The favourite to be the next England manager has emerged after the FA released a statement on Thomas Tuchel’s future.
When Anthony Gordon put England 1-0 up at Atlanta Stadium on Wednesday (July 15), the nation began to believe that, after 60 long years, the Three Lions were finally going to compete in a World Cup final.
However, Argentina and Lionel Messi, who provided two assists, had other plans as they completed a late comeback thanks to strikes from Enzo Fernández and Lautaro Martínez to progress to Sunday’s (July 19) final against Spain at MetLife Stadium in New York/New Jersey.England will take part in the dreaded bronze medal match against France at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday (July 18).As expected, following England’s defeat, Tuchel’s position came under scrutiny, with some fans suggesting he should be sacked, blaming the German for negative tactics that invited Argentina to attack as the Three Lions dropped deep after taking the lead.On social media, one fan wrote: “Even without a coach badge, I know not to defend for 30 mins at the end of the game, lmao. England hired a joke; now I understand why he was sacked by Chelsea.”
As another added: “At the end of the day, he’s been brought in to finish the job, and he’s done no better than Southgate. Weird submissions from the squad he took, odd subs, and we’ve looked decent for about 65 mins of the whole tournament. SACKED.”With a third offering a different take: “Real shame, and Tuchel definitely got that wrong, but the calls for him to be sacked or saying it’s a complete disgrace are just ludicrous. Comfortably the best England World Cup performance in my lifetime, a lot of the squad is still going to be there for the next one, and I think English football is in a pretty good place.”Tuchel’s substitutions were also criticised, with Ezri Konsa coming on for Gordon, Dan Burn for Reece James, and Nico O’Reilly for Declan Rice.
Former England goalkeeper Joe Hart, who was working for the BBC, suggested that the head coach “didn’t believe” his team could score a second after taking the lead, which led to them sitting in a low block.Hart said: “Gareth Southgate took a lot of criticism for the big moments with England, when they had the lead in big games and shut up shop. I don’t see that anything has changed in that big moment out there. For as much praise as we have given Thomas Tuchel, for him to change it as soon as he did, that is him saying he didn’t believe in his team, that he didn’t think they could land any more punches on Argentina.”England next permanent manager odds
Despite the FA publicly backing Tuchel after the defeat, bookmakers Sky Bet have Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe as the outright favourite to replace him as England boss should he step down or be sacked.Howe is priced at 5/2 and has consistently been linked with becoming England’s head coach throughout his career after receiving plaudits for the jobs he has done at both Bournemouth and Newcastle, guiding the Magpies to Champions League qualification twice, as well as winning the Carabao Cup.
Former Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola is second favourite at 10/3, while USMNT boss Mauricio Pochettino is priced at 7/1.
Odds in full:
Eddie Howe – 5/2
Pep Guardiola – 10/3
Mauricio Pochettino – 7/1
Lee Carsley – 15/2
Gareth Southgate – 10/1Graham Potter – 11/1
Frank Lampard – 12/1
Kieran McKenna – 16/1
Unai Emery – 20/1
Steven Gerrard – 22/1
Liam Rosenior – 28/1
Jose Mourinho – 33/1
Mikel Arteta – 33/1
Fabian Hurzeler – 33/1
Sean Dyche – 40/1Michael Carrick – 40/1
Anthony Barry – 50/1
