Former midfielder-turned-pundit Roy Keane believes that Thomas Tuchel’s assessment of Gareth Southgate’s England and their Euro 2024 performance was ‘harsh’. The German tactician suggested they lacked ‘excitement’ and a ‘hunger to win’.
Tuchel’s start to life in the Wembley Stadium hotseat got off to a flyer – a 2-0 win over Albania – on Friday night as debutant Myles Lewis-Skelly and the ever-reliable Harry Kane, notching his 70th Three Lions goal, both got on the scoresheet in the capital.
But the 51-year-old – just the third non-Englishman to take on the role – raised eyebrows with his comments ahead of locking horns with Albania. When asked whether the 1966 World Cup winners had a ‘clear playing style’ during Euro 2024, he said:
“Not last summer, no.” On what was missing, he said: “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.”
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The ex-Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain custodian’s comments were well-received by England fans – but Keane, widely regarded as one of the greatest midfielders in Premier League history, jumped to the defence of England’s chief for eight years.
“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,” he said. “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.
To provide some balance, Keane’s right-hand man and former Arsenal and Crystal Palace line-leader Ian Wright jumped to the defence of England’s current chief. “It’s his second language, I think he’s just very honest, brutally honest about what he was saying.”
“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),” Krumbach-born Tuchel continued.
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.
Tuchel, who is commonly admired as one of the best managers in world football, has a clear objective of winning the 2026 World Cup in north America. In doing so, he’d exceed Southgate’s exploits in terms of the amount of silverware but in terms of influence, he's got a long way to go.