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Thomas Tuchel: England were too passive after going in front against Argentina
Thomas Tuchel admitted his England side were “too passive” after going ahead in their World Cup semi-final against Argentina but insisted he had “no regrets” over his tactical decisions in the 2-1 defeat.
The German faced immediate criticism after England conceded twice late on, with Enzo Fernandez cancelling out Anthony Gordon’s 55th-minute strike with five minutes left before Lautaro Martinez hit a stoppage-time winner for the defending world champions.
Tuchel’s defensive substitutions did not have the desired impact as Argentina dominated the match after falling behind.
“We’re disappointed but we got too passive after we scored and conceded a lot of chances and could not turn the ball possession around,” Tuchel said on BBC Sport. “We just conceded so many crosses and chances and shots. We were close but we couldn’t keep the level up after we scored.”
Asked about his substitutions, Tuchel insisted the issue was not structural.
“Of course we wanted to go for the second goal but I did not have the feeling that offensive substitutions would help,” he said. “We stayed in our 4-4-2 but we became passive, more and more passive.
“We couldn’t win any balls, we couldn’t keep the ball, so I think it was not a structural problem, we changed nothing. But the match changed completely.
“It’s no problem, I can understand these discussions are out there and there are millions of coaches after the game who know it better.”
But even as criticism quickly followed from pundits and fans, Tuchel insisted he had no regrets.
“The team gave everything,” he said. “We were very, very close. I think we deserved to be 1-0 up. We played one of our better matches, maybe the best match in the circumstances. It was tough. We couldn’t bring it over the line. No regrets.”
