'I'm not sure I have the time to coach them to keep the ball': Thomas Tuchel makes astonishing claim about England's DNA after coming under fire for tactics during defeat to Argentina

Thomas Tuchel admits it may be too difficult for his England team to play the cultured style of possession football favoured by other top international sides.

The England head coach met the media on Friday for the first time since his team’s semi-final World Cup defeat to Argentina and was taken to task over the failure of his team to control games in America and Mexico in the summer.

Tuchel offered the remarkable claim that just about every England fan he had encountered since the tournament had been positive.

‘I know 99.9 per cent of the fans don't talk about substitutions, tactical tweaks or tactical details,’ said Tuchel.

‘They speak about where they watched the Mexico game, and they speak about the second-half energy of the Croatia match.

‘They speak about how nerve-racking it was to watch our match against Congo and where they celebrated.

‘This is the feedback I get. This is what we created, and how it should be.’

Tuchel offered the remarkable claim that just about every England fan he had encountered since the tournament had been positive

The harsher reality is that, despite coming within ten minutes of reaching the final, England’s football in games against Argentina, Norway and DR Congo was not always impressive.

And, after saying on the day of his unveiling two years ago that he wanted his team to play a fast and furious Premier League game, he admitted on Friday it’s hard to maintain that style throughout a long summer tournament.

‘It’s not economical,’ he said.

However, Tuchel then admitted ahead of a Nations League meeting with World champions Spain next that he thinks the alternative still may be too hard to introduce.

‘I'm just wrestling with this myself because even if a team control matches in the Premier League, how many English players are there in these teams?’ said Tuchel.

‘Is this in our DNA? Do we really value control? Is this something that makes us feel good in a match? Is this something that comes easy to us?

‘Do we even realise: “Oh, we're controlling a midfield, everything is fine?”

‘Or do we go: “Yeah, but we're stuck in midfield. We should go, we should attack?”

‘It's all about how English fans cherish a match.

‘I don't think that an English supporter goes to a Premier League match and wants to see a controlled match and a 1-0 late win.

‘I think deep down in the core, English players - and it's a beautiful thing - and the spectators want to go for it.

‘I'm just wrestling with this myself because even if a team control matches in the Premier League, how many English players are there in these teams?’ asked Tuchel

‘Let's go. Let's play for 6-3, let's play for 4-3. Let’s not play 1-0. Bring this ball into the box. Let's play in the box.

‘I think there is no heritage of control around the middle line. No heritage of: “Oh, let's do a deep build-up and then bring them out”.

‘It's just like: “Okay, come on, let's kick the ball into the opponent's box and fight with them”.

‘And this is what I feel now that I have a tournament as an experience.

‘I feel that this team is ready to fight, is always ready to go and this is the beauty of it, that come high pressure moments, where we can play better football, where we maybe lack even a little bit of courage or this energy.’

In a robust exchange with the media at Wembley on Friday, Tuchel dismissed suggestions that he and the FA viewed the World Cup as a success.

In a robust exchange with the media at Wembley on Friday, Tuchel dismissed suggestions that he and the FA viewed the World Cup as a success

But when it was put to him that it was his job to coach his players how to control the rhythm and direction of games through possession football, he said as a national team coach he doesn’t have enough time on the grass.

‘I should be coaching them to keep the ball?', he asked.

‘That’s my job?

‘I’m not sure that I have the time to coach them to (keep the ball).

‘I should coach them to keep the ball? Ok, I need to think about this.’

Tuchel said that the review of the World Cup by the FA had been thorough and examined everything from travel to training times and even when he made his substitutions.

But he pushed back at suggestions he seemed satisfied with the outcome of the tournament.‘I never said it was a big success,’ he said.

‘I said there were a lot of positives about it.

‘I think Spain relied heavily on some last-minute goals of Mikel Merino.

‘I never said “big success”. I said it’s “unfulfilled”.

‘But why is the expectation so high? When did we last win it? When did we ever win it?

‘Why is the expectation so high that even bringing home a medal cannot be acknowledged?

‘I said today it's ambiguous. I said it is still mixed feelings.

‘I think we can play better. I think you and I are both right.

‘There is an element, which is hard for me even to acknowledge, that it is still the best result in 60 years.

‘So if you want to prove something, the medal is a kind of a proof. If you play good or not good, it's a very vague description.

‘I think in knock-out football, in tournaments, no-one wants to play good and go out.

‘Ideally you play better than we did. I 100 per cent agree.

‘Because it increases your chances to go all the way. I said it publicly after the Norway game.’