Anthony Gordon: ‘English players can’t keep the ball like Spain. It’s not in our DNA’

Anthony Gordon admits he was surprised to come off during England’s World Cup semi-final and says he will never get over the heartbreaking defeat to Argentina.

Gordon put his country on the cusp of a first final since 1966 when he scored in the 55th minute in Atlanta, but his withdrawal 11 minutes later changed the course of the game.

Boss Tuchel replaced him with defender Ezri Konsa and England barely got out of their own half again as Argentina scored two late goals to advance.

“I was (surprised), being totally honest,” he said of his substitution. “Only because I’d just scored, so I’m the type of player that, I’ve said before, I’m really good when I play off adrenaline.

“When I score, I normally don’t have many bad games because I get into an untouchable mode of confidence.

“It makes me feel on top of the world. Especially in that moment, on that stage, I felt really good.”

Asked whether he will ever get over the disappointment of losing, he said: “No, I don’t think so.

“Being totally honest, I think any time you lose anything of value in life – whether it be a person or something like a match or anything you really want to have or win or anything of large value – you’ll never be the same person. It leaves a scar, but that scar doesn’t always have to be a negative one.

“You can be a better person for it. You can learn different things about the world, about yourself.”

Much of the post-mortem of the defeat was around England’s inability to keep the ball, with Tuchel suggesting it was not in the country’s “DNA”.

Gordon, who has made a flying start to life at Barcelona, also believes players in this country cannot keep the ball in a way that world champions Spain, who visit Wembley on Saturday for the Nations League opener, can.

“I think culturally, it’s not just that tournament or that game where we couldn’t control a game,” he said. “England as a nation, we don’t have that strength like the Spanish, where we control games like they do. It’s not in us.

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“I’m not sure it’s something that can be taught because now I think playing in Spain, I can speak with an educated view on the way they keep the ball is different.

“It’s very different from what I’ve ever experienced playing in this country.

“It’s not in the English DNA and it’s probably something I’ve only realised to that extent from playing in Spain now.

“Because I think we, as English players, are educated the same way as the Spanish players.

“We know how to keep possession, but it’s the decision-making of certain players in Spain, which it’s just not a natural thing. I even look at some of the decisions they take on the ball sometimes and think, ‘I’m not sure how you’ve seen that’.

“It’s the way they’re built. I don’t know what it is, something that maybe we can’t ever put a name to, but they’re definitely built different.

“So I’m not sure we can ever get that, but we can definitely get better, or maybe go the other way and really play to our strengths, which is to play physical, play direct football, and on the counter-attack.”