Former England international Andros Townsend has come out to defend Thomas Tuchel following the Three Lions’ 2-1 World Cup semi-final collapse to Argentina. He recently had his say while speaking to the press, and fans have been reacting.
Dismissing the widespread backlash over Tuchel’s defensive changes, Townsend argued that the tactical adjustments were smart changes that were ultimately let down by the players on the pitch.
Andros added that a manager cannot control individual physical failures on the pitch.
His words, “That’s not Thomas Tuchel’s fault. If we didn’t win a single header from every cross that went into our box, you cannot lay that blame at the manager’s door.
No, no. I think Nico O’Reilly was the right change,. Listen, Gabby, I’ve covered Argentina twice in this World Cup. I’ve watched every single one of their games. And every game, Messi starts high; he tries to get the ball in the pockets.
As the game goes on, he drops deeper, and deeper, and deeper. You saw the positions he was picking up in the second half. It was like almost, it was like a centre midfield position on the right.
That’s what he (Messi) likes to do. So, Tuchel getting O’Reilly on to defend Messi in a higher position, in a left-wing position, is a smarter choice with 15 minutes to go than getting a Rashford to mark Lionel Messi. That doesn’t make sense.
There was no out ball. We had no out-ball. We tried. We had Morgan Rogers. We had Harry Kane and Bellingham trying to press high. It was not working, Gabby. I promise you, I’ve watched it twice after the final whistle.”
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