decfooty

@stirling_j It's simplistic, but I think that the two solutions in 2022 were problems in 2026: MacAllister and Enzo. Neither were in form all tournament. The most disappointing thing is that Messi was sharp in the final: he just had no one to connect with.

Argentina didn't surrender possession against Spain in the Final. But they were generally bad when they had the ball. For me, the interesting analysis is to explore why they were bad in possession.

@lightfinisher Where the fuck was he running to AFTER he helped Williams win the header!?

Molina is the reason England scored and he was the reason Spain scored. Shitty defender. Why did Scaloni bring him on in place of Montiel 💀

@stirling_j Have you done any preview podcasts or content for the final? I'd love to hear/read how you see it. Also, what is your breakdown of what went right for Arg/wrong for Eng in the semi final. (I think the role of Tuchel in England's downfall has been completely overblown)

Still true

@JacobSteinberg @AliMaxwell_ From Gordon's goal to his substitution England didn't once regain possession from Argentina by their own efforts. Would Rashford have made much difference to that reality?

@AliMaxwell_ Well yes but the idea the wingers couldn’t have made a difference on Wednesday looks even more absurd - and Saka looks absolutely fine.

These quick English wingers looks quite dangerous if given space to attack. Wonder if…

Also noteworthy - they never actually regained possession during that period between Gordon's goal and his substitution. Two bad Argentina miscontrols gifted them the ball. Apart from that, the only time they regained possession was from goal kicks.

Number of passes played by England's midfield trio between first goal and Tuchel's first sub: 2 One pass by Bellingham, one pass by Rice, zero passes by Anderson. Eng completely folded in that period, despite what the likes of Jonathan Liew (who watched it back) will tell you.

@Valuable2017 @DPJHodges That's true. Kane has escaped any kind of criticism from official outlets, but what was he up to? 5 minutes after Argentina scored he was in defensive midfield looking to receive a goal kick, and ended up in the box desperately kicking the ball to touch.

@decfooty @DPJHodges I don’t disagree with what you’re saying and there was more going on than the managers decisions. But we needed to give them a dilemma and out ball. With Kane also so deep there was nothing to hit or stretch them. I felt we had so many defenders on but no one knew their job.

As I was saying, this is nothing to do with tactics, or formations or managerial instructions. This is a professional football team that had basically stopped functioning.

@Valuable2017 @DPJHodges Not quite. England also had no out ball before Gordon was subbed. I think people are underestimating the difficulty that Tuchel was faced with: he had to take off his two heroes for England to regain any foothold in the match, and even then there were no guarantees

@decfooty @DPJHodges Don’t disagree, but my point still stands

@Tim_Vickery The question is, why didn't they? Why did Gordon not get another touch between his goal and his substitution? I'm just not convinced that Rasha or Madueke or half-fit Saka as out balls would have made any material difference.

@decfooty Space opened up. They were always gonna have problems defending in that scenario

The great Tommy T v Argentina debate; youtu.be/YxHDRNLtrtA

@Valuable2017 @DPJHodges Gordon proved himself not to be an out ball as soon as he scored. He didn't touch the ball after that. He was dribbled past by Messi, and didn't close down a dangerous Messi cross that should have led to a goal. All before Tuchel did anything.

@DPJHodges I agree but as soon as Gordon went off, we had no out ball.

@offtheball Tim is great. But he lost me at "imagine unleashing Madueke."

🗣️ 'I can't imagine how anyone thought that that was going to work just for so long!' 🗣️ 'England, they're going very negative quite soon after scoring the goal. After conceding, Argentina immediately adapt!' Tim Vickery admits to being 'baffled' by Thomas Tuchel's tactics immediately after England took the lead against Argentina last night! | 🇦🇷 The Football Show on Off The Ball with @Novibet_ie Over 18s only | gamblingcare.ie | Please gamble responsibly

@barneyronay This is excellent, and you're exactly right: the defining moment in this game was not what happened after 72 minutes; it's what happened after the England goal.

