For eight years, England’s goalkeeper hierarchy has largely looked settled. Jordan Pickford has been the man. The reference point. The reliable default. But Thomas Tuchel has now done something that football people notice immediately: he has made the No 1 conversation feel live again, and the Jordan Pickford England bench decision is a big reason why.
Tuchel started James Trafford against Spain at Wembley on Saturday and then confirmed on Tuesday night that the young goalkeeper would also play against Czechia in Prague. Pickford, who has been England’s established first-choice goalkeeper since the 2018 World Cup, is set to return for the final two matches of the Nations League window against Croatia in Rijeka and Czechia at Wembley. That is not a minor shuffle. That is a manager making a point.
Trafford has earned the audition
Trafford has not been handed this opportunity purely out of sentiment. He rejoined Manchester City from Burnley in July last year, then found himself behind Gianluigi Donnarumma after Pep Guardiola made the Italy goalkeeper first choice after three Premier League matches. Since moving to Leeds in August, Trafford has kept pushing his case in a season where the numbers are hard to ignore: 20 saves, an 85.7% save percentage and only three goals conceded in five games in the current Premier League season.
He also has a useful line of argument from last season, when he played every round of the Carabao Cup and FA Cup and kept clean sheets in both finals. Trafford himself has been blunt about the reality of his club career so far, saying he won two trophies and that, while it was not ideal how it panned out, he could still look back and say he got two trophies to his name having played every game in them. His wider message is simple enough: you take the positives, you play the cards you are dealt.
Pickford is still the default, but not beyond question
None of that erases Pickford’s standing. He has 91 caps and 47 clean sheets, and England’s trust in him was built for a reason. Sir Gareth Southgate turned to him as England’s No 1 at the 2018 World Cup, and for years that looked like a closed debate. Yet the latest window has made the debate feel relevant again, because Pickford has not exactly been untouchable in the way established No 1s like to be.
At the Summer World Cup, he was beaten from distance a few times and conceded at his near post against the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the last 32. That is the sort of detail that lingers. It is why the old certainty has started to wobble. A goalkeeper can survive one awkward spell. What he cannot survive forever is the slow accumulation of moments that make people ask whether the next man should be given a proper look.
That is where Tuchel’s decision matters. Starting Trafford against Spain was not just about giving a young goalkeeper minutes. It was about testing whether England’s future might already be here. And if Pickford returns for the final two matches, that does not close the discussion. If anything, it sharpens it. The England No 1 position suddenly feels up for grabs again for the first time in eight years.
Pickford remains the established choice. Trafford is the challenger. And Tuchel, by using both, has turned a previously settled position into one of the more interesting selection calls in the current England set-up.
