Thomas Tuchel gave an honest and brutal assessment of the shortcomings of the Euro 2024 of England under Sir Gareth Southgate in his first press conference for the game as a manager and said that the three lions “played not to lose” because they were stuttering on the way to the final past a number of smaller nations.
Southgate was often a division during his eight years that was in charge of the national team of the men, with questions about his term of office ruled by Tuchel's comments on Thursday.
England did not succeed in inspiring during most of last summer's tournament and won only two of the six games within 90 minutes on the way to the final – and struggled to create against Slovakia and Slovenia, both of which were ranked out of the top 40 sides in the world at that time.
Was German law to point out the important defects of England against Nations, which they would expect to beat Euro 2024 comfortably? Or does reaching a first overseas final earn more respect?
Here is the case for both sides …
Tuchel Right to emphasize the fear of failure of England
“Looking at the euros, I felt tension and pressure on the players' shoulders and they didn't play to lose,” was Tuchel's vision on how his new charges at the European Championship of Southgate performed under Southgate.
Anyone who looks at the difficult displays of England in the group stage in Germany when they only walked past Serbia before they were held by both Denmark and Slovenia, would certainly agree with the judgment of the new Three Lions Manager.
Southgate pointed out for yourself and said: “[The players were] Almost worried about what could go wrong. We have not had that for a few years. Maybe that was expectation, maybe that was also many external things. “
It was also not much better in the last 16 collision with humble Slovakia when England was saved from a shameful early exit by Jude Bellingham's spectacular Last Gasp Equalizer.
Tuchel's checklist of the failures of England at the tournament also did not include a clear playing style, clarity, identity, rhythm, freedom and hunger, which makes their final appearance in the final even more remarkable, but the statistics return German.
The three lions ended the tournament with an average of 10 shots per match – in 19th place of the 24 sides – while they became 15th for winning the ball in the last third part – winners Spain did this almost twice as often. And in terms of the working speed, no English player was in the top 20 for set distance per 90 minutes.
But for Tuchel it was ultimately the weight of the English shirt that contributed to their matte versions at the euros, which remember that they were the favorites.
“It is not worthwhile to be distracted and difficult, but you have said it all and I have heard it so often – the weight of the shirt, the weight of the shirt,” Tuchel added.
It is that pressure that is counterproductive, and that is why Tuchel thinks that it will be better if England does not go into the World Cup 2026 as one of the favorites: “The tradition for the national team is not to win and we may have to accept that we arrive in America once, maybe the favorites are.”
And in this way England may be better able to fulfill his explained ambition for “us to play with excitement and the hunger and desire to win”. Richard Morgan
Why deserve more respect for Southgate
The term of office of Southgate as manager of England has and will be understandably discussed in detail. But there is an important fact that we cannot come from: two of their three major finals, and their only one on strange ground, came on his watch.
It is impossible to deny that England is played with caution in Germany last year and Southgate is much thanks to the individual heroic deeds of Bellingham against Slovakia for avoiding what would be an ugly end to his term of office.
But the grit and determination that brought them out of prison in that match, England helped keep their heads in a perfect fine-shoot-out victory against Switzerland and push until the last kick against the Netherlands is something for which he can take a lot of honor.
The greatest achievement of Southgate as manager of England is undoubtedly the way he has lifted the weight of the shirt in a way that few others have managed.
That has also made a lot of his undone. He ensured that reaching the last stages of tournaments as the norm felt, and of course it became more difficult to remember how overwhelming most of the three lion's history was.
For a team of England afraid of losing, to leave Euro 2016 to a country with a population of 400,000 or failure to completely qualify for Euro 2008, this was the worst big tournament in Southgate and he still led England to a final.
Once there, the performance against Spain again emphasized its biggest defects – a lack of elitetactic insight and adaptability in the game. But also you not only reach two finals and a semi -final about Manmanagement.
In De Tijd, history will look back more friendly on the second most successful manager of England, because his gentle modesty looked a very difficult job a lot easier than for most of his predecessors who most of them have arrived with much better CVs than they had.
If Tuchel can fulfill his promise of Front-Foot, attack football and make players of England enthusiastic to play for the team, the honor to him all. But that kind of breast-dumping statements built exactly the kind of pressure that Southgate hurt to relieve, and have returned to bite many English manager for him. Ron Walker
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