England manager Thomas Tuchel has been criticized by BBC pundit Wayne Rooney after losing to Argentina in the World Cup semi-finals.
Wayne Rooney didn’t hold back to the BBC about Thomas Tuchel
Wayne Rooney has accused England manager Thomas Tuchel of “surrendering” after losing the lead to Argentina in the World Cup semi-finals. The former England captain was unhappy with his side becoming increasingly defensive after Anthony Gordon’s goal gave them the lead against Atlanta.
Ezri Konsa came on as the scorer after the second half water break, with Reece James and Declan Rice replaced by Dan Byrne and Nico O’Reilly. Two minutes after the double substitution, Enzo Fernandes scored the equalizer.
Byrne previously watched games against Mexico and Norway. However, things didn’t go well against Argentina, with Lautaro Martinez scoring the winning goal in the closing stages.
Rooney told BBC One: “Panic, really panic. You can’t go one goal and then surrender. You give up the ball and give up the chance to get a second goal. When Argentina are under pressure to get back into the game, you want to be in front.”
He added: “If you’re on that pitch, look at the changes the manager is making since you’re 1-0 up… you’re losing faith. There’s only so many times you can get away with that. You start thinking, ‘We’re going to wait and see, how are we going to get through this?'”
Rooney explained: “We were in a very good position and we didn’t know what to do. We stood back and let them come at us. They created a lot of chances and we beat them. It was really disappointing.”
Thomas Tuchel criticized after England’s defeat to Argentina (Image: Getty Images)
He added: “The fans have spent a lot of money to come here and we expected more in this match. Argentina are world champions. We knew this would be the difference. The changes we made didn’t help us. We were devastated. Sometimes you need a bit of luck to win these tournaments.”
And the pundit said: “After he scored the first goal, he had no intention of going for the second goal.
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“For the players and for me, Thomas Tuchel made a decision. When you make a decision, it’s a gamble. The gamble he made was to play the game with five men, so they could dictate the game.”
“To be honest, the decisions made by coach Thomas Tuchel cost us tonight.”
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