Joe Hart makes ruthless claim about Thomas Tuchel and England which leaves rest of BBC panel stunned

Joe Hart offered a brutal assessment of Thomas Tuchel following England’s World Cup semi-final defeat to Argentina.

Although England led for most of the second half at Atlanta Stadium, thanks to Anthony Gordon’s smart finish from Morgan Rogers' cross, Argentina progressed to their third World Cup final in just four tournaments courtesy of two late strikes from Enzo Fernández and Lautaro Martínez.

Despite several gallant performances from England’s backline, which dealt with an onslaught of crosses after taking the lead, Tuchel’s side sat back for most of the second half, with the German opting to bring on Ezri Konsa for Gordon, Dan Burn for Reece James and Nico O’Reilly for Declan Rice, seemingly showing he wanted to defend the lead England had, which ultimately proved to be the wrong decision.

After England conceded twice, only then did Tuchel bring on attackers in the form of Marcus Rashford and Ivan Toney, who had no impact on the scoreline as Argentina set up a final with Spain at MetLife Stadium on July 19.

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England face France in the bronze medal match, set to take place in Miami on Saturday (July 18).

BBC pundits react to England defeat

Shortly after the match, several pundits voiced their disappointment in England’s performance, with Wayne Rooney, who was working for the BBC, saying: “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.”

The former England forward later 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.”

Meanwhile, Alan Shearer shared a similar stance, admitting that he thought “the better team won”.

The ex-Newcastle marksman explained: “You have got to be open and honest about it. Their reaction was brilliant, they hit the post a few times and England got lucky. How they didn't panic, how they stuck to their game plan, how they believed in what they were doing, and they did it. The substitutions worked for them, and you have to respect the way they came back into the game. They deserve to be in the final on Sunday, as much as it hurts to say that.”

And former England goalkeeper Joe Hart gave arguably the strongest take, even suggesting Tuchel did not have the belief his players could score a second goal.

Hart told the BBC: "Gareth Southgate took a lot of criticism for the big moments with England, when they had the lead in big games and shutting 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."