Scholes and Butt believe that after England's FIFA World Cup campaign, Kobbie Mainoo and several other players will be "furious" with Tuchel.

After England defeated France, Tuchel stated that Mainoo was unavailable due to a back injury.

"He might have been able to get away with excuses, but I don't think Kobbie Mainoo would do that because he's desperate to play," former England and Manchester United midfielder Scholes said on the 'Good and Bad of Football' podcast, co-hosted with Nicky Butt, when discussing Mainoo's absence. "I think there will be a few players who are angry with the manager. You know, this is actually quite common, even with a 22-man squad. There are always players who go to the FIFA World Cup but don't get to play, but there's always a way to do things. Sometimes, if the team is playing well, you can barely understand it, but at that time, the England team desperately needed a player who could hold the ball and control the tempo of the game, but Mainoo didn't even get a single chance."

In Scholes' view, if England had performed well in this tournament, Tuchel's treatment of Mainoo might have been understandable. He added: "If the team played well, Mainoo might have accepted it, thinking 'okay, I can understand', but the team played so badly – honestly, their performance throughout the tournament was poor. It felt like Tuchel just didn't want to use Mainoo; anyone else could play, but he was excluded."

Before Saturday's third-place playoff match, Scholes' old teammate Nicky Butt had encouraged Mainoo, given Tuchel's unfair treatment, to simply refuse to play in this "meaningless" game. Although England ultimately defeated France, Butt firmly believes that Mainoo is not the only player feeling disgruntled.

"Let me tell you, he (Tuchel) has definitely lost the support of many players in the dressing room," Butt said in response to Scholes' comments. "From a player's perspective in the dressing room, if I were treated like that, and I was a good player in the team, I would think, 'I don't want to play for him... I love England, I want to seize every opportunity to play for England, playing for England is the proudest thing in my life, but I don't want to play for him.' I can guarantee that several players will think that way."

Scholes believes there is a "selfish" problem within the England team.

"Compare our players with the Spanish team; I think our players have stronger individual abilities," Scholes, who represented England twice in the FIFA World Cup, continued. "This might sound a bit absurd, but I really think our players' individual abilities are stronger than Spain's. But our biggest problem, not just in this FIFA World Cup – even in our playing days – is that the team doesn't act as a unit at all. Everyone is too focused on their own performance; we have many talented players, but they are all too selfish."

Although Scholes still admires Tuchel, he believes the German coach's comments after the semi-final exit put him in a more disadvantageous position. "I've said before that I admire this coach," he continued. "But I think his post-match comments were even worse than the team's actual performance, saying things like 'this doesn't fit the DNA of English football'. Tuchel, you are now part of the England team; you have to integrate into this DNA. He adopted a defensive stance and frequently blamed players, which is something our coach (Sir Alex Ferguson) would never do. Ferguson would certainly criticize us privately, on the training ground, and in meetings, but never publicly. But I think Tuchel has always had this problem in the clubs he's coached, always blaming players and having conflicts with sporting directors. Listening to his tone, you might even wonder if he wants to be fired? Sometimes, coaches use this method to force the team to fire them."

Despite widespread calls for Tuchel's dismissal after the bitter defeat to Argentina, reports indicate that the FA still plans to continue trusting him. In February this year, Tuchel extended his contract with the Three Lions for two years, which will last until Euro 2028.

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