"Tuchel has a lot of questions to answer" | Kaveh on Tuchel's future for England

Carvey, wow.I don't know how you're digesting all of that.What's your immediate reaction to the result?England out.

Well, I'm afraid it's happened again.Exactly what happened in Russia in 2018 has happened again here this evening.England were ahead in the second half.They scored a brilliant goal through Anthony Gordon.They perhaps scored too early in the second half.And I think, ultimately, Thomas Tuchel got his substitutions wrong.

He put on too many defensive players.England retreated into their shell, trying to hold on to what they had.And you just cannot do that against a side as good as Argentina, and a side that has arguably the best player the world's ever seen playing for them.While Argentina were putting on forwards to try and get back into the game, England were basically putting on defenders like Dan Byrne.Dan Byrne is somebody who's got a lot of heart, a lot of spirit.But I'm afraid at this kind of level, when you're up against players like Lionel Messi, Lautaro Martinez, Julian Alvarez, when the world champions are fighting for their lives, when you know they're a side that are never going to give up, I think you have to do better than just putting on lots of defenders.

Now, to be fair to Thomas Tuchel, I don't know.obviously reese james may have had cramp he may have been feeling the effects of his hamstring injury declan rice for instance we know he wasn't well so maybe these players just had to go off but i just feel the changes Thomas Tuchel made did not work.And it was the same old story again.Look, with five minutes to go, I was sitting in the press box with other journalists looking up at the scoreboard thinking, there's only five minutes left plus added time.Surely England can hang on.Surely we can go to the World Cup final in New York on Sunday and watch England in the final.

for the first time since 1966.But at the end of the day, the world champions won, and I have to say they deserved to win.On the balance of play, they had far more chances.They basically controlled the game once England scored.And I think Thomas Tuchel will have lots of questions to answer because he was brought in to win games like this.He was the ultimate knockout coach, the man who knew what it took to win semifinals.

But I'm afraid, yet again, it was the same old story.And I feel that England threw this game away.It didn't have to be like this, because they had the players on the pitch, on the bench, and also players, I have to say, back home, who could have got the job done against Argentina here today.

Yeah, well, come on, too.Tuchel's future and what this result might mean for him.But let's look at what he got right, because it was Morgan Rodgers who started out on that right -hand side.Many questioned, when they saw the starting 11, why Rodgers was starting, let alone starting on the right -hand side.And then the goal was scored by someone he started on the left -hand side, in Anthony Gordon.So they combined very well for that opening goal.

Yeah, look, England played really well up until they scored.I've got no problems with the side that Thomas Tuchel picked.He picked a good side.They were very, very effective.Jed Spence had a brilliant game.at left -back trying to look after Lionel Messi.

Elliot Anderson was picking up Lionel Messi as well when Messi was drifting into central areas.The game plan was working really, really well.But then what happened to the game plan when England went ahead?I think Thomas Tuchel had flashbacks to what happened in Mexico City when England were defending their lead when they were down to 10 -0.men and he bought on players like Dan Byrne and he went to five at the back.He tried to do the same again against Argentina but I feel he just handed the initiative to Argentina and it was only a matter of time before Argentina were going to score.

I mean Alexis McAllister hit the post twice.How many headers did he have which Jordan Pickford had to pick out?How many chances did Enzo Fernandez have from the edge of the area before he was going to score?I just think Thomas Tuchel, in the cold light of day, when he looks back at this game, I think he was trying to be a little bit too clever.And the bottom line is, we're back where we were under Gareth Southgate.Have England really improved that much under Thomas Tuchel?

I'm not so sure.Under Gareth Southgate, they were getting to semifinals of World Cups.They were getting to finals of the Euros.They were falling just short.And yet again, they've fallen short.And if they played the way they did today, especially in the second half against Spain in the final, they wouldn't have had a hope of beating Spain.

So I think we've got the two best sides in the final, Spain versus Argentina.But I just think England threw it away here today.It didn't have to end like this.

But it is as it stands, and England are out.But when you were watching the game, Carvey, did you sense the kind of fiery encounter that we were watching on our TV screens?Because it seemed like the two sets of players were butting heads from the very off.

I mean, it was basically like a street fight.It is one of the most intense football games I have ever seen.The atmosphere inside the stadium was very, very febrile.The two national anthems, you could not hear them at all.First of all, we had the English national anthem.was totally and utterly drowned out by the Argentinian supporters and I think in response When the Argentinian national anthem was played a lot of the England fans were booing that as well And I think that set the tone for the opening exchanges in the game a lot of people sitting around me thought that the referee Didn't really get a grip on the game some of the players especially especially the Argentinian players, were getting away with things that you don't normally like to see on a football pitch.

Even the Argentinian bench were getting involved, throwing on spare balls in order to stop England taking quick throw -ons.There was lots of dark arts going on, but the game did settle down.Then we had periods of possession for both sides, and England really, really did show their class, and they scored a fantastic goal.at the start of the second half, and they just needed to carry on playing like that, carry on believing in themselves, carry on imposing their style on the game.But instead, they just handed the initiative to Argentina, and it was only a matter of time before Argentina were going to score.And I feel if the game had gone into extra time, then Argentina would have won it in extra time because the changes that Thomas Tuchel had made to his side had left the side with far too many defenders, players playing out of position.

And it was very, very hard to see where England were going to get a goal from.So I think a lot of questions for Thomas Tuchel to answer.I'm sure he's answering some of those when he's holding his media conference in a few minutes in the stadium behind me.

