​It was exquisite torture yet again for England and their fans as the chance of World Cup glory was snatched away in the dying minutes of yesterday’s semi-final with Argentina. So, what happened – apart from the usual?The narrative has already developed that Thomas Tuchel bottled it, he cowered before the genius of Lionel Messi going to a back five after taking the lead. He seemed genuinely shocked by this reading of the game when interviewed minutes afterwards.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThere were 17 long minutes before he sacrificed Antony Gordon for Ezri Konsa and went to that more defensive formation. A long 17 minutes when he felt they were losing the game, giving up too much space and were on the verge of losing a goal, so he tried the ‘Mexico’ method: defend with for you lives with as many stout defenders in the box as possible.Was he right about that whirlwind period when he felt they were disintegrating? In that period Djed Spence made a world-class goal-saving tackle; Enzo Fernandez had a shot just over the bar; Messi put in the first few of his vicious crosses that England struggled to deal with; Pickford saved brilliantly on the line from a header down low to his right; Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni made five personnel changes and they won a number of corners.England scarcely crossed the half way line during this phase and Paul Robinson said on BBC Radio 5Live: “We are playing too deep with a low block; I don’t like it.”Tuchel was correct, his team had fallen back or been pushed back before he made his changes. Had he then made positive substitutions that didn’t shore up a back line stretched to breaking point, and they had subsequently lost, he would have been hammered for naïveté.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThat is not what the narrative will be and there is no use in Tuchel complaining to the public.For them he “went negative and it is his fault”. That’s the job, that’s how it works, and all that matters now is whether those who choose the England coach believe in him or the masses.It is a tough call because until the 86th minute they had just about managed to get there, and that is pretty close.Lionel Messi provided the two assists for Argentina to help them come from behind against England [Getty Images]England were beaten by positivity from a world class side who had the ability to change from niggling negativity to flowing attack at the flick of a switch. This switch appears to be situated somewhere in Lionel Messi’s brain.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementHe found the space and started playing in passes and crosses that were almost unstoppable, just when he needed to. The two assists that decided the tie were fantastic even if the first looked more run of the mill.In this one he had the ball wide on the right, but knew he had to draw more defenders to him to develop the space. This was categorically not a fluke, it was deliberate and calculated to draw Elliot Anderson towards him. Watch again an