Thomas Tuchel should resign after wasting England's golden World Cup opportunity

Thomas Tuchel oversaw England’s disastrous late collapse against Argentina (Picture: Getty)

Different manager, different set of players, different opposition but the same old outcome.

Latter stage tournament heartache has become such a frequent occurance for the

England

men’s team that the pain doesn’t even sting in quite the same way it once did.

Ultimately, the overriding emotion after defeat to a Lionel Messi-inspired Argentina was one of a wasted opportunity.

England were fortuitous to have found themselves ahead 10 minutes after the restart, albeit through a well-crafted goal, following a tetchy opening period full of niggle and needle.

From a position of strength, faced with a wounded Argentina who were clearly vulnerable on the flanks, England tossed away the initiative and momentum with a flurry of confusingly negative substitutions that can only be described as a complete and utter head-loss.

You will most likely have seen the numbers and statistics doing the rounds already, but it’s worth reiterating that from the moment

Anthony Gordon

prodded England into the lead, the Three Lions managed just 12% ball possession, completed seven passes in the opposition half and registered not a single, solitary touch in Argentina’s penalty area.

You will struggle to win any game of football at any level posting numbers like that, let alone against the defending world champions who still boast the planet’s greatest ever footballer.

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The sight of England lumping the ball up field to Dan Burn in the closing stages was a depressing one (Picture: Getty)

Lionel Messi could hardly believe his luck as he was allowed to weave his magic in the second half (Picture: Getty)

For all their unsavoury antics you have to take a moment amid the wreckage of another semi-final exit to marvel at this relentless Argentina side. This is a remarkable group of players who consistently look defeat in the face and laugh, safe in the knowledge that they and Messi will almost inevitably find an answer.

Joe Hart

came close to perfectly summing up Argentina’s talismanic No.10 up in the aftermath of another virtuoso display by equating him to a skeleton key, only on this occasion he required none of his lock picking expertise given England had left the front door, garage and gate wide open, allowing him to be able to revel in wide open spaces.

Indeed, Tuchel’s men retreated so quickly and so deeply they may as well have been dressed in white flags rather than white shirts.

Quite where this leaves England and their highly-paid manager,

who appears to be safe for now

, is all of a sudden an extremely pertinent question, even if it’s a decision that should probably wait until heads are calmer and cooler.

While his players should shoulder little of the blame, especially given their exploits over the last seven weeks in testing and varied conditions, Tuchel will now feel the full force of a media and fan-led backlash.

Despite passing many a tests en route to the last four, failing in a such a familiar fashion, parking an entire depot, let alone a solitary bus, sacking Tuchel should be under consideration.

Having repeated all the in-game managerial crimes

Gareth Southgate

,

Roy Hodgson

and Fabio Capello committed in the space of 10 madcap minutes, many are left wondering what the Football Association has been paying for and whether it was worth it.

Kobbie Mainoo hasn’t played a single minute during England’s World Cup campaign (Picture: Getty)

Bringing on Ezri Konsa in the second half represented a particularly baffling decision (Picture: Getty)

There are no doubt financial considerations to take into account before pulling the trigger but arguably the only reason to persist with Tuchel after such a hapless display of coaching, the main quality he was supposed to bring to the England dugout, is the lack of viable alternatives.

Pep Guardiola

, the current favourite, surely doesn’t need the hassle and will no doubt enjoy a period out of the spotlight, while the rest of the potential candidates are either not ready, or inspire little confidence they are capable of adding the missing ingredient.

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