FIFA World Cup 2026: England Tournament Thread [R]

You can definitely argue that Tuchel has been unlucky with a huge number of the player pool all getting injured or becoming injury prone at the same time.

Even then though I struggle to buy it as an argument in his defence as he hasn't properly utilised the good quality options that were fit and in form.

Hall, Scott, MLS and Curtis Jones all could've made a big difference to the squad. Even MGW in the midfield role he'd stupidly assigned to Eze would've been an improvement.

 

Yes he made them scary and physical but it was a huge gamble. If Swiss and France won their games he could have maybe even pulled it off because athletically he built a team of monsters for sure but Argentina/Spain were going to be trouble. Yes the players individually are fantastic but the balance is not there.

Even Germany had Kroos/Ozil in 2014. You can be a vertical pressing machine but you need some press resistance of your own. I frankly don't believe he wanted England to win the world cup all that much. Even on a subconscious level.

 

The saddest part for me is during Southgates 2nd cycle he finally had the profile of players to make England significantly more press resistant than previous teams had been.

Foden, Palmer, Saka, Bellingham and Mainoo etc all have the profile to play that way.
And Southgate was brave enough to move us in that direction and start building a team around these players in Euro2024.

But Tuchel obviously abandoned that direction from day one and from the beginning of the qualifiers, it became clear what direction he was taking when he began building around Rogers, Gordon, Madueke and Anderson. Very different profile of player to Southgate in 2024. And again they're almost like the teams he built at Dortmund and Bayern.

 

Yes 1000% surely there is a happy medium between Southgate and Tuchel. Micheal Carrick or Lampard could do the job maybe. Someone that is progressive but also not just a people pleaser which was Southgate's flaw not his tactics. Tuchel was ruthless which is good but not toward the right end.

 

I’m getting a feeling . I think Tuchel will go between now and the Euros. Things will get so rough an u turn will occur and he will quit or be sacked after some humiliating result/s.

 

Looking at the comments, there's unanimous agreement that Tuchel got everything wrong, from squad, to tactics, to his general demeanor, and even non-England fans like myself know full well England could have fared much better than this.

Suppose Tuchel packed it in or got the sack, who would you lot think should get the job? And maybe it's worth asking, are there any Englishmen good enough for the job?

 

English football sold it’s soul down the river for a German manager to play anti football and lose to Argentina after being 1-0 up in a World Cup semi final. On some level this is worse than Iceland.

— Buvey (@lawrence_bury) July 15, 2026

I like Buvey don't care what people say!

 

With your track record on your feelings and predictions, he will be manager at the 2050 world cup

 

Tuchels one of those typical narcissist type of coaches who likes to make it all about him.

He falls out with people nearly everywhere he goes. Very similar to Conte, Mourinho in many regards. Except Tuchel doesn't have the ability to insert the siege mentality into his teams as well as the other two can do for the first two yrs when they take over a team

 

Pep?

 

Roberto Martinez

 

I had that thought earlier

The FA would be all about that.

 

We can only hope him and Mark Bullingham fall out eventually.

 

I think the outrage if they hired him would be loud.

 

I do think that in terms of English candidates, unless you can convince Carsley to take the job full-time there isn't another obvious option.

Carrick obviously wouldn't leave Man United and I don't think Lampard leaves Coventry yet. I don't think Howe would leave Newcastle either (wouldn't want him anyway).

Then again I'd probably take Jack Wilshere over Tuchel at this point.

 

Yea, Pep would be the top candidate. Eddie Howe?

 

Lewis Hall would have been a game-changer playing out of pressure in a game like this.

 

I am not even sure the FA would offer it to Carsley. If Tuchel does go at any point before the Euros it will be hard to tell who the FA go for.

I can’t shake the feeling they would try and presuade Southgate back for one last go of the Euros.

 

I honestly wouldn’t be shocked if on Saturday Henderson in his cast comes on but not Mainoo.

I don’t think he likes MGW attitude for some reason. It seems like MGW doesn’t like him too much either,

 

We just need someone to sharply pivot us away from the direction he's taken England in for the past two yrs.

Forget about tonight result for a minute. It's been a complete disaster since he took over.

The FA should ask Harry Redknapp if he would be interested in taking the job until the Euros. Can even bring in a backroom team to mitigate any weaknesses.

 

Even with Mainoo a lot of his best games at club level have been in matches that mirror the dynamic of the last half an hour tonight. Backs to the wall type games where Man United have seen less of the ball. City at home this season for example.

 

Arsenal players. Just keep them away from England. They play only for the club and have nothing left for us, Except Odegard, he voided playing for Arsenal, so he was fit for Norway. Meanwhile Rice played all games, and Saka is ruined.