England manager Thomas Tuchel again insisted he had no regrets about his tactical decisions as the fallout continues from his team's devastating World Cup semi-final exit at the hands of Argentina.
The Three Lions were beating the reigning champions 1-0 with five minutes of normal time remaining in Atlanta on Wednesday, only to concede two late goals as they missed out in reaching their first World Cup final since 1966.
After taking a 55th-minute lead through Anthony Gordon, England dropped further and further into defensive mode, not helped by Tuchel bringing Ezra Konsa, Dan Burn and Nico O'Reilly off the bench, effectively turning the team formation into a back six.
By the time attackers Marcus Rashford and Ivan Toney were brought on in the 96th minute, Argentina had already flipped the game on its head courtesy of goals from Enzo Fernandez and Lautaro Martinez – both assisted by Lionel Messi.
It has been Tuchel's calls that have been the focus of anger back home following the loss but the German remained defiant ahead of Saturday's third-place match against France.
“If you're asking if I regret my decision, if this is the question, then I don't regret my decisions,” he said in what was a tense press conference in Miami.
“I felt that the momentum switches in the match. And I tried to help my team … took several decisions, trusting my instinct, my intuition, my experience, trusting my competitiveness, and I took the decision in order to help the team and get the result. We didn't get the result.
“So I take, of course, the responsibility and for these decisions. I would regret if I didn't help. I would regret if we didn't react.
“For me, there is no one to blame. If you need someone to blame, I take the responsibility. I'm the head coach.”
Tuchel insisted that he had to make the changes as his team had become “too passive” and Argentina had took control of the game.
“They had a lot of offensive changes, and a lot of offensive positions,” the 52-year-old former Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Bayern Munich coach said.
Argentina beat England – in pictures
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Lautaro Martinez celebrates with Lionel Messi after scoring Argentina's second goal in their 2-1 World Cup semi-final win over England in Atlanta. EPA -
Lionel Messi celebrates after Argentina's second goal by Lautaro Martinez. AFP -
Dejected England midfielder Jude Bellingham after the match. Reuters -
Lautaro Martinez celebrates scoring Argentina's second goal. Reuters -
Argentina's Lautaro Martinez heads home their second goal. Reuters -
Argentina's Lautaro Martinez heads home to make it 2-1. EPA -
Argentina's Enzo Fernandez celebrates after scoring. EPA -
Argentina's Enzo Fernandez makes it 1-1. Reuters -
England's Anthony Gordon celebrates scoring. Reuters -
England's Anthony Gordon scores in the 55th minute. Reuters -
England's Anthony Gordon scores past Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez. Reuters -
England's Jude Bellingham is challenged by Leandro Paredes of Argentina. AFP -
England midfielder Elliot Anderson is held back by teammate Anthony Gordon as he clashed with Argentina's Lisandro Martinez, Cristian Romero, Lionel Messi, and Leandro Paredes. Reuters -
England's Elliot Anderson competes for the ball against Enzo Fernandez of Argentina. AFP -
Argentina's defender Lisandro Martinez argues with Jude Bellingham of England. AFP
“We could not stop the crosses, and we could not stop the runners into the box. So we decided to play a back five, to have more width in the field, to be closer to the guys who cross.
“We just became too passive, and Argentina, by the way, found another gear and they found the total flow.
“We played in the semi-final against the reigning world champions. We were 85 minutes 1-0 up. We played against the best player in the world [Messi], and we lost 2-1, which is painful.
“We feel the most pain of all, and it is our scar that we carry now. It's our pain, my pain, and the players' pain.
“It is a very painful defeat, and we have to live with this defeat, first and foremost, not the critics, not the experts, not our family members, who suffer as well with us, and want only the best for us.
“We will overcome it, we will use it, we will have a reaction, and it starts from tomorrow. If we win the game, we have the best results of a World Cup in 60 years. It's a perspective to it.”
Tuchel also conceded that England's last-16 victory over co-hosts Mexico at altitude, the extra-time win against Norway in the quarter-finals in stifling Miami heat plus all the travelling the squad had “cost us more than we maybe thought”.
“The players literally gave everything physically [in] every single match. If you see this data drop, there must be a reason behind it, because the motivation was through the roof,” he added.
Tuchel said he would be making changes for Saturday's game against France, which he viewed as an opportunity for England to show they had closed the gap on the world's best teams.
“Nobody wants to be in this game tomorrow,” he said. “All of these four teams wanted to be in New York, but it is an official World Cup game.
“It is a big game against one of the very best teams in the world. It's a moment to show that we are actually made of what we showed through the whole tournament. There is no doubt about that.”
