England players believe head coach Thomas Tuchel has learnt lessons from the World Cup fallout and is ready to keep them on the front foot all the way to the European Championship.

As exclusively reported by Telegraph Sport, Tuchel shocked players with his negative substitutions in the World Cup semi-final defeat to Argentina when England threw away a one-goal lead.

Tuchel still faced a battle to regain the full trust of some of his England players who were at the tournament, but it can be revealed that squad members have seen positive signs before the final two international games of 2026 against Croatia and Spain.

England followed a narrow defeat to Spain with victories over Czech Republic, home and away, and Croatia in Tuchel’s first games in charge after the World Cup, and players in that camp felt the German had taken lessons from the World Cup exit.

Tactical tweaks have been made to get Jude Bellingham higher up the pitch and into more dangerous areas, and increase England’s attacking threat.

Tuchel has strengthened that feeling of learning lessons by picking a youthful, energetic squad, and reiterating the message that he wants his team to remain on the front foot and take the game to their opponents in the Nations League games against Croatia on Thursday night and Spain on Sunday.

One change has been forced on Tuchel, with central defender Marc Guehi forced to withdraw on Monday with a hip injury. He has been replaced by Newcastle United’s Dan Burn, who was part of the World Cup squad.

Telegraph Sport has been told that England players have been left with the impression that Tuchel has learnt lessons and that he has appeared and sounded reinvigorated. Players now expect Tuchel to take a front-footed approach to England’s build-up to the European Championship in 2028, which they will start among the favourites to win.

Other than making tactical tweaks to his outfield players, Tuchel has also given James Trafford encouragement that he can compete for the No 1 goalkeeping spot with Jordan Pickford.

Tuchel has insisted Pickford remains first-choice at the moment. But, having given him and Trafford two games each in the last camp, Tuchel has not ruled out allowing them to share goalkeeping duties again.

Asked whether Pickford is still his number one, Tuchel said: “He is. Nothing has changed, but the competition is on there as well. Like for the outfield players. And Traff gets regular starts now, that’s what we wanted. James Trafford did well. They shared the matches last time. I’m not sure what we will do (this time). There’s an opportunity that we maybe do this again. I have to speak with our goalkeeper coach. But the goalkeepers, they are a bit of a unit for themselves, and rightly so.

“It’s slightly different, but when do I have a chance to see another goalkeeper, if not in the Nations League? If not in high pressure matches? So we had James against Spain, we asked ourselves is this fair for James Trafford to straightaway go against Spain, but I think it’s exactly what we need. Because what happens if Jordan Pickford is injured? What happens if he’s not available? So it’s better to test it. Jordan knows about this. That we want to use Nations League for exactly that. But at the moment, nothing has changed. At the moment, he’s the No 1. And he just feels a bit of competition. Which is good for him.”

Tuchel praise for Pickford

Pickford is on 93 caps for England and has been the country’s undisputed number one since the 2018 World Cup. Tuchel has been impressed by the way he has responded to the emergence of Trafford.

“Surprisingly, I was very impressed and a bit surprised by his reaction when we spoke to him (about Trafford playing two games),” said Tuchel. “I thought he’d be less of a fan than he proved to be. Because he said he totally understands it.

“Listen, they all want to get their caps. The goalkeepers know: if I’m out, I’m out. I have almost no chance to come in. As an outfield player, you can accept it a little bit better because after 60 minutes you still have a chance to get your cap. Which you can’t as a goalkeeper.

“But he impressed me a lot last time. We spoke to him, it was a very short conversation. It was very positive. He said ‘yeah, let’s do this, Traff deserves it, and I will push him’. And he didn’t change at all. If he changed, he changed even to the positive, he pushed Traff, he gave him a good feeling. So very impressive, he did it very well.”