Manchester United legend Roy Keane thinks comments from England boss Thomas Tuchel on Gareth Southgate’s side last summer were a “bit harsh”.
The Three Lions reached the Euro 2024 final against Spain, where they eventually lost 2-1 in Berlin, but there was a lot of criticism from fans on their way to the showpiece event.
Many England supporters felt Southgate should have taken a less pragmatic approach and allowed some of their more attacking players to express themselves.
His way of playing got England to another major final, even if they did fail at the final hurdle, but new boss Tuchel listed the missing qualities in Southgate’s side at last summer’s European Championship.
When asked if England had a ‘clear playing style’ last summer, Tuchel replied: “Not last summer, no.”
On what was missing, Tuchel added: “The identity, the clarity, the rhythm, the repetition of patterns. The freedom of players, the expression of players, the hunger. They were more afraid to drop out of the tournament, in my observation, than having the excitement and hunger to win it.”
Tuchel continued: “Remember, we changed our midfield something like three times, so maybe that’s what he’s looking at. The way he has spoken about it doesn’t sound great, but I think he was right, we didn’t (have a clear style).
“By the time we got to the final, we knew exactly how Spain were going to play, we weren’t quite sure how we were. So maybe that’s what he was on about.”
But Keane thinks Tuchel – who led England to a 2-0 win over Albania in his first match in charge – was “a bit harsh” on Southgate and his England team last summer.
Keane told ITV Sport: “It seems a bit hard, because obviously they won a few football matches over there, and there were a lot of teams that had a good identity, (but) they came back before England. It’s well and good talking a good game, they’ve got to perform.
“But yeah, it seems a bit harsh on Gareth (Southgate), but I know where he’s coming from, a certain style of play, they were heavily criticised despite winning football matches, but I still think we shouldn’t get away from Gareth doing a good job with England.”
Adding some balance, fellow pundit Ian Wright added: “It’s his second language, I think he’s just very honest, brutally honest about what he was saying.”
Assessing his own side’s performance after they won their opening World Cup qualifier on Friday night, Tuchel said: “We can do better and we have to do better.
“We started quite well, with a lot of passes and high energy but the opponent was hard to wear down because they defended in a deep block and all the matches we saw in the EUROs, they managed to not concede chances, not concede goals.
“In the second half, I felt we were too slow and there weren’t enough runs off the ball to get more often behind the line.”