Jordan Pickford believes "brilliant" Thomas Tuchel will finally take England all the way as the Everton goalkeeper gets set for another summer in one of the nation's most scrutinised positions.
The Blues No.1 has been England's first-choice goalkeeper in each of the last four major tournaments, but went into all of them with Gareth Southgate calling the shots. Now it is former Borussia Dortmund, Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Bayern Munich boss Tuchel in the hotseat, and Pickford believes the track record of the German - who won the Champions League with Chelsea as well as three league titles in France and Germany - will make all the difference.
Pickford said: "I know we wanted to dream big and wanted to get to the (2018 World Cup) final, but that journey we came on as a group of players, that’s driven us to now. That then, stepping stones to get to the (Euro 2020) final, and fall short in the final, to get quarters in Qatar, fall short unfortunately, then get another final against Spain (at Euro 2024). Then the squad evolves, the manager evolves, and the manager now, Thomas, he’s a winner. He drives winning mentality. He won at Chelsea, he wins where he goes, and he’s passion and he’s desire."
"I think we believe every time we put a shirt on that we’re going to win every football match. You’ve got to have that mentality going into football. The passion he’ll bring out, the team talks, I think he’ll step it up. The team talks are very good. They are quality. He’s brilliant. It’s typical where, when we’re training, you work hard, when you’re in meetings, you listen, you focus, and the manager drives the meetings, and that kind of pushes into the training, or into the game. I’ve got to say, he’s top drawer."
Pickford says the squad are fully focused on finally ending England's tournament pain ahead of their opener against Croatia on Wednesday. He told talkSPORT: "I’ve always said we’ve got a good togetherness. Ever since 2018, you live on a journey, you go on a journey with everybody and you’ve got to smile, you’ve got to be happy. I’ve always said in tournaments, it’s not smooth sailing, it’s always going to be a rollercoaster. People will have down days, you might be sick of each other for the odd day, that’s part and parcel of it. But this camp, the manager, once that brotherhood is together, he’ll keep pushing that and it’s down to the players to keep driving that."
