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England have shown character in this World Cup, coming from behind to beat them both DR Congo End-32 stage and Norway In the quarter finals.
“The difference hangs against Norway or Mexico (in the last 16), they don’t have the quality that Argentina have in terms of possession and ability to punish you,” former England captain Alan Shearer told BBC Sport.
“Tuchel played his cards very, very early and it backfired.”
England looked to have taken full control of their semi-final against their old foes when Gordon put them ahead 10 minutes into the second half.
England fans celebrated wildly – but then the Three Lions chose to sit back and defend.
Blackburn’s 1994-95 Premier League winner Chris Sutton told BBC Radio 5 Live: “England put themselves in front and then basically gave Argentina the initiative… It was a coaching disaster for Thomas Tuchel.”
“You can’t expect to defend for 30 minutes against the quality of Argentina.
“It’s all on the coach as far as I’m concerned. He’s made changes. He’s been negative, so the question I’m going to ask is ‘How do you trust Thomas Tuchel to take this team forward?'”
England have lost against Argentina in the past.
Who can forget Diego Maradona’s infamous ‘Hand of God’ goal in the 1986 World Cup? 1998 World Cup defeat That burns so deep.
England, however, have no one to blame but themselves for Wednesday’s defeat.
“Norway and Mexico are terrified against England,” former England goalkeeper Joe Hart told BBC Sport.
“I didn’t see a bit of panic from that Argentina side. I saw belief, I understood that they could unleash the giant Lionel Messi in the pocket, and they were running all over England.
“Gareth Southgate took a lot of criticism for the big moments with England, when they were ahead in big games and closed up shop. I don’t see anything changing there in those big moments.”
So what was the change that left England fans so disappointed?
Leading 1-0, many expected Tuchel to go for another goal – but instead the German made three defensive changes.
He brought on Konsa for Gordon in the 72nd minute – switching to a back five – before bringing on further defensive reinforcements in Burn and O’Reilly 10 minutes later.
Tuchel sent on Rashford and Toney in added time, but it was too late.
“I felt the changes we made at 1-0, we wouldn’t have had extra time if Argentina had scored,” Rooney added.
Former England defender Micah Richards told BBC Sport: “When England scored the first goal they should have scored the second goal.
“Yes, you respect their quality, but dropping deep allowed Argentina to get into their flow.”
Former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson, speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, said Tuchel went in too deep too soon.
“I think he got it wrong,” added Robinson, who won 41 caps for England between 2003 and 2007.
“He made a lot of decisions, but I think trying to protect the lead against this team was a bad choice.”
