As he unveiled his first England squad since the World Cup, he said 99.9% of supporters he bumped into did not talk about his substitutions during the Argentina game. According to him, the conversation is far more positive. Memories are shared of the knockout wins over Mexico and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
It seems those who want to take the England head coach to task over the retreat in the semi-final in Atlanta are in the minority. This is, of course, hard to quantify. We can take Tuchel at face value, but relying on anecdotal evidence goes two ways.
A lot of fans are not ready to move on yet. The national mood is far more downbeat than Tuchel imagines and he is kidding himself if he thinks people have forgiven the way England folded after going 1-0 up against Argentina early in the second half. Tuchel wants to look forward as he prepares for the start of the Nations League.
He was stung by the criticism after the defeat by Argentina. He was proud of England beating France to claim the bronze medal three days later. The head coach faced the media at Wembley on Friday and joked about his bosses at the Football Association telling him off for his defensive changes against Argentina.
Switching to serious mode, he insisted the narrative should be directed by the 6-4 win over France. The problem with focusing on the future is that Tuchel’s squad for Spain, Czechia and Croatia has to be viewed in the context of everything that happened at the World Cup. Noni Madueke, Ollie Watkins and Ivan Toney have been dropped from the 26 selected in the summer.
However, Tuchel suggested his initial intention was to maintain continuity from the World Cup. Injuries led to a shift, depriving England of Dean Henderson, Dan Burn, John Stones, Reece James, Djed Spence and Jordan Henderson, leaving room for players whose presence lends a sense of renewal to the process. Hauling Trent Alexander-Arnold out of cold storage is an intriguing if slightly perplexing move.
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