Tuchel and England: anatomy of a balls up theguardian.com/football/2026/…

@SamLee The line between defensive and positive changes is blurry. Scaloni's major change involved bringing on three defensive players: Montiel, Otamendi, and de Paul. Those are the kind of changes you would expect if Argentina were looking to hang on!

A few more thoughts, for what it’s worth It is clear that England sat back almost immediately after the goal. Tuchel says this was due to the players rather than him - whether conscious or otherwise. Seems that Tuchel tried to ‘fix’ that by putting on defensive solutions. I’d like to know whether more positive changes would have been useful. Maybe we’ll find out one day. Maybe Tuchel now realises the job he has on his hands in terms of the English mindset. He gave that famous quote about Southgate’s team fearing elimination, maybe he now realises how deep rooted that is among the players (this generation and many others). If so, he now has two years to insist and insist that when you get a goal like that last night, you need to keep your foot on the gas. (City parallel: losing at Monaco in 2017 when they got a goal, sat back, conceded and went out. Guardiola knew he had to change that) Sorry for the essay

@MiguelDelaney Let me get this straight: you've gone from "best tournament performance in 40 years" to "15 minutes against Croatia"?

It could have been a fourth successive Spain-England final across men and women and they all would have looked identical The one England won was an astute foreign coach looking to pragmatically get lucky It’s better to have to think about what this is independent.co.uk/sport/football…

@EwanMacKenna What do you mean "throughout the game"? He played a full half worth of quality football, and he's thirty fucking nine! This wasn't a random moment of magic. It was a full half's of dominance, and it started before Tuchel made a single change.

I'm not backing down on the Messi stuff. It was Tuchel that allowed him into position he wanted out right having been awful throughout game. And for those saying two assists... The first was a short pass backwards for a screamer from way out, the second a standard cross. Just because he's a genius doesn't mean everything he does is genius. And he can be poor. #argentina #england

@bolandadrian @MiguelDelaney This is exactly right. He was reacting to the cowardice of his players. His reaction failed, but there's plenty of blame to go around. Kane's performance was sackable. Bellingham wasn't much better.

@MiguelDelaney There is no evidence it was his decision. Seems an emergent players decision after the goal, and as Tuchel explained, the logic of the subs was to plug the gaps that emerged - he was solving a player-generated-problem - if they won’t attack then Jesus I better plug the defence

England lose a place in the World Cup final because Tuchel loses his bottle Messi doing little and you give him the space where he's most dangerous As one of the most famous pieces of American cinema ends: "We blew it. Good night, man" independent.co.uk/sport/football…

@Danakin_ @jowrotethis I love CR and Andy, but the Bear could release a 30 minute montage of various characters taking a shit, and CR and Andy would laud the bold creative decision of Storer or reserve judgement to see where this leads.

@jowrotethis Hmmm, that did not seem to be CR or Andy’s takeaway on GARY based on their discussion on The Watch.

If Jon Bernthal was trying to prove something in co-writing THE BEAR and PUNISHER specials, he definitely did. Just not what he intended.

@diegotorresro I love you, Diego, but not even the parents of Martinelli and Trossard would agree with this assessment. And Yamal is still better than all of the players on this list.

Hoy Doku es el mejor extremo del mundo. Lo siguen Kvara, Olise, Martinelli, Trossard, Dembélé… Vinicius nunca se aproximó a 1 km de esos niveles. Pero en el último clásico provocó una crisis institucional que todavía incendia al Madrid. Lo fácil es culpar a un topo inexistente.

@barneyronay Willem Dafoe should play him in the The Fisherman (2028)

@barneyronay Your description of Luis Enrique deserves its own literary prize

How do Arsenal beat PSG? (Clue: it’s not by attacking. Think of the opposite of attack) theguardian.com/football/2026/…