15 Jul 2026 22:29:11
At one nil, I was thinking if Tuchel is available I would take him after Carrick, but then watching him bottle it by being so defensive no thanks.
15 Jul 2026 22:37:06
Yeah, he's an awful manager. Sucks the life out of every game. Deserved to go out putting 11 men behind the ball against an average Argentinian side. Gutted.
15 Jul 2026 22:42:29
To be fair, there are probably some very good reasons why I'm a Geography teacher and not a football manager. However, I hate seeing managers going defensive and trying to hold onto 1 goal leads.
It just invites pressure, and if you do concede, it's almost impossible to get the momentum back if you've made several defensive subs.
You go a goal up, and you know the opposition will have to come out and attack you; that will leave space to counter. So make the attacking sub, and look to keep the momentum and get the second, then the third.
Inviting pressure nearly always leads to conceding.
15 Jul 2026 22:45:31
6 defenders on the pitch is disgraceful, especially with no outlet, asking to be beaten.
15 Jul 2026 23:03:40
Yup. Bottled it. All on Tuchel tonight.
15 Jul 2026 23:27:05
Eric, I wouldn't lay the whole blame on the manager. Certainly he plays a big role, but ultimately our players just weren't good enough.
16 Jul 2026 00:24:17
Players virtually the same ones playing every game is not necessary in those stupid group games... Tt made terrible decisions before the tournament even started, not taking Pamer, Foden or Trent for some creativity was a sin in itself.
16 Jul 2026 00:31:12
Not sure I agree tonight, Shappy. He picked the squad that was woefully ill-equipped at full back and on the wings, and Argentina ran riot in those channels tonight once we scored.
He also played players out of position all tournament, and completely bottled tonight, trying to defend for almost 40 minutes against the world champions, on the ropes, giving the side no outlet to escape the pressure.
Saka and James were not fit enough for the tournament, and were still chosen.
Exactly what happened to Southgate's England side against Italy in the Euro finals.
16 Jul 2026 08:17:17
I disagree, Shappy.
We didn't get to find out if the players were good enough, because Tuchel decided to stop trying to play football once we scored.
Since Argentina didn't start playing football until then, we never got to see which team was better at football.
If Tuchel had made different decisions, kept trying to play instead of parking the bus, and Argentina were just better, that would be fine, but that didn't happen.
16 Jul 2026 09:54:04
I think he got most, if not all, of the big calls right up until last night.
The same tactics worked great against Mexico with one less man. Sadly, Argentina have a bit more about them, the passes and crosses going in were better, and the players on the end of them were better.
Suddenly, when Konsa and Burn were on and we were chasing a goal, it didn't look so clever. Kane was crap in both games after Mexico.
16 Jul 2026 11:20:08
I think even his calls before the tournament started were wrong. Why no creativity taken with Foden, Trent, and Palmer overlooked for Henderson to be a cheer leader, Mainoo to keep the bench warm. Foden and Palmer would have been better to take than those two, at least they are capable of changing a game. Trent can deliver a ball like no other, and we don't take him.
Tuchel then continues to play and play Kane at 32; he was not needed for all the stupid early round games, and looked dead on his feet yesterday.
Then there’s players in the squad who hardly played all season for their clubs.
And really, Dan Burn & Konsa is the best we got...