Next England manager odds as FA urged to sack Thomas Tuchel after World Cup exit

Thomas Tuchel during England’s World Cup exit (Picture: Getty)

The FA are facing calls to sack

Thomas Tuchel

after

England

’s

World Cup

semi-final defeat to Argentina.

Tuchel was

hired by the FA

to take England to the next level after several agonising near-misses under his predecessor Sir

Gareth Southgate

England reached

back-to-back European Championship finals under Southgate

, the semi-finals of the World Cup in 2018 and the quarter-finals four years ago in Qatar.

Spirited knockout wins over Mexico and Norway suggested England could be on the verge of history at this World Cup but it was the

same old story for the Three Lions in their semi-final against Argentina

Tuchel’s side took the lead through

Anthony Gordon

’s second-half goal but proceeded to retreat, which in fairness had worked in the victories over Mexico and Norway.

But Tuchel has been widely criticised for going defensive too early and not taking into account the attacking quality of Argentina, led by superstar

Lionel Messi

Chelsea

Enzo Fernandez

equalised in the 85th minute before Lautaro Martinez headed home an injury-time winner to

send Argentina through to the World Cup final

Harry Kane after England’s defeat to Argentina (Picture: Getty)

Ex-Tottenham midfielder Jamie O’Hara accused Tuchel of ‘bottling it’ against Argentina and said the German was to blame for England’s World Cup exit.

Tuchel

signed a contract extension with England back in February to stay in the job until the end of Euro 2028

, but O’Hara believes he should be sacked immediately.

‘Those goals were coming, they were coming for 15 minutes after we scored,’ he told

talkSPORT

. ‘You can’t play like that, you cannot play like that against Argentina.

Argentina stunned England with a late comeback (Picture: Getty)

‘It’s a terrible, terrible decision from Thomas Tuchel. We retreated way too early, we could have had Rashford or Saka, we had so much more to give in the game but we retreated.

‘This is what Thomas Tuchel was brought in for and now we’re out. It’s a sackable offence, it’s shocking from Tuchel. He should be embarrassed.

‘Sack him, sack him, sack him – sack him now! He’s absolutely bottled it. We’re out of the World Cup because of Thomas Tuchel.’

If the FA do decide to sack Tuchel, legendary former Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is the favourite with the bookmakers to be the next England manager.

Newcastle United’s Eddie Howe, who was

heavily linked with the job before Tuchel’s appointment

, is second-favourite ahead of former interim boss Lee Carsley.

Speaking after England’s heartbreaking World Cup exit, Tuchel said: ‘We’re disappointed, we were so close but we got too passive after we scored and conceded a lot of chances.

‘We could not turn the ball possession around and then conceded so many crosses, chances and shots. We were close but couldn’t keep the level up after we scored.’

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Asked if he would definitely be staying on after the World Cup, Tuchel added: ‘We keep on going with the contract until the home Euros.

‘I’m looking forward to that even though right now it’s difficult to look that far ahead.’

Ex-England striker Chris Sutton also criticised Tuchel after England were knocked out of the World Cup by defending champions Argentina.

‘There certainly needs to be questions asked about Thomas Tuchel,’ he told BBC Radio 5 Live. ‘Looking at the game and the way the game turned that was down to his coaching.

‘He was so super negative when he should’ve been positive. He could’ve been more positive with his substitutions.

‘You had Ollie Watkins and Marcus Rashford on the bench. And why not take Harry Kane off when he was looking like a passenger? He’s got a lot of questions to answer.’

Argentina will face Spain in Sunday’s World Cup final after the

European champions beat tournament favourites France

Spain are bidding to win their second World Cup after lifting the trophy in 2010, while Argentina have three wins, most recently in 2022.

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