Sean Dyche tells Thomas Tuchel he’s ‘clutching’ with England excuses after World Cup exit | OneFootball

Sean Dyche has disagreed with some comments from Thomas Tuchel, feeling he’s “clutching” following England’s World Cup exit at the hands of Argentina.

Tuchel has faced backlash for setting his side up to sit back following their 55th-minute goal in the semi. England had just 12 per cent of the ball following Anthony Gordon’s strike, highlighting a desire to batten down the hatches rather than going for another goal.

He suggested it is perhaps not in England‘s DNA to keep the ball and take control like other sides, but Dyche has hit back at him on that.

Speaking on talkSPORT, Dyche said: “I don’t think it’s easy when you’re a manager and especially what’s happened. The weight on your shoulders has got to say something at the end of the day.

“But what I would say is, having been in the Premier League for so many years, I’m pretty sure, and in fact I know this, the Premier League has the highest possession stats certainly in Europe, I think across the world.

“So I don’t agree with ‘it’s in our DNA’ because most of these players, well, virtually all of them, play in the Premier League.

“So if you’re playing football regularly in the Premier League and you’re in teams that are averaging something like 800 passes a game or whatever, I think the highest is something like 875 or something like that. I don’t agree with that part.

“The only thing I would say is, he’s been in for circa 18 months, so surely if that’s the problem or you’ve noticed that as a problem, it’s your responsibility, I imagine, as the manager in your coaching team, to improve upon that.

“Now I know they only get certain coaching windows, but if you think it’s a problem and you’ve recognised the problem, possibly, he did say ‘maybe’, to be fair to him, I like to bring balance to managers’ lives, and he did say maybe it’s a DNA problem, but on this occasion I think that’s clutching a little bit.

“At the end of the day, these players now, they’ve been brought up since they were seven years old; possession is king, you know what I mean? So I think they can deal with the ball.”

Dyche understands furore

Dyche feels it’s evident why people are unhappy following the exit.

He said: “I think it’s the responsibility of the coaching team and of the players, don’t get me wrong, to go and deal with the ball and keep the ball, and there’s different ways of winning games.

“One is a tactical way of winning, which they tried to do, which is defend it out, of course, and let’s have it right: if they get over the line by doing that, I don’t think it would have said tactical genius, but it would have said, well, fair play, they’ve found a way.

“Like some of the other games, let’s face it, it’s not been glorious football. It’s not been glorious. Find a way to get the job done.

“Now that didn’t happen, so of course, a massive furore about why it didn’t happen and the big inquest starts.”