England players are understood to have aired strong views about their World Cup semi-final defeat by Argentina in a team meeting.

As BBC Sport reported in September, the Football Association (FA) process included canvassing the opinions of the squad - and it has emerged that took place at a 'full and frank' meeting with head coach Thomas Tuchel at the start of the September international break.

BBC Sport has been told the squad feel that now they've had their say, they can move on from their heartbreak in Atlanta on 15 July.

And this was demonstrated in the last international break when England, after a narrow defeat by Spain in the first game, went on to win the next three matches impressively.

The ramifications of the Argentina defeat, or perhaps more pertinently, the circumstances, left some in the squad with grievances, and those feelings lingered, even growing, throughout the summer.

In particular, there was unhappiness about how Tuchel told them to approach the closing stages of the game after Anthony Gordon had given them a 55th-minute advantage.

Enzo Fernandez struck an equaliser with five minutes left, before Lautaro Martinez headed in a stoppage-time winner.

As reported by BBC Sport at the time, a number of senior England players held misgivings at Tuchel's instructions for the closing stages of the Argentina loss, believing the approach was too negative and defensive.

Hindsight, of course, is 20/20. England appeared to retreat in the closing stages of the last-16 tie against Mexico earlier in the tournament - but successfully defended a 3-2 lead to reach the quarter-finals to trigger scenes of joy at the iconic Azteca Stadium.

Nevertheless, certain players felt let down by the team's apparent pragmatism during the closing stages of the loss to Argentina amid a sense that going for the South Americans' jugular would have provided greater success.

What was said at the review meeting

Inevitably, the game against Argentina emerged as a key theme at the squad discussion.

It is understood that Tuchel pointed to the quality of the opposition as a key factor on why they eventually succumbed to two late Argentina goals.

There is, of course, merit to that argument. Lionel Messi was in the opposition team after all.

That said, it was not an argument the players in the meeting were prepared to universally accept.

There is a strongly held view within the England squad that their team, man-for-man, was superior to Argentina, who had 38-year-old Nicolas Otamendi on the field for the closing 18 minutes of the game.

All players were afforded an opportunity to air their personal views during the meeting.

As you would expect, captain Harry Kane was strong and forthright with his views.

Jude Bellingham, too, is said to have been particularly candid in expressing his belief that this current crop of England players were more than capable of continuing to take the game to Argentina.

Bellingham's contribution to the meeting is said to have underlined his growing influence within the England squad, with many believing the Real Madrid midfielder will become the team's captain once Kane is no longer in the picture.

If the air needed to be cleared after the World Cup then it appears those honest discussions at the end of September did the trick.

Barring the 3-2 defeat by Spain at Wembley in their first Nations League fixture in September, England have bounced back from the loss to Argentina emphatically - scoring 12 goals without conceding in three fixtures against the Czech Republic and Croatia.

Similarly, the fluctuating relationship between Bellingham and Tuchel seems to have improved, too.

"It was a bit of an up and down [relationship] of course but we are in a good place," Tuchel said last week.

"I love to be his coach. He's a top player, a very influential player and I think it goes both ways."

We will get a clearer idea of how 'Tuchel 2.0' is progressing in the next few days when England host Croatia on Thursday and travel to Madrid to face world champions Spain on Sunday.

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Kane and Bellingham air strong views in England World Cup review

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