Yeah, it'd be really interesting to see his take on it.And perhaps he can explain what he was thinking when he made that defensive switch after England went 1 -0 up.looking at it from a zoomed out perspective.view, wider context around this Carvey, what difference or what impact could this result have on his future as England's head coach?

Well, very good question.Look, I have heard nothing to suggest that Thomas Tuchel is going to leave his position.He obviously signed a new contract before this World Cup.There are performance clauses in that contract, which the FA could activate if they wanted to.Now, that would only happen if the FA had the feeling that things had broken down.really gone disastrously wrong at this World Cup.

I don't think that is the mood at the FA.I think the FA are pretty pleased with how this tournament has gone.They're pretty pleased with the job Thomas Tuchel has done.They have seen that he's building on the great work that Gareth Southgate did.My personal feeling though is that tonight proved that international management is a lot harder than it looks.For 10 years, Gareth Southgate had to put up with a lot of criticism.

Apparently, his in -game management wasn't great.Apparently, he wasn't very, very good at making substitutions.Apparently, he was too loyal to players who were out of form.Well, tonight we had a different approach.We had the approach of somebody who'd never managed at a major tournament.approach of somebody who left some of England's best players back at home.

The approach of somebody who took risks by starting players who had little experience at the club.this level against a very, very good Argentina side and I'm afraid that England have ended up paying the price.The short answer to your question is I expect Thomas Tuchel to carry on being the England manager.I haven't heard anything to the contrary but of course we have to wait and see what he says in his news conference in the next few minutes.

Yeah, and he is currently speaking to the media as I speak to you, Carvey.He's just been speaking to BBC Sport.He said, we were so close, but we got too passive after we scored.We were close.but we couldn't keep the level up after we scored.I wonder, do you think he might have any regrets?

He left a number of high -profile players out of this World Cup squad.Trent Alexander -Arnold, Cole Palmer, to name a few.Phil Foden, will he regret that?

Look, I don't want to keep banging.this drum.My feeling is those players should have been in the England squad.Even players like Luke Shaw, Harry Maguire, I think deserve to be in the England squad.I think when FIFA said you can have 26 players in your squad, then certainly players of that quality and calibre should have been in the squad.But Thomas Tuchel has got his own way of doing things.

But at the end of the day, you have to judge Thomas Tuchel by his results and by the performances of the team.Now, from what I saw at this World Cup, England did not really play very well at all.There were games when it looked like they were really, really struggling against pretty, well, I don't want to say poor, but average opposition, the kind of sides that they'd be expected to beat really, really easily.Thomas Tuchel, by his own admission, has said that England didn't play particularly well at this tournament.They were lucky against Norway.They didn't perform well in the group stages.

It took them a while to get going.They played one half really well against Croatia.The performance against Mexico was a performance for the ages, but it was against the Mexico side who are not one of the best sides in the world.They showed character, determination, grit.But how many times have you watched England at this World Cup and thought, wow, What a great performance.We are controlling this event.

There is nothing to worry about.Thomas Tuchel is on the right track.I never really felt like that.I felt like he was experimenting too much.He was taking too many risks.And I suppose that's understandable because he's never managed at a major tournament before.

But I think, you know, I've just got the feeling that it could have been different.it could really have been different.I think England had the players, they had the quality to get through this test and get to the final, because this was a great opportunity.Argentina are a brilliant side, but they are not an absolutely top, top team.great side.Yes, they do have Lionel Messi.

Yes, they do have some exceptional players.But these are players who the players in the England team come up against regularly in the Premier League and the Champions League.I just feel that, you know, Thomas Tuchel is going to have regrets after this.I know when he does his interviews, he's going to say he's proud of the players.They gave everything for the shirt.They gave everything for the cause.

There's nothing more they could have done.But I do feel that England could have had a better tournament overall.I don't just want to blame Thomas Tuchel for that, because it's very, very hard to beat sides like Argentina, but I think a country the size of England, with the number of clubs, the strength of the Premier League, the football culture, the football history, You know, England should be getting to finals.They should be winning World Cup finals.Lots of other countries have won multiple World Cups.And I think England should have more to show for everything that they have done in the game of football than just one World Cup back in 1966.

Yeah, you talk about Tuchel regrets there.And he's been quite honest in his post -match interviews saying that hethe responsibility is on the coach.We'll bring you a live reaction from Thomas Tuker in his post -match press conference shortly here on Sky Sports News.But Carvey, just finally, you're in the stadium and we know that the rivalry between England and Argentina has been well documented both on sporting grounds but also politically as well.So what is it that happened at full time?

Yeah, just before I left the ground, this must be sort of at least 10 minutes after the final whistle I would say.Where we were sitting was at the end where most of the Argentinian supporters were and it was at the end where the Argentina players were celebrating off the final whistle in front of their supporters and I saw one of their players basically get a white sheet which was a white banner which had writing on it in black in Spanish and place it on the pitch in front of the mass ranks of Argentinian supporters.Now in Spanish I believe that it said the Falklands is ours.My Spanish is not fantastic.I've been speaking to other journalists who also saw the banner.We've got in touch with FIFA to see what they will be doing about that, what their response will be, because according to the laws of this World Cup and FIFA's laws, you're simply not allowed to do something like that.

Now, the banner was on the pitch in front of the Argentina supporters for, I would say, a good three, four, five minutes before one of the Argentina players then folded it up.and handed it over to a member of Argentina's back row.staff.And now this is something that we're looking into at the moment.Obviously we're going to ask the Argentina Federation about it and we've already asked FIFA for their response.If you look at social media actually I think at the moment you will see some pictures of that banner and it's quite clear what it says in Spanish.