Tuchel explains why Trafford starts ahead of Pickford for England against Spain

Thomas Tuchel has explained his decision to start James Trafford ahead of Jordan Pickford for England’s Nations League fixture against Spain at Wembley Stadium on Saturday, pointing to the Leeds United goalkeeper’s growing role at club level as the key factor.

Trafford’s selection came as a surprise given Pickford’s status as England’s established number one — the Everton goalkeeper started every match as England reached the World Cup semi-final, with Dean Henderson stepping in only for the bronze medal play-off against France, which England won 6-4.

Tuchel framed the decision as part of a deliberate rotation plan across the Nations League camp, with each goalkeeper set to play two matches. “He gets two matches, consecutive matches, because he deserves it, and Pickers gets the other two matches,” Tuchel said ahead of kick-off. “It was amazing to see how Jordan Pickford received the message and his reaction to it.”

The England manager was keen to stress that Pickford had done nothing to lose his place. “We told him that we want to see Trafford at this kind of level in goal. We want to use this competition because he has a good start for Leeds, a lot of minutes, he’s starting now — that’s the difference to last season. He did nothing wrong, and he kept pushing and was very positive about it.”

Tuchel also named an experimental outfield lineup, with Jarell Quansah, Ezri Konsa, Marc Guehi and Nico O’Reilly forming the back four. Elliott Anderson and Myles Lewis-Skelly started in midfield behind Jude Bellingham, with Bukayo Saka and Anthony Gordon on the wings and Harry Kane leading the attack.

The match marks England’s first outing since the World Cup bronze medal win over France, while Spain arrive at Wembley as world champions following their final victory over Argentina on 19 July in New Jersey.

Trafford’s debut in the fixture got off to a difficult start, however. Guehi was dispossessed on the edge of his own box by Lamine Yamal inside the opening two minutes, and the Barcelona winger slotted calmly past the debutant to give Spain an early lead.