During that time, Tuchel replaced the goalscorer with a defender in Ezri Konsa, and further bolstered the backline by bringing on Dan Burn and Nico O’Reilly. Declan Rice and Reece James made way, and the Three Lions lost their lead within two minutes of play resuming, with Lautaro Martinez completing the comeback late on as England failed to hold on and force extra-time.
Rooney told BBC One: “It’s a panic, it’s a real panic. You can’t go a goal up and then surrender.
“Surrender the ball and surrender any opportunity of trying to get the second goal. You want to be on the front foot when the pressure is on Argentina to get back in the game.”
He continued: “If you’re on that pitch, go 1-0 up and then see the changes the manager is making…you are losing belief. There’s only so many times you can get away with it. You start thinking ‘we’re going to sit back, how are we going to get through this?’
Rooney went on to say: “We got ourselves in such a good position, and then we didn’t know what to do. We sat back, we allowed them to come onto us. They were creating a number of chances, then we cracked. Really disappointed.”
He added: “These fans have spent a lot of money to be out here. I expected more in this game.
“Argentina are the world champions. We knew it was going to be the difference. The changes we made didn’t help us. Devastated. Sometimes you need a bit of luck to win these tournaments.”
The pundit then concluded: “Once we got the first goal, we didn’t look to go for the second goal. For the players, and for me, Thomas Tuchel made the decision, and when you make the decision, it is a gamble.
“The gamble he made was to go with five at the back, which allowed them to dictate the game. The decisions Thomas Tuchel made, we have to be honest, have cost us tonight.”
While former England goalkeeper Joe Hart said: “I think Gareth Southgate will be at home watching this game having taken a lot of criticism when it came to the big moments. England in big moments having taken the lead and shutting up shop.
“I don’t see that anything has changed in that big moment out there. Thomas Tuchel, for as much praise as we’ve given him, for him to change it as soon as he did…I think that’s him saying he didn’t believe in his team, that they couldn’t land any more punches on Argentina.”
Micah Richards added: “You’ve summed it up perfectly. Tuchel was brought in to be the difference. Tactically, we all thought he got it wrong, in terms of the changes when we went to five at the back. I thought we could have kept the momentum going by bringing on wingers and going a little bit higher up the pitch. Ultimately, we just didn’t have the answers.”