Tuchel backs England to overcome defensive frailties as he drops selection hint

Thomas Tuchel admits England have become a “danger to themselves” when it comes to defending.

Tuchel oversaw a perfect World Cup qualifying campaign as they were water tight at the back and did not concede a single goal. But the three goals conceded against Spain at Wembley means they have now shipped 13 goals in their last six games.

They have kept just four clean sheets in 13 games in 2026 and, tellingly, in each of the last five times they have conceded three or more goals Jordan Pickford has not been in goal.

That run dates back to Aaron Ramsdale, Dean Henderson (twice), Nick Pope and now James Trafford, who obviously shipped three goals against Spain at Wembley on Saturday. Leeds keeper Trafford will be between the posts again in Prague against the Czech Republic as he continues his job share with Pickford.

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But Tuchel made it crystal clear that England’s defending is actually trying to cut out individual errors as on Saturday it was Marc Guehi and Nico O’Reilly who were guilty of uncharacteristic mistakes. England boss Tuchel said: “We suffered clearly from individual mistakes when we had the ball, especially in the deep build-up.

“Of course, that is something we cannot repeat, especially not at this kind of level. We have to take care about this. We have to be technically absolutely clinical also under pressure.

“We need to improve these things but strangely enough, when we had the ball we were the biggest danger to ourselves around the box because we just had too many individual mistakes. Purely in defending, I have no concerns and trust that we can do it.

“I don't see a pattern. It was individual mistakes. I didn't see a pattern in defending. I think we defended very well in a block when we were organised, but we had just big individual mistakes. But I could not see any defensive pattern that would concern me.”

Maybe it is not the time to make too many changes - and Tuchel made it clear he will back his defenders - and bringing in Trent Alexander-Arnold would seem like something of a risk because of his attacking instincts.

Tuchel was not giving anything away on that front, but says he is relishing to see the keeper job share and also said that Alexander-Arnold is proving his desire to play for England.

Tuchel said: “We use the Nations League to see where we are with the other goalkeepers. It is in this camp it’s Traff and Pickers and we absolutely know what he gives us and how he performs under pressure. He did nothing wrong.

“There was no reason from performances to open up this position for competition. I think it's necessary with every other player that we are aware of ‘what if’.

“If a player that starts a season well, like Traff at Leeds, has the chance to prove it and to play in our style and to do the build-up and patterns and defensive patterns in the way we want to do it. We just need to see it at some point.

“I will not tell you about other changes. We wait and then we see. But I will not change now because someone made an individual mistake, and they've been good for us through all the other matches.

“Trent has been good, he had a very good training week and the excellent training in Wembley after the match, where he showed that he absolutely wants to play and wants to be with us. We're good. Today was a good training session. Everything is fine. He's ready to go.”

Back in 2019, England lost to the Czech Republic in Prague and that ended their 43-game unbeaten run in qualifying. That must serve as a warning to this England team as they try to finish in the top two to qualify to progress in the Nations League.

Even Jurgen Klopp is finding international management tougher than it looked after Germany lost to Greece and that is a feeling that Tuchel is familiar with.

Tuchel added: “Everyone told me. Everyone told me that it is tough to form a team and everyone comes with different ideas and the focus was to bring them together, play properly as a team and implement patterns of play and we are a step further.

“We had a tournament together, we had this experience together. We digested it. We had a result that some think was not enough, some think it was a good result, whatever we had a result and we continue and this helps us. It is a process. So, it is another proof that to do it in international football you do it in four or five days what you do in four or five weeks at a club.”