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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Jacob Steinberg

Tuchel should listen to ‘the 0.1%’ and learn from England’s World Cup mistakes

Thomas Tuchel during a press conference
Thomas Tuchel was stung by the criticism after England’s semi-final defeat by Argentina. Photograph: Eddie Keogh/Getty Images

Thomas Tuchel should be listening to the 0.1%. As he unveiled his first England squad since the World Cup, he said 99.9% of supporters he bumped into did not talk about his substitutions during the Argentina game. According to him, the conversation is far more positive. Memories are shared of the knockout wins over Mexico and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It seems those who want to take the England head coach to task over the retreat in the semi-final in Atlanta are in the minority.

This is, of course, hard to quantify. Is it really 99.9%? We can take Tuchel at face value, but relying on anecdotal evidence goes two ways. A lot of fans are not ready to move on yet. The national mood is far more downbeat than Tuchel imagines and he is kidding himself if he thinks people have forgiven the way England folded after going 1-0 up against Argentina early in the second half.

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