Tuchel’s Negative Football Cost England – Gary Lineker

England icon Gary Lineker has blasted Thomas Tuchel following the Three Lions’ devastating World Cup semi-final exit against Argentina. Recall that the German tactician’s decision to retreat into a defensive shell backfired spectacularly as late goals from Enzo Fernandez and Lautaro Martinez turned a 1-0 lead into a 2-1 defeat.

Insisting that Tuchel’s negative football cost England a place in the final, Lineker revealed that playing a low block was suicidal because Argentina players excel against it.

Gary added that it was a terrible tactic to employ against the greatest footballer of all time.

His words, “We went a goal up, then sat deep. The substitutes he made, made that even deeper.

It turns to five at the back and you’re going, ‘we will play a low block’ against a team who are good against it. It made zero sense to me.

Tactically it was astonishing, to be perfectly honest. It was a negative move. We all sat there watching the same game saying the same thing.

I found it absolutely unfathomable that you’ve got a tactic, you’re playing against the greatest footballer there has ever been.

Get tight to him [Messi]. He whipped ball after ball after ball into the box.”