Thomas Tuchel is guilty of orchestrating England’s craven World Cup demise

The logic of the Football Association appointing Thomas Tuchel in 2024 was that he was a knock-out specialist, a tactical wizard, someone whose clever bespoke plans for every occasion would give England the best possible chance of winning the World Cup. England reached some huge games under Gareth Southgate but it often felt as if they were frozen by passivity at crucial moments, unable to make the changes required to keep pace with cleverer opponents, forcing their eventual retreat. Not least in their last World Cup semi-final, eight years ago in Moscow, when they were 1-0 up with 22 minutes…