He had one job
Apparently, it was nothing to do with his decision making after England took the lead against a not particularly good Argentina side, but rather it was that it isn’t in England players’ DNA to keep hold of the ball.
Speaking personally, I thought it was because every time the desperate Argies subbed on an attacker, Tuchel responded by subbing on a defender, eventually leading to a situation where Argentina had eight attacking players on facing eight English defenders.
His reasoning for this imbalance was that it had worked in Mexico City, though in truth, as thrilling as that win was, the reason it had worked was because the Mexicans’ only tactic late in the game was to put in cross after cross, which was meat and drink to England’s big centre-backs.
Argentina, as we are well aware, don’t have big men up top and as such provide a different challenge altogether, a challenge that Tuchel totally failed at, because in his zeal to pack the defence he left England with no out ball either up the middle or, better yet, down the wings, inviting non-stop pressure from Messi and his cohorts.
Tuchel was hired at great expense to better Gareth Southgate’s efforts, which lest we forget totalled one World Cup semi-final and quarter final, along with two European Championship finals, all of which were lost due to timidity.
Tuchel was supposed to be the antidote to that timidity, and at the first time of asking he failed the test, and throwing his players under the proverbial bus isn’t going to change anything, whereas a bit of honesty and contrition might just do the job.
Forza Italia
In Italy they don’t mess about. When evidence emerges of dodgy dealings, however many years have passed, then no matter how big the club automatic relegation follows, along with any titles that the said club has won in the period of the transgression being vacated.
Case in point being the Calciopoli scandal, that saw mighty Juventus relegated and their Serie A title handed to third-placed Inter after the actual runners-up AC Milan were implicated in same scandal and suffered a points deduction.
In France, when champions Marseilles were caught bang to rights in a bribery scandal, they were stripped of their title and saw the two main instigators doing prison time.
Bribery in the Bundesliga, automatic relegation and possible prison time.
Meanwhile in the Premier League, the most an errant club can expect seems to be a token fine, a slap on the wrist, and a request not to do it again.
I raise this because Chelsea are proven and have retrospectively admitted to have cheated their way to the 2016-17 title through illegal payments to key players, without whom they would not have been in a position to do so, and their punishment was a measly £20 million fine, mitigated by the fact that the current Chelsea regime self-reported the underhand doings from the Roman Abramovich/Antonio Conte era.
Also, is this leniency a pointer to what can be expected as and when the case against Manchester City is eventually concluded?
If so, then it’s not to the Premier League and Football Association’s credit and shows them both in a poor light in comparison to their continental brethren.
My favourite…
Sight last week was the referee ignoring perennial whinger, cheat, cry baby, and all-round unprintable Gabriel when he went to ground after being breathed on by a Brighton attacker.
Does this mean there’s hope that the refs are getting wise to the Arsenal defender’s shenanigans? Let’s hope so. The odd deserved red card for him would be nice too.
Team of the week
Zion Suzuki Aston Villa, Lewis Hall Newcastle, Jannick Schuster Brentford, Luka Vuskovic Brighton, Fabio Carvalho Brentford, Jeremy Jacquet Liverpool, Chema Andres Brighton, Pascal Gross Brighton, Charalampos Kostoulas Brighton, Brian Brobbey Sunderland, Antoine Semenyo Man City.
Managers of the week: Keith Andrews Brentford, Fabian Hurzeler Brighton. Two very impressive managers of two very impressive clubs that are punching well above their weight this season.
Player of the week: Pascal Gross. The 35-year-old German was the catalyst for Brighton’s comeback win at Old Trafford in the League Cup and he was absolutely superb as Brighton trounced champions Arsenal three days later at the Amex.
Into the void
Once again, with the league season hitting its stride, we have an international break foisted upon us, only this time it’s essentially a three-week break rather than the two weeks that we have previously had to suffer through.
This week’s games
Selected Uefa Nations League today 4pm; Slovenia vs Scotland, 9:45; England vs Spain. Tomorrow 7pm; Denmark vs Wales, 9:45; Israel vs Republic of Ireland. Monday 9:45; Northern Ireland vs Hungary. Tuesday 7:45; Czech Republic vs England, Spain vs Croatia, Scotland vs Switzerland. Thursday 9:45; Republic of Ireland vs Austria, Wales vs Norway. Friday 9:45; Ukraine vs Northern Ireland.
Game of the week
It has to be England vs Spain. This should have been the World Cup final back in July, but here we have the first meeting between the 2024 European Championship finalists since July of that year and hopefully it will be a game to savour.
All and sundry are proclaiming this Spanish side as the best of any country since, well, the Spanish side that took two European Championships either side of the World Cup between 2008 and 2012.
I’m not too sure about that claim, but in style the two sides are very similar in that they retain possession while relying on running their opponents into the ground before nicking the odd goal. It’s not very exciting to watch but is obviously very effective.
F1
Azerbaijan Grand Prix today 2pm.
And finally
Last week’s question: what sartorially distinguished Celtic’s kit from other Scottish clubs until 1994?
The shirt number, or to be exact the lack of a shirt number. The famously stubborn Celtic chairman Bob Kelly refused to sully his club’s famous hooped shirts with numbers, and instead the numbers were to be found on both sides of Celtic’s shorts until they bowed to the SFA in 1994 and finally wore their numbers on the back of their shirts.
The Bhoys previously wore shirt numbers in European ties thanks to a Uefa ruling in 1975. This week: in the fourth round of Premier League fixtures, what was noteworthy about the Brighton team on that day?