Tuchel gives reason for surprise Pickford England decision vs Spain

England manager Thomas Tuchel has explained the reason why he chose to start James Trafford in goal over Jordan Pickford for the clash against Spain. The Three Lions are facing the reigning world champions at Wembley Stadium on Saturday night in the Nations League.

The clash in London is England’s first match since beating France in the bronze medal match at the World Cup, while it’s Spain’s first game since winning the final against Argentina on July 19 in New Jersey.

Pickford started all of England’s matches on their way to reaching the World Cup semi-final, with Dean Henderson getting the nod for the third-fourth place play-off against France, which ended in a dramatic 6-4 victory for Tuchel’s side.

Trafford starts in goal for England against Spain, with Tuchel explaining that an increase in minutes for the shot-stopper since completing a move to Leeds United in the summer transfer window played a factor in his decision.

The England boss also went on to praise Pickford for the way the Everton goalkeeper reacted to dropping to the bench for the fixture.

"He [Trafford] gets two matches, consecutive matches, because he deserves it, and Pickers [Pickford] gets the other two matches," Tuchel told ITV ahead of kick-off at Wembley.

"It was amazing to see how Jordan Pickford received the message and his reaction to it. 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.

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"So we want to see what’s behind Pickers, we know what Pickers can give us. He did nothing wrong, and he kept pushing and was very positive about it."

As well as naming Trafford in goal, Tuchel also selected a back four that featured Jarell Quansah, Ezri Konsa, Marc Guehi and Nico O’Reilly.

Elliott Anderson and Myles Lewis-Skelly start in midfield for England against the world champions, just behind Jude Bellingham, who also has Bukayo Saka and Anthony Gordon on the wings.

Harry Kane also started for England as the Bayern Munich star looks to add to his goal tally for his country.

But the game got off to a less-than-ideal start for Trafford, with Guehi caught in possession on the edge of his own box by Lamine Yamal, who slotted calmly past the England keeper to open the scoring after less than two minutes.