, it’s a sackable offence. Argentina have won it.
“It’s a shocking, shocking decision. Thomas Tuchel, you should be embarrassed! Sack him, sack him, sack him! Sack him now! Embarrassing!
“How can you make that decision? With 25 minutes to go, he’s all over the place, he’s absolutely bottled it and we’re out of the World Cup because of Thomas Tuchel. Embarrassing!”
In spite of the criticism aimed in his direction, Tuchel has already insisted that he will be staying on to see out the remainder of his contract, which runs until Euro 2028.
Speaking after the match, he said: “We keep on going with the contract until the home Euros. I’m looking forward to that, even though right now it’s difficult to look that far ahead.”
