Former England No.1 Paul Robinson believes there's more than meets the eye to Thomas Tuchel's decision to drop Everton hero Jordan Pickford.
Pickford was kept on the bench as England kicked off their Nations League campaign with a 3-2 loss to world champions Spain at Wembley on Saturday night. The keeper was the only notable casualty from Tuchel's first starting line-up since the World Cup as Leeds United new boy James Trafford was preferred in goal.
Tuchel's explanation
The Three Lions manager stressed Pickford has done "absolutely nothing wrong" and explained he will play Trafford in two of the four Nations League matches over the three-week international break as reward for his form since his summer switch from Manchester City.
The 23-year-old has kept three clean sheets and conceded just three goals in six games since the start of the season. His more experienced Everton rival, meanwhile, has five clean sheets in seven matches, also conceding just three times.
Robinson's reaction
Robinson can understand why Tuchel wants to give Trafford experience but insists the German's decision to remove Pickford from his starting line-up for such a high-profile clash has revived a debate that does not need to be had.
Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, the former Leeds United, Tottenham Hotspur and Blackburn Rovers keeper said: "I wouldn't be happy if it was me. I certainly wouldn't be happy.
"You know there's something amiss, regardless of what the manager said publicly. In the first game after the World Cup, at home against Spain, he didn't change the rest of the team, and there was no rotation.
"You're not stupid as a human, as a person, or as a goalkeeper. You know what's going on, and you can sense there's a level of unrest.
"You don't have to look at Spain. Unai Simon - he's played however many games in a row for Spain. David Raya is a better goalkeeper than him, but because he's the number one and the manager trusts him, that continuity stays in place. From Jordan Pickford's point of view, he knows there's something amiss.
"I don't think Jordan Pickford has put a foot wrong in an England shirt. There's always somebody who thinks that somebody else should be doing your job, and there's always pressure on you. Everyone's got an opinion. Every single game, if you do something wrong, that person should be playing. He shouldn't be playing; somebody else should be playing.
"The biggest credit you can give Jordan Pickford is that, in the last 12-18 months, maybe even longer, that noise has gone away. He's put that noise away, and all of a sudden, because Thomas Tuchel's done what he's done, this conversation has sparked up again.
"I completely back him to take that number one shirt back because, yes, he's 31 years of age and he's got 91 caps. At some point, there will be father time catching up with you, and there will be a level of transition. For me, at the moment, that's not now, but you can understand Thomas Tuchel's thinking."
What's next for Pickford
England travel to the Czech Republic this evening and Croatia on Saturday before welcoming the former to Wembley a week tonight. It remains to be seen which of those two matches that Pickford will start in.
The defeat to Spain was the fifth time that the Three Lions have conceded three or more goals in a game since the start of 2022. Pickford has not played in any of those games.
Explaining his decision, Tuchel said after Saturday's match: "I think he (Trafford) deserved to get the two matches, that's why we gave him two matches. He started the Premier League season well and gets minutes as number one at Leeds.
"Jordan did absolutely nothing wrong but we wanted to use this competition to see how far actually James is."
Pickford has been a mainstay for England since his debut in 2017, helping the national team to back-to-back European Championship finals and two World Cup semi-finals and a quarter-final.
And Robinson added: "We're guilty as a nation of going to a major tournament with one goalkeeper with 80-90 caps, and the other two behind him have got three or four between them.
"I can understand why he (Tuchel) wants competition and games for these goalkeepers, but this is a conversation around Jordan Pickford that I don't think we should be having. He should be England's number one, and for me, he is."
