Thomas Tuchel defended his tactical decisions after England’s heartbreaking match World Cup After his semi-final defeat to Argentina, he insisted he had no regrets despite accepting responsibility for the result.
Speaking ahead of Saturday’s third-place match against France in Miami, the England coach admitted his side had become “very negative” after taking the lead, but stressed that the decisions he made were aimed at helping the team secure a place in the final.
“If you need to blame someone, I take responsibility,” Tuchel told reporters.
“I made many decisions, confident in my instinct, experience and competitiveness. I made these decisions to help the team achieve the result. We did not get the result.
“So I take responsibility for those decisions. I will regret it if I don’t try to help. I will regret it if we don’t respond.”
England seemed on its way to reaching the men’s World Cup final for the first time since 1966 after Anthony Gordon’s opening goal, but Argentina scored two goals in the final minutes through Enzo Fernandez and Lautaro Martinez.
Tuchel admitted that his team retreated a lot after taking the lead, but he explained that the tactical change was a response to Argentina’s increasing attacking threat.
He said: They made a lot of offensive changes and many offensive positions.
“We couldn’t stop the crosses and we couldn’t stop the runners inside the penalty area.
“So we decided to play with five players in the back line, to have more width up the pitch and be closer to the players delivering the crosses.
“We became very negative, and Argentina found another gear. We played against the world champions, and we were 1-0 up after 85 minutes against the best player in the world, and we lost 2-1. It hurts.”
Tuchel also rejected speculation that captain Harry Kane was instructed to play too deep during the closing stages.
“That’s what you do if you defend in a block,” he said. “We were not active enough.”
The Mexico match exhausted the players
The England coach believes the difficult road through the knockout rounds also played a role in his side’s late collapse.
He pointed to the physical effort he endured playing for more than 40 minutes with ten men against Mexico at a high altitude before beating Norway in the heat of Miami.
“The players gave literally everything physically in every match,” Tuchel said.
“If you see this decline in the data, there has to be a reason behind it, because the drive was huge.”
“We feel this pain more than anything else, and it is the scar we carry now,” he said.
“It’s my pain and the players’ pain.
“We will overcome it, we will use it and we will have a reaction.
“If we win tomorrow, it will be England’s best World Cup finish in 60 years.”
