Don't know if I can bring myself to watch the 3rd / 4th place playoff. I,d take 4th and get on the plane.

Tuchel's game management today was hard to fathom. I thought he had done pretty well with subs most of the tournament but today was a total disaster. Starting with bringing off Gordon who was our most effective attacker and replacing with Konsa. That gave Argentine the green light to bring on more attackers and siege the England penalty area with inevitable results. It was also pretty clear by then that Rice and James needed subs yet he waited until the 82nd minute and then brought on 2 more defenders, playing one (O'Reilly) out of position in midfield. Our defense looked increasingly confused and overrun leading to gaps and chances. It was all so predictable. Then to cap it all we end the game hoofing long balls hopefully up to Dan Burn as we tried to score late on. Pathetic. It was so bad from Tuchel I wouldn't be surprised if he was paid off.

There wasn’t a suitable ‘out ball’ player for England after Gordon was subbed.

The initiative was handed to Argentina and they took it.

Pickford made a couple of really good saves all and credit to him for that.

Just my humble opinion.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by erskblue

8 hours ago, fun2sh said:

f**king overanimated Pickford ..why the f**k he had to touch that ball that going out resulting corner and first goal.

Its all about him isn't it. He's such a fking idiot.

Just when I thought england might do it under the best manager they have in decades, it's still the same old story.

First half seemed evenly contested, after the goal, england just park the bus. Another example why I said best defence is not by relinquishing possession inviting all sorts of pressure especially when the stake is at high, it's double the pressure.

Did tuchel worry about the solorth-haland gap scenario? I suppose it's better to concede playing that way rather than what has unfolded.

Btw, england's cross were dogsh*t compared to argentina's, not taking trent seems like a mistake now.

9 hours ago, dermott said:

Argentina were simply better. Skills, intelligence, tactics.

And the Man City team we beat in my opinion was better than this Argentina team. It’s difficult to compare national and club teams but I he came up against a better team in 2021 but he also had better players in the right position

You can’t use Rice and Anderson as a midfield two to defend a 1-0 lead.