‘England fell in trap of fear’: Oliver Kahn, Robbie Fowler slam Tuchel’s tactics | Football News

3 min readJul 16, 2026 07:00 AM The knives were out for England coach Thomas Tuchel after his side allowed a 1-0 lead to slip and become a 2-1 defeat to Argentina in the FIFA World Cup semi-finals on Wednesday night. The German coach’s tactics came under withering scrutiny from former footballers like Oliver Khan and Robbie Fowler 
England had taken the lead in the 55th minute, thanks to Anthony Gordon’s goal. Then they resorted to defensive tactics which allowed the defending champions to attack in wave after wave. Finally, England conceded in the 85th minute with Enzo Fernandez shooting from dance before Lautaro Martinez headed the ball in in the second minute of injury time to complete a come-from-behind win. 
“England fell in the trap of fear,” was former Germany keeper Oliver Kahn’s assessment on Zee5 after the game ended. “From the point England scored and took the lead, they were only defending. Against Argentina this is not possible. They were almost playing with 10 defenders the end of the game.” 
Kahn also called out Tuchel’s tactics. 
“We should ask Tuchel what he was thinking. These kind of tactics cannot work till end of the game against Argentina.” 
Former England footballer Robbie Fowler, who earned 26 caps for the national team and scored seven goals, agreed with Kahn. 
“This defeat is on the manager and his tactics. Tomorrow he is going to be annihilated in the English press. He came to England with the reputation as a super coach. But as a super coach you have to do something more. With his tactics, he attracted too much attention on the backline,” Fowler said. 
When asked how England’s World Cup should be viewed, considering they faltered in the semi-final, he said: “Don’t think it’s a success. Minimum we should have got to the final. Otherwise what had changed (from the previous manager)? The defeat was completely England’s fault.”Story continues below this ad
Tuchel, on his part, defended their tactics in post-match chats with the media. 
“Argentina won every header. They kept crossing and crossing. So we went to a back five to close the gaps inside and be stronger in the air,” Tuchel said.
“Straight after our goal, with no substitutions, we just conceded way too many crosses and way too many chances. So we tried to help. But of course the responsibility is on the coach. And … if it doesn’t go well, it’s easy to say that it was wrong,” Tuchel said.