Tuchel still can't watch Argentina collapse back - but now accepts blame for agonising exit

Thomas Tuchel has revealed he has still not been able to watch back England’s World Cup semi final defeat as it was an “agony of epic proportions.”

England boss Tuchel admitted he went defensive too early against Argentina because he felt his side were waiting for “death” with the game slipping away from them.

Tuchel was talking on the FA’s Reflections show and said he could only bring himself to watch clips of the game with his other coaches at St George’s Park last week.

But Tuchel admitted that he has not watched the game in its entirety and, while reviewing the Argentina heartbreak, repeated back some commentary which he says summed it up.

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Tuchel said: “Agony of epic proportions. I watched the clips with my coaches just last week when we were at SGP.

“My mind always works forward, forward. Painful. I see it now for the first time from the commentators’ point of view. It’s my scar, the players’ scar, I have to live with it. No-one is hurt more than me. It is torture.”

Tuchel said after the Argentina defeat that part of the problem was down to England’s DNA and a failure to keep the ball rather than negative tactics.

But on reflection, Tuchel said that he got it wrong when he saw the game slipping away from England even before Anthony Gordon gave them the lead. Argentina’s late comeback knocked England out.

Tuchel admitted they were outwitted and outsmarted by Argentina and their experience together with their tactics.

Tuchel added: “We relied on our brotherhood, our mentality. Individual quality. Argentina have that as well - brotherhood, mentality, they bring it all to the table and it means the world to them.

“You have to have football quality. We prepared so well. I think we did quite well in the first half, it was quite an even match and I felt we were there.

“But from the start of the second half, I saw a change. The famous tackle of Djed Spence. And it did something to me, it did something to the players and it was a shift in the mindset. We played like we had four minutes left but there was half an hour left.

“Argentina played very, very quickly. They had nothing to lose. We conceded a chance just before the water break. I thought we will not survive. This is death.

“I thought: ‘OK, let’s change to a back five, a 5-4-1.’ It was too early for that mindset. It was Congo, Miami and Norway and then Mexico and altitude. We were super tired.”

Tuchel says, however, beating France to finish third does count. “You learn as a coach. You have to play as if it is 0-0. That includes me as well,” he said.

“I have a lot of people who want to see my medal. We did not achieve what we wanted. But I am still very proud of what we achieved. These players will come back hungry.”