Tuchel defends his substitutions and says England were ‘very close’ after World Cup exit

Thomas Tuchel insists he has “no regrets at the moment” and defended his substitutions despite England’s World Cup exit to Argentina.

Anthony Gordon put England 1-0 up in the second half but England lost control of the game soon after, as Argentina came from behind to win 2-1.

Tuchel opted to go to a back five with England under pressure, and stood by his decision afterwards despite the defeat.

“Of course we wanted to go for the second goal but I didn’t have the feeling that an offensive substitution would help,” he told BBC Sport.

“We stayed in our 4-4-2 but we became passive, became more and more passive, we couldn’t keep the ball, so I think it was not a structure problem.

“We changed nothing after the goal but the match changed completely.

“But again, I can understand that these discussions are out there, millions of coaches after the game who know it better.

“You can discuss this with a million coaches,” Tuchel continued. “I had to make a decision on the pitch, it’s how I analysed the match, and I take the responsibility.

“At the moment, no regrets. The team gave everything and we were very, very close. I think we deserved to be up 1-0, played one of our better matches, maybe the best match in the circumstances.

“We couldn’t bring it over the line but at the moment, no regrets.

“We tried to help but of course the responsibility is on the coach and if it doesn’t go well, it’s easy to say it was wrong.”