Thomas Tuchel's 'biggest mistake' was how he used Harry Kane - ex-Tottenham man

Thomas Tuchel made mistakes in his first major tournament as England manager but he should continue in his role.

That is the opinion of former senior Tottenham, Everton and Aston Villa scout, Bryan King, speaking exclusively to Football Insider.

Spain won the World Cup on Sunday, beating Argentina 1-0 in the final courtesy of Ferran Torres' goal in extra time.

Lionel Scaloni's team were reduced to 10 men just before full-time and failed to even take a shot on target throughout the contest, raising further questions over England's semi-final defeat.

Tuchel's side had been 1-0 up over Argentina and comfortable before the German decided to replace several attackers and midfielders with defenders, allowing Lionel Messi the space to cross ball after ball into the box until the game had been flipped on its head.

England ultimately finished third after beating France on Saturday, confirming the German's place until 2028 and dismissing any talk of his exit.

Thomas Tuchel 'messed up over Harry Kane'

After years of going so close under Gareth Southgate, England fans have been desperate to see a team that are not afraid to play with freedom and bravery.

For much of the World Cup, they saw that. The victory over Mexico will be one that lives long in the memory, due to the chaos that dominated the game and the way England fought in an incredibly hostile environment.

But the Argentina defeat looked to be a return to previous fears and a tendency to fall back.

"If anybody knows he's made a mistake, it's him and I think he's made that quite public to say that things could have turned out differently," King told Football Insider.

"What we've got to look at now is, in two years time, we've got the Euros. We've had him for just over a year, 18 months, so he's got a fair idea of the players that he wants to use leading up to the Euros. 

"I think there'll be players that will be waving goodbye to England duty. I thought his biggest mistake, to be honest, was not bringing Harry Kane off during that game because what you needed was somebody where the balls could get played into channels and you could get real pace onto it.

"That's not Harry's game. But I think we have to stick with what we've got at the moment, to be honest, because otherwise you're starting from scratch again."

"To come away with a bronze medal after one game where mistakes were made, you've got to say it's relatively successful," King added. "So I think he should continue, only because he was the one who got to the World Cup,  who played in the World Cup. 48 teams, 45 teams went home with nothing. We were one of the three.

"Okay, it was a bronze medal, but it was a medal. I'm sure 45 other teams would have enjoyed having a bronze medal."

Tuchel's message to England

Tuchel will be in charge as England look towards their next opportunity to end the wait for international silverware in 2028, when they European Championship is played on home soil.

"This game will help us for sure – even if you can never fully celebrate a bronze medal,” the German said after Saturday's game.

"It’s the first [World Cup] medal for 60 years, first [at a] World Cup on foreign soil, and I hope the players can be proud of that at some point.

"We set ourselves the highest dream to chase, and we were very, very ambitious with our dream to make the final in the World Cup. So it’s very, very painful if you miss out, the pain will stay for a while.”