World Cup 2026: Mexico, USA and Canada

[DeanoAustin]

I think the players let him down, the goals were both from basic mistakes.

The work rate just wasn't there when it needed to be.

Don't agree. They were pulled all over the shop by great Argentinian play. They had no legs and they had no out-ball. That's the massive criticism of Tuchel here. He sat in too early and he sat in too much. It's fine going defensive but very difficult to stay that solid against 30 minutes of an onslaught from world class players. You need to have some form of threat to take the pressure off and to make the opposition think. England had none of that. The manager got it very wrong IMO.

You can point to individuals. I don't know how the lad gets between James and the CB for the second goal. However, with the pressure England were under, mistakes were always going to happen - if you'd have seen it out, you needed a massive slice of luck.

 

[Bishop]

We were nothing like a counter threat either

When I saw the starting line up I was surprised that Saka wasn't starting. This game seemed made for him, strong on the ball, able to beat his man and threat from a cross or shot but you know fair enough, he picked who he picked.

It's the 2nd half when the squeeze started and he took off Gordon but didn't replace with a another wide man that was surprising and as the half progressed England had like you say 0 counter threat and he never made the move to create some.

I saw something today about Tuchel being a "feelings" coach and so maybe in his bones he thought England would not concede and probably every save and post hit convinced him more and more that it was his day I'm guessing.

For me a disappointing end but really I never thought England good enough to win the whole thing and their performances throughout have been unconvincing to say the least. If you want to brickhouse yourself to a World Cup you really need a world class defence and England definetly don't have that.

 

[glorygloryeze?]

It's interesting how many Argentinian managers have been managing at this world cup.

In fact, apart from Brazil, i believe all the South American teams were managed by Argentinians...

 

[harr1984]

When I saw the starting line up I was surprised that Saka wasn't starting. This game seemed made for him, strong on the ball, able to beat his man and threat from a cross or shot but you know fair enough, he picked who he picked.

It's the 2nd half when the squeeze started and he took off Gordon but didn't replace with a another wide man that was surprising and as the half progressed England had like you say 0 counter threat and he never made the move to create some.

I saw something today about Tuchel being a "feelings" coach and so maybe in his bones he thought England would not concede and probably every save and post hit convinced him more and more that it was his day I'm guessing.

For me a disappointing end but really I never thought England good enough to win the whole thing and their performances throughout have been unconvincing to say the least. If you want to brickhouse yourself to a World Cup you really need a world class defence and England definetly don't have that.

Saka clearly wasn't fit, in fact that seemed an issue with fair few of the squad and that's my main gripe with Tuchel - the squad he picked hamstrung us from the get go.

It all will be and has been dissected until the cows come home. But the simple fact is we've been through a load of 'top' managers and we still constantly come up with the same problem - Against the top teams we can't keep the ball, and until we learn to do that we aren't winning anything.

Our players are forever overhyped in this country, and just not on a level technically with the big boys.....

 

[glorygloryeze?]

Saka clearly wasn't fit, in fact that seemed an issue with fair few of the squad and that's my main gripe with Tuchel - the squad he picked hamstrung us from the get go.

It all will be and has been dissected until the cows come home. But the simple fact is we've been through a load of 'top' managers and we still constantly come up with the same problem - Against the top teams we can't keep the ball, and until we learn to do that we aren't winning anything.

Our players are forever overhyped in this country, and just not on a level technically with the big boys.....

When a manager doesn't pick many of the technical players at his disposal (MGW, Palmer, Trent, Wharton etc) he is adding extra problems by himself.

In the past we absolutely can claim players 'can't keep the ball' etc, but Tuchel doesn't have the luxury of that excuse now

 

[parklane1]

Saka clearly wasn't fit, in fact that seemed an issue with fair few of the squad and that's my main gripe with Tuchel - the squad he picked hamstrung us from the get go.

It all will be and has been dissected until the cows come home. But the simple fact is we've been through a load of 'top' managers and we still constantly come up with the same problem - Against the top teams we can't keep the ball, and until we learn to do that we aren't winning anything.

Our players are forever overhyped in this country, and just not on a level technically with the big boys.....

They really are and have been for quite a while.

 

[Bishop]

It's interesting how many Argentinian managers have been managing at this world cup.

In fact, apart from Brazil, i believe all the South American teams were managed by Argentinians...

They have fantastic coaches and a real record of exporting top coaches as well.

 

[Bishop]

When a manager doesn't pick many of the technical players at his disposal (MGW, Palmer, Trent, Wharton etc) he is adding extra problems by himself.

In the past we absolutely can claim players 'can't keep the ball' etc, but Tuchel doesn't have the luxury of that excuse now

Even if he had picked those guys the same problems would still exist, to a lesser extent but still the same. England do not have a orchestrator and pretty never do and until they have one who take a ball under pressure and conduct the play in the middle it's gonna continue to be P+P (Pace and passion), which isn't enough to beat the best teams because they also have passion and usually with passing an technique to go with it.

 

[harr1984]

When a manager doesn't pick many of the technical players at his disposal (MGW, Palmer, Trent, Wharton etc) he is adding extra problems by himself.

