eSPORTY’s Simon Jordan has launched a scathing attack on under-fire England boss Thomas Tuchel.
Tuchel’s defensive tactics have been called into question after the Three Lions crashed out of the World Cup semi-finals to Argentina.
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England led until the 85th minute in Atlanta through Anthony Gordon’s deadlock-breaking goal, only to sit back and invite pressure which eventually paid.
Enzo Fernandez fired in a stunning equaliser from outside the box before Lautaro Martinez completed the turnaround in stoppage time, with Lionel Messi setting up both goals.
And after seeing England throw away their shot at a first World Cup final since 1966, Jordan insists Tuchel has to go.
‘It’s an embarrassment’
The former Crystal Palace chairman had previously been a fierce advocate for Tuchel, believing his ‘winning mentality’ could take England where Gareth Southgate couldn’t.
But Jordan was forced to admit that Tuchel debunked his theory at the first opportunity.
Asked if England were international football’s greatest ‘nearly men’, he said: “It’s an embarrassment, isn’t it. It’s actually an embarrassment to British football, to English football.
“We’ve got this huge ego about our league. We create this song that we live and die by that constantly gets trotted out. We turn up in tournaments and we don’t win.
“The Greeks won the 2004 Euros. Everybody seems to win something. The French have built teams and when they get to semi-finals and finals and lose them, they come back and win the next version of it. We don’t.
“We had everything in our favour. We had a favourable group; we had decent draws like Southgate got. We got Norway rather than one of the other sides; we got Argentina rather than Spain or France. We got it all in our camp. It had nothing to do with bad decisions or bad referees, lack of fortune. This was just a bad performance from the manager.”
Jordan is not the only pundit fuming in the wake of England’s underwhelming second-half display, with calls growing for the FA to sound out Pep Guardiola.
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Responding to the question of whether Tuchel should stay in charge, as eSPORTY understands he is expected to do, Jordan continued: “No. I think the FA should fire him. I know it’s very reactionary.
“I think it was ridiculous of them giving him a job post-tournament [Tuchel extended his contract until Euro 2028] prior to the tournament.
“I think his sole focus in life was to get into the mainstay of the tournament. The opportunity was there. This Argentina side are not mugs, but they’re not world-beaters. Messi is a fabulous player; he’s gone from a winger now to a No.10 who can do what he wants. He’s a fabulous player, but by Christ did we help him and make it easy for the Argentinians.
“I think there’s more reasons not to have Tuchel going into Euro 2028. He’s a hypocrite.
“First of all, he doesn’t do what he says he’s going to do. Second of all, he clearly doesn’t believe in the side. Third of all, he makes tactical decisions… When it comes on top, you get one moment in life; you get one opportunity to create a first impression. If it’s there, you’ve got to take it; you’ve got to make it.
“His opportunity was to change the way the team was setting up in the second half and he didn’t do it. That to me means there’s something missing in the capability of Tuchel at this level.
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“I think there are more reasons to not have Tuchel than to keep him in.”
England players ‘owed an apology’
Jordan went as far to suggest Tuchel should apologise to the players, adding: “Listen, you’ll never hear me say this very often: I think the players are owed an apology by the manager [for] the decisions that he made, because I think he let the players down.
“I think some of the things he has said, I applauded. But when I look back at them, I think, ‘Well, that’s wonderful you said them, but I’m not sure what you created by doing it’.”
A stunned White replied: “My god, I’ve never heard you say that before, Simon.”
Case for the defence
Ex-England captain Stuart Pearce also weighed in on the furore surrounding Tuchel. He told White and Jordan after the game: “Listen, I can’t defend some of the substitutions he made. There’s no doubt about it, all it did was bring Argentina onto us.
“To be honest, in a game that we lost by the odd goal, they hit our post twice and [Jordan] Pickford made an outstanding save, so it could have been a lot worse than it actually was, let’s make no mistake about that.
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“I’m not defending the performance, but if you make a change now, I’m defending the making of the change. I don’t see where we go and what direction we go from there.
“We’re scratching our heads tomorrow morning if Thomas Tuchel gets sacked and then we go from there. That’s the problem we’ve got. Then we send another experienced manager who is potentially a rookie at major tournaments. That, for me, is a dangerous thing to do.”
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