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

[Tayls_7]

Tuchel rightly deserves criticism. Running scared of Argentina which in a historical context is hard to swallow. After getting themselves on top to defending like it's suddenly The Alamo. Absolutely no outball with Kane shuffling around like a patient out of bed. A defensive line of I don't know how many does not make for anything resembling organisation. England will always be failures with that pathetic mentality.

[Villafirst]

You could predict what would happen by going ultra defensive after England took the lead. We had no outlet up front which resulted in a pathetic 12% possession statistic, which is shameful. The marking on Messi was shocking. They squandered a great opportunity.....

[dorsetvillian]

Assuming Unai was watching I wonder what he was thinking and would have done at 1-0. Going defensive, leaving Kane on so no out ball was criminal. It was awful in game management from Tuchel, but looking back, England have been poor in most games and the original squad also seemed wrong. A great opportunity thrown away.

[Rigadon]

Shit game, shit tournament. I’m glad it’s over.  Real football starts again soon.  Until then, a nice break now ensues. 

[pauliewalnuts]

I wanted to win and of course it is disappointing but if you’d offered me at the start of the season, Villa win a European trophy but England play Scotland three times at the World Cup and lose them all 5-0 I’d have taken your arm off.

I know that’s a variant of “Villa winning a corner matters more than England etc etc etc” but it’s true.

Nothing can hurt me given we are now winners of the TWO biggest European trophies.

[LeeB]

I wanted to win and of course it is disappointing but if you’d offered me at the start of the season, Villa win a European trophy but England play Scotland three times at the World Cup and lose them all 5-0 I’d have taken your arm off.

I know that’s a variant of “Villa winning a corner matters more than England etc etc etc” but it’s true.

Nothing can hurt me given we are now winners of the TWO biggest European trophies.

I wanted them to win, but in the same way I used to want people to win on Bullseye. It's had no effect on my mood whatsoever this morning,

[ChicagoLion]

Argentina deserved it. Thought the scoreline flattered England really. When the two main players are struggling to make any impact and your main man in the middle, Rice,- shouldn’t have even started as he was a passenger you are not giving yourself a chance. To then compound it by going defensive there after, is the outcome any surprise at all?

England’s possession statistic after taking the lead…….12%!!!

Agreed. I’ve seen and read some say England was the better side. I don’t see how that can be argued. Argentina had 64% possession, 15 shots to 5, they hit the woodwork a couple of times, Pickford had to pull off some brilliant saves, Fernandez before he scored came close with other long range efforts. The tactics at the end certainly provided nails in the coffin but the better side won. And as much Tuchel is getting killed, and his tactics deserve it, you’ve still got very highly paid talented professionals who couldn’t see the game out. The players are absolutely to blame and they seem to be getting off with a pass.

But at 1 0 they were not the better side, it was only after his idiotic substitutions that surrendered the initiative to Argentina that they became dominant.
The difference between Southgate and Tuchel is that Southgate failed to act to throw away the victory, whereas Tuchel actively caused the defeat.

[JB1811]

Southgate wouldn’t have got past Mexico tbh.

Technically Big Sam is the best, the only one with a 100% win record.

He probably would've. He's the second best England manager of all time.

Without wishing to get drawn into a tedious argument, my view as a neutral is that Bobby Robson is the second best England manager of all time (assuming Sir Alf is the first). With a competent ref in Mexico '86 and some penalty shootout fortune in Italia '90, England could easily have had two World Cup final appearances/wins.

[ADVILLAFAN]

As a neutral. England weren't troubled until they took all their attacking players off for 8 at the back.

[ROBBO]

Kane is a great finisher but in the last two games has just been a passenger. Rashford should have replaced him to give us pace on the out ball after half time. Again we see an England manager not seeing what was happening on the pitch and believing that putting another big plodder on the pitch in defence was the way to go. They were unlucky on three occassions before getting the equaliser. Better final now England are out.

[Mister E]

Tuchel made some poor in-game decisions: bringing on Konsa for Gordon was wrong, for a start, and then he seemed to panic. I was underwhelmed with the manager, TBH, starting with the squad selection. Anyway, now we'll see what happens to Rogers.

[Grande Pablo]

I didn't have us finishing with Burn & Toney up front or Burn playing more minutes as a striker than Ollie on my MC bingo card.

Poor subs by TT.  Should have remained offensive given the 2 CBs were on yellow cards.

Chuffed for Rogers - another £20m on his fee which makes him almost unbuyable.

[aj2k77]

I wasn't impressed with Tuchel all tournament.

[Duncan Shaw]

Shit game, shit tournament. I’m glad it’s over.  Real football starts again soon.  Until then, a nice break now ensues. 

This for me too.

[PeterWithesShin]

England were the better side, scored, went to defensive shit and deserved to lose. Same as against Croatia and Italy under Southgate. The whole point of Tuchel was to have a manager that didn't do that in the big games. It's one thing to lose because your opponents were simply better on the day, it's another to just tactically throw it away.