Thomas Tuchel under scrutiny after England's World Cup exit to Argentina but were his substitutions really the cause?

The same feeling, but worse. England exit the World Cup with a 2-1 defeat just as they did twice under Gareth Southgate and in strikingly similar fashion to that semi-final defeat to Croatia eight years ago. They were leading but sat back and subsequently lost.

This was different because England were supposed to have learned. Thomas Tuchel was supposed to have taught them. Instead, he is being lambasted for a series of substitutions so counterproductive that his counterpart Lionel Scaloni might have made them himself.

Ezri Konsa for Anthony Gordon, England's goalscorer, will go down in folklore for all the wrong reasons. A defensive move that gave the impression of inviting pressure, robbed the team of an out-ball - and all with what turned out to be 30 minutes still left to play.

Two more defenders were introduced by Tuchel prior to Argentina's late double. And the reaction of England's players to the defeat hinted that their feelings about the approach were not so far removed from the frustrations of the masses watching back home.

"Once we went 1-0 up we seemed to just try and hold on which at this level is just not enough," said captain Harry Kane. "We should have carried on pushing," agreed Marc Guehi. "It kind of felt like we scored and then the mentality was go back, defend."

"I thought we nailed the game-plan up until we scored," said fellow defender Dan Burn. "We got a little bit passive after the goal, defended probably a little bit too deep, and the quality of chances that Argentina were creating it felt like it was a matter of time."

The blame game is in full swing and what might feel like a minor detail could have significant consequences once the dust settles on this disappointment. Were Tuchel's interventions the cause of that passivity or was he just the coach left trying to cope with it?

There were 17 minutes between Gordon's goal going in and the Konsa switch. Lautaro Martinez, scorer of the winning goal, identified this as the key period. "England got tired. They pressed for 60 minutes. After that, they had nothing left, then they dropped back."

That was Tuchel's reading of events. "It started straight away after the goal. It is basically the reason why we lost," he explained. "The mindset shifted. We sat deep straight away after our goal, not after the substitutions. We suddenly played like we had a lot to lose."