Why Jordan Pickford’s days as England number one might be over, writes JAMES SHARPE – and Burnley’s James Trafford might take his place
In Thomas Tuchel’s eyes, all his England goalkeepers are equal.
‘These are the four we think we can build our squad on,’ said Tuchel at his squad unveiling on Friday. ‘Straight away, we want to give the message that it is a new start for everyone.’
He will soon come to decide which one is more equal than the others. Managers always do.
Everton’s Jordan Pickford, Southampton’s Aaron Ramsdale, Crystal Palace’s Dean Henderson and James Trafford, of Championship side Burnley, are the quartet who will battle it out to be England’s No 1 for when the World Cup rolls around next year.
Throughout Gareth Southgate’s reign, that No 1 has been Pickford — and for good reason. Loud and proud, the Everton talisman has been a big player for the big moments. Just think back to the penalty save against Colombia at the 2018 World Cup in Russia and all the shootout heroics that followed.
Will that be enough for Tuchel? Because of all the keepers in the squad, the one most suited to how he usually likes them to play is not Pickford. Step forward, 22-year-old James Trafford.
Thomas Tuchel does not yet have favourites when it comes to England’s goalkeepers
Jordan Pickford has been England’s number one for so long but his time might be up
Tuchel may opt for James Trafford, the ‘keeper most suited to how he usually likes them
Many may remember the youngster as the goalkeeper who shipped 62 goals in 28 error-strewn Premier League games last season for Burnley before losing his place en route to relegation.
The previous summer, he’d saved a 98th-minute penalty in the U21 Euros final as England claimed their first title in 39 years under Lee Carsley.
This season, after a summer move to Newcastle fell through, he’s been the bedrock of a miserly Clarets side in the Championship and has conceded only 11 goals in 37 league matches with 26 clean sheets. He’s saved more than 86 per cent of the shots he’s faced in the Championship this season, the best rate of the England four.
Save percentage is often a misleading statistic that simply factors in the number of shots a keeper faces regardless of whether they are straight at him or in the corner, from point-blank range or 40 yards away. Of course, Trafford is also playing in a lower division where strikers are not as clinical as they are in the Premier League.
Yet even when you consider the accuracy and quality of the shots on target that he’s faced, he still excels. Expected Goals on Target (xGOT) measures the power and placement of a shot to assess how likely it is of finding the net and, based on that, Trafford has prevented more than 11 league goals this season.
Henderson, meanwhile, has prevented nearly six for Palace. Pickford has stopped one more than anticipated from the shots on his goal while Ramsdale has performed about as expected.
Yet it’s not this shot-stopping prowess that is the big reason Tuchel wants to give Trafford a chance. It’s how good he is with the ball at his feet.
Tuchel likes his goalkeepers to be comfortable in possession. ‘Every time we did passing drills, he wanted the goalkeepers involved,’ Roman Burki, Tuchel’s goalkeeper at Borussia Dortmund, told Mail Sport.
Trafford fits the mould and is an exceptional shot-stopper, even if in the Championship
Ex-Borussia Dortmund stopper Roman Burki told Mail Sport that Tuchel likes goalkeepers that are comfortable in possession – a trait that Pickford doesn’t exactly embody for England
Pickford has created memories for a lifetime between the sticks as England’s number one
During his time at Chelsea, his first-choice keeper, Edouard Mendy, played 94 per cent of his successful passes inside his own half. Only 68 per cent of Pickford’s completed passes this season have been. Nearly 90 per cent of Trafford’s have.
Pickford loves to go long. At the Euros last summer, as England often struggled to keep the ball, only 22 of Pickford’s 294 passes through the entire tournament went short. In the Premier League this season, he’s gone long with nearly two-thirds of his passes.
Sean Dyche and David Moyes might want him to do that, but you don’t expect Tuchel will feel the same. At all his former clubs, his first-choice goalkeeper has never hoofed more than one in three of their passes long.
Trafford, meanwhile, is the only one of the quartet to hoof fewer than half his passes.
Pickford might not go short very often, but he’s excellent at sweeping up danger. No Premier League goalkeeper has performed more defensive actions outside his penalty area than him and only Ederson and David Raya, at Manchester City and Arsenal, do them higher up the pitch.
While Tuchel had one of the greatest sweeper-keepers of all time at Bayern in Manuel Neuer, his teams have not been renowned for needing an all-action keeper, snuffing out the danger high up the field.
Tuchel’s arrival provides Pickford with the biggest challenge of his international career, one you know he’ll fight with everything he has to rise to it. For Trafford, it will be the biggest chance of his. When it comes, he has all the tools to seize it and make the spot his own.
