Other Games - 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup Edition (+ warm-up matches): Villa-watch

[Monty]

Argentina brought 2000 year old Nicolas Otamendi on. You can't just say they're a 'better side' so definitively - indeed, nobody in the game would agree with that, possibly not even many in Argentina. Not definitely worse either, but it's a bit living in the 90s to just assume England are worse.

[Bent Neilsens Screamer]

Looking at the tournament as a whole England were a disappointment. No style of play, the right back debacle, not knowing his first choice 11 and messing about with the wide players constantly. Relying on Kane and Bellingham to do the business. Bizarre subs at times.
At no point in any game did I think we look decent here.
As Chris Sutton, not his biggest fan BTW, said on the BBC, Argentina tactics were probably the biggest balls up in a generation.
And then his comments post game.
I'm not bothered either way, but I wouldn't be surprised if he goes.

I think he does/did know his first choice 11 but when James,Sake and Rice were either injured or not fully fit the squad or his faith in them was left wanting. If you’re in the squad you should be good enough to see playing time in any given situation but that wasn’t the case, noticeably with Mainoo getting no time even when Rice was injured or blowing out his arse.

We looked decent against Croatia but that performance glossed over a lot and once again when we came up against decent opposition we went out. What is it now, we’ve never beaten a team in the FIFA top 10 in a competitive match?

[Brazilian Villain]

What is it now, we’ve never beaten a team in the FIFA top 10 in a competitive match?

You haven't knocked out a Top-10 rankied team in a World Cup knockout match since the rankings were introduced in 1992. It's P7 W0 L5 D2 (lost after penalties).

[Dogtanian]

Tuchel has shown he cannot be trusted. To give him another two years and another tournament would be absolute madness.

I have never seen a manager display such a level of incompetence as he did in that match. And for that to be as the manager of a top 5 international side is quite frankly unbelievable.

It’s nothing to do with Southgate, it’s nothing to do with how far England got, it’s nothing to do with the expectation of the fans, and it’s nothing to do with the end result.

It’s about someone who completely and utterly fell apart under the pressure and began making decisions that defy logic.

The result is immaterial, his personal collapse into incompetence is why he has to go.

[Toronto Villa]

So he was a miracle worker a few days before in Mexico and completely incompetent against Argentina. Because when England took the lead and had been marginally the better side he was still competent I assume. England players go for 100M a piece and yet they couldn't hang on to a lead with 5 minutes to go versus an aging Argentina side. I'm all for pointing out the manager should have done better but the players are getting off easy here.

[AV82EC]

Hang on a minute comparing the Mexico and Argentina performance is in my view a straw man. One was a goal up and 30 odd minutes with 11 men and one was 30 odd minutes down to 10 men and was always going to be a backs to the wall Rourkes Drift/Dunkirk* effort. The question that needs answering if there even is an answer is how did the Argentina performance end up being worse than Mexico despite having a full complement of players? Partly the Argies better quality, partly England players treating the ball like a hot potato and mostly Tuchels tactical meltdown. I think there’s enough the first two to provide some mitigation to the last.

*choose English military meltdown of your choice.

[PaulWinch again]

So he was a miracle worker a few days before in Mexico and completely incompetent against Argentina. Because when England took the lead and had been marginally the better side he was still competent I assume. England players go for 100M a piece and yet they couldn't hang on to a lead with 5 minutes to go versus an aging Argentina side. I'm all for pointing out the manager should have done better but the players are getting off easy here.

The players take their share, but the key bit is his changes exacerbated the problem and made it unrecoverable. He massively fucked up this one time, and I don’t think it’s representative of his wider ability - but it would be better if he fronted up rather than continue to argue he was right. He definitely wasn’t.

[trinityoap]

Completely agree with you Doggie.(And not a mention of C*****n P****r)

[SamTheMouse]

It’s about someone who completely and utterly fell apart under the pressure and began making decisions that defy logic.

The result is immaterial, his personal collapse into incompetence is why he has to go.

Bang on.

[Toronto Villa]

He brought some defenders. Hardly falling apart.

[Monty]

He brought some defenders. Hardly falling apart.

The fact that every single person who's commented on this, from Patrick Vieira to Zlatan, disagrees with you - this gives you no pause?

[Toronto Villa]

He brought some defenders. Hardly falling apart.

The fact that every single person who's commented on this, from Patrick Vieira to Zlatan, disagrees with you - this gives you no pause?

Again. Let me make it clear. I don’t disagree with the fact that his tactical decisions could have been better. I’m offering that the players are equally as culpable. They failed. The manager could have helped but I’m guessing he didn’t tell them to drop deeper and deeper. So I’m not disagreeing with the manager getting criticism. But when you have very experienced international footballers playing for England, they are not getting proportional blame. And the fact that year after year English footballers fail on the biggest stage suggests the problem is deeper than this game.

[Monty]

The coach is easier to change than All Of The Players though.

[Toronto Villa]

The coach is easier to change than All Of The Players though.

Of course. But we as fans, the English laud these players and hype them every tournament adds to the problem. There is very little humble when it comes to England. We qualify easily, we get out of groups easily, and whoever the manager is from decorated club managers to novice ones as Southgate was, it’s always the same outcome.

[PeterWithesShin]

It's up to the manager to get them to change their shape. Every player says it's a natural reaction to start dropping deeper in that scenario. By bringing on defender after defender and giving England no logical way of moving back up the pitch he failed to do what he's paid 5m a year to do. He shit himself.