England defender Marc Guehi voiced his frustration with the team's conservative second-half strategy after their World Cup semi-final defeat to Argentina. The Three Lions conceded a late equalizer and a stoppage-time winner, exiting the tournament after initially taking a lead.
Anthony Gordon scored for England in the 55th minute, but the team adopted a more defensive posture shortly after. Manager Thomas Tuchel made several defensive substitutions in the final ten minutes, a decision that drew criticism. Enzo Fernandez scored for Argentina in the 85th minute, and Lautaro Martinez added the decisive goal in injury time.
"Once we went 1-0 up, we seemed to just try and hold on, which at this level is just not enough, so I'm gutted," Guehi told BBC Sport. "We should have carried on. We should have carried on pushing. It kind of felt like we scored and the mentality was, go back, defend."
Tuchel brought on Marcus Rashford and Ivan Toney as the match entered its final moments, but England could not force extra time.
When asked about the team's potential to win silverware, Guehi was disheartened. "I don't know. I don't know," he said. "It's hard to think about the future right now. At the moment, it's just disappointment. That's all."
Tuchel defended his tactical choices, suggesting that the outcome would have influenced perceptions of his decisions. "If it doesn't go well, it's easy to say that it was wrong," Tuchel told the BBC. "We conceded straight away. We decided to go to a back five because the gaps were far too open."
He added that "the match changed completely" after England's goal, despite no immediate structural changes. "We stayed in our 4-4-2 but we became passive, couldn't win any balls or keep the ball. It wasn't a structure problem."
During the period between England's goal and Argentina's equalizer, England maintained only 12 percent of possession.
Commentary from former players like Alan Shearer and Wayne Rooney, along with World Cup winner Iker Casillas and Chris Sutton, also critiqued Tuchel's tactics. Casillas described the coaching as "cowardly," while Sutton called it a "coaching catastrophe."