Former England player tells Thomas Tuchel he’s ‘very fortunate’ to be manager

Thomas Tuchel is ‘very fortunate’ to still be England manager after the way his team was knocked out of the World Cup, reckons Danny Murphy.

The Three Lions made it to the World Cup semi-finals over the summer before a heart-breaking 2-1 loss to Argentina.

Anthony Gordon had given England the lead before they sat back and tried to defend what they had, but conceded two late goals and fell short on the sport’s biggest stage again.

While a narrow semi-final defeat to the defending champions is hardly a disaster, it was the manner of the loss that hurt England fans.

Argentina did little to worry the Three Lions before conceding the opening goal, it appeared to be England’s reaction to taking the lead that invited their opponents to attack them at will. An invitation they gratefully accepted.

As Tuchel prepares for his first England games since the World Cup -Nations League games against Spain, Czechia and Croatia – Murphy feels he is lucky still to be in charge after the disappointing defeat in America.

‘I think these games are important,’ Murphy told Snabbare. ‘Tuchel is facing a lot of questions from fans asking why he did the opposite of what he said he’d do, why we became cautious and defensive, taking forward players off to sit back, and doing it again after conceding without pushing back out.

‘Performances against high-level teams are always the benchmark. If we’re playing Andorra rather than Spain, nobody cares because we know we’re going to win.

‘But the Spain game will be an indicator for fans of how we’re going to set up against top teams. Ultimately, it doesn’t seem to matter that much to the FA because they’ve stuck with him.

‘We’re going to qualify for the Euros, so does it matter in terms of his tenure? Realistically, he could lose to Spain and Croatia and he’s not going to get sacked.

‘He’s not going to get sacked, so in that respect it doesn’t matter. But from an England fan’s perspective, they want to see a reaction and see a team play the way he promised. He’s very fortunate to still be in the job because we went out of the tournament with a whimper.’

Tuchel has played down a negative reaction to England’s World Cup campaign, saying fans he has spoken to have been almost unanimously positive.

‘I tell you something. Like 99.9 per cent of the fans don’t speak about substitutions, tactical twists, and tactical things,’ he said.

‘They speak about where they have watched the Mexico game. They speak about the second half, the energy of the Croatia match.

‘They speak about how nerve-wracking it was to watch our match against (DR) Congo and where they celebrated.

‘This is what we created, and this is how it should be.’

The German also said he feels very well supported by the decision-makers at the Football Association.

‘I can just tell you very honestly that I felt the full support from all my bosses through the World Cup, through the whole tournament,’ he said.

‘There was a very special moment before the Mexico game where we had a talk, and my bosses told me, “We know anything can happen in a football match, and we know anything can happen in a match in Mexico in a World Cup match. But don’t worry, we see what’s going on, and we want to continue like this”.

‘This was a beautiful moment for me as a coach, and I felt this kind of freedom to take my choices and to just coach freely, and there was never a doubt in my mind that we will continue together. And there was obviously never a doubt in their mind.

‘We have critical reviews that will stay, of course, behind closed doors.

‘I am the biggest critic of myself, and reflection is sometimes necessary to get better, and experience is a crucial part of coaching.’

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