Thomas Tuchel doesn't deserve the England hate – last night wasn't that bad

Metro

2 days ago

Thomas Tuchel will have been warned about the intense scrutiny England managers face before he signed up to take over from Gareth Southgate.
But even the more pessimistic of his advisors would've imagined he'd make it more than four games into his tenure before seeing his team booed off… twice.
It's not entirely unreasonable that a 1-0 win over Andorra and a 3-1 home loss to Senegal would disappoint fans, but the heat applied to Tuchel for those results harkens back to the bad old days of unreasonable pressure on the national team boss.
'England have gone backwards under Tuchel', according to one headline –apparently forgetting England lost four times last year, including to, no offence, Greece and Iceland.
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Not for the first time, there seems to be a disconnect in what is expected of the national team and where they actually sit in the international football landscape.
Everyone needs to take a breath, calm down, and remember some vital context.
First, let's note that since the 2022 World Cup, the Three Lions have been held to a draw by Ukraine, North Macedonia, Slovenia and Switzerland.
They've been beaten by the aforementioned Greece and Iceland, as well as a more notable loss against Brazil and that agonising Euro 2024 defeat to Spain.
So for all the crowing about the world-beating talent Tuchel has at his disposal, he's inherited a team that's chronically underperformed since its high point of the delayed 2021 Euros.
What he's done with that in limited time so far – three wins without conceding in his first three games, followed by last night's poor performance against Senegal – is pretty much in line with what came before.
And however you slice it, the Lions of Teranga are a damn good football team right now, sitting top-20 in the FIFA world rankings and with just one loss in the 28 games since they were beaten by Southgate's England in Qatar in 2022.
So the snobbery, and in my view frankly bigoted undertones in the reaction to England 'losing to an African team for the first time' has undercut the reality of a very good football team coming into England's yard and beating them fair and square in a meaningless friendly.
None of this is to say that fans should be specifically encouraged by the early signs of the Tuchel era.
Jordan Henderson and Kyle Walker have outstayed their welcomes by a full tournament cycle, and a new coach should've jettisoned them as his first port of call.
That, and the lack of a true centre-forward on the pitch at times against Senegal, are reasonable question marks to flag up from the early days of the Tuchel era. The apparent 'lack of intensity', though, is not.
Remember, the June international break is famously pointless.
Unless you've made it to the Nations League final or it's a major tournament summer, all you have is a bunch of knackered players who are already planning their Ocean Beach selfies.
The context around the sputtering win over Andorra and the less than impressive capitulation against Senegal doesn't forgive poor performances, but it does go a long way to explaining them.
And for Tuchel, this is a long term job.
Putting his stamp on a team managed by Gareth Southgate for eight years is a long process, and these are the first steps.
Sadly, too much old-fashioned jingoism seems to have crept into the response to England's first foreign manager since 2012.
The idea that only an English manager could possibly manage the team to wins is so bafflingly outdated that it's almost laughable, but it's been perceptible since before Tuchel was even appointed.
Last night, there was much online gnashing of teeth that Lee Carsley wasn't given the job on a permanent basis after his interim stint, as the same old anti-foreign manager sentiment reared its ugly head.
There's absolutely no reason on this blessed earth for Carsley to get any managerial job, not least one of the most high profile gigs in world football, over a man who was named the FIFA best coach on the planet as recently as 2021. More Trending
Demanding Carlsey be appointed because 'He's English' isn't actually a good reason, not least because he's actually Irish. His Birmingham birthplace being grounds to appoint him is like giving him keys to the Wembley office because he's bald and Arne Slot has just won the league with Liverpool.
Getting annoyed at people for criticising an England manager early feels a lot like shouting at a hurricane. There's nothing I, or anyone else, can do about it.
I mean we've just had the best part of a decade of criticising Gareth Southgate for getting to two Euros finals and a World Cup semi-final 'the wrong way', or 'unconvincingly'.
If Tuchel fails, then so be it. But at least give him some time before burying him.
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