In the past we absolutely can claim players 'can't keep the ball' etc, but Tuchel doesn't have the luxury of that excuse now

Those players have been picked in squads and you still saw the same issues, just because they werent at the WC doesn't change that. Technically we are nowhere near....

 

[Jurgen the German]

Those chances were after we scored
They also hit the post twice
He hasn’t influenced the semis
But he hasn’t had a team that has influenced them either. That’s true too
Yesterday was 100% about the manager imo
Naive mistakes form a smart, very good coach

I'd agree the team doesn't always help him, and I'd also agree the manager was largely to blame last night.

That being said, Kane is considered a world-class player. World-class players are expected to drag their team over the line every now and then. If he consistently doesn't produce in the biggest games, people are naturally going to notice.

That's part of being regarded as one of the best strikers in the world. You get all the praise and adulation when you're scoring 50 goals a season, but it also comes with scrutiny when you don't have an impact in the biggest moments. That's just part of the territory.

 

[glorygloryeze?]

Even if he had picked those guys the same problems would still exist, to a lesser extent but still the same. England do not have a orchestrator and pretty never do and until they have one who take a ball under pressure and conduct the play in the middle it's gonna continue to be P+P (Pace and passion), which isn't enough to beat the best teams because they also have passion and usually with passing an technique to go with it.

I disagree. MGW and Wharton are excellent passers and have shown they can play under pressure/tight spaces. Heck, even Maddison and Grealish have such qualities to certain extent. Any of those players would have helped yesterday, to at least keep some possession and aligned with some pace on gthe break, given us some attacking outlet to exploit Argentina's defence and push them back.

England have gotten to 4 semi-finals out of the last 5 tournaments, so that somewhat debunks the idea that England are "nothing but P&P"

 

[Seedy Ron]

Let’s hope Lankshear has done enough for us to be in the conversation

Last time we won it we had a World Cup Willie. Nailed on.

 

[glorygloryeze?]

Those players have been picked in squads and you still saw the same issues, just because they went at the WC doesn't change that. Technically we are nowhere near....

As i said in the post above, England have gotten to 4 semiu-finals out of last 5 tournaments. Not technically at the levels of Spain perhaps but certainly technically equal to Argentina minus Messi.

All this 'lost because of lack of technical skills' is just giving Tuchel an easy excuse

 

[glorygloryeze?]

Last time we won it we had a World Cup Willie. Nailed on.

Oohh err... was it a big one?

 

[harr1984]

As i said in the post above, England have gotten to 4 semiu-finals out of last 5 tournaments. Not technically at the levels of Spain perhaps but certainly technically equal to Argentina minus Messi.

All this 'lost because of lack of technical skills' is just giving Tuchel an easy excuse

Nope, I've said Tuchel is partly to blame. But the same issues have persisted with various top managers we have had, our players are not good enough to win tournaments.

We get to whatever part of the tournament where we play teams we should beat, as soon as we play one of the real challengers we flop....

 

[Lemonade Money]

I think the players let him down, the goals were both from basic mistakes.

The work rate just wasn't there when it needed to be.

You could see him forcing everyone back, we were far too deep for a well executed low block.

 

[glorygloryeze?]

Nope, I've said Tuchel is partly to blame. But the same issues have persisted with various top managers we have had, our players are not good enough to win tournaments.

We get to whatever part of the tournament where we play teams we should beat, as soon as we play one of the real challengers we flop....

Who exactly are these "top managers", apart from Tuchel?

 

[Baleforce]

You could see him forcing everyone back, we were far too deep for a well executed low block.

You've just got to do your job, press the guy, run with the guy, mark the guy tight, if the ball comes into your zone win it. Don't get beat in the air, don't get beat on the floor.

It's just a matter of execution, Argentina executed, we didn't.

 

[glasgowspur]

Last time we won it we had a World Cup Willie. Nailed on.

That sounds painful.

 

[Jurgen the German]

When I saw the starting line up I was surprised that Saka wasn't starting. This game seemed made for him, strong on the ball, able to beat his man and threat from a cross or shot but you know fair enough, he picked who he picked.

It's the 2nd half when the squeeze started and he took off Gordon but didn't replace with a another wide man that was surprising and as the half progressed England had like you say 0 counter threat and he never made the move to create some.

I saw something today about Tuchel being a "feelings" coach and so maybe in his bones he thought England would not concede and probably every save and post hit convinced him more and more that it was his day I'm guessing.

For me a disappointing end but really I never thought England good enough to win the whole thing and their performances throughout have been unconvincing to say the least. If you want to brickhouse yourself to a World Cup you really need a world class defence and England definetly don't have that.

Like most tournaments with England, I feel we “could” win rather than “should”. There’s always 4-5 teams at every tournament who are capable of winning it. We were one of them as we were in 2006, 2018 and 2024. We have a tendency in this country to massively overrate our players and forget that other countries also have world class players too. We thought we just had to turn up in 2006, conveniently forgetting Italy, France and Brazil had world class players too.