Tuchel praises Alexander-Arnold for ‘decisive’ display on England return
The head coach said after Alexander-Arnold set up England’s opener in the 2-0 win against Czechia: ‘We need to keep focused, and Trent was a big help in this’
Thomas Tuchel praised Trent Alexander-Arnold after the right-back impressed on his first England appearance since June 2025.
Alexander-Arnold, who has a point to prove after missing out on a World Cup spot, was one of the big positives as Tuchel’s side recovered from their defeat to Spain by recording a comfortable 2-0 win away to Czechia in the Nations League on Tuesday.
Related: Alexander-Arnold proves his worth to England with trademark assist against Czechia
The Real Madrid defender shone in possession, particularly after the Czechs lost Pavel Sulc to a red card at 0-0, and helped England take the lead when he crossed for Anthony Gordon to score early in the second half.
“We never doubted that he can produce these kind of assists,” Tuchel said. “I think the second half the position, a bit of a deeper position, suited him more than the higher position in the first half. Overall, I think we had a good and professional performance. Of course the red card is such a heavy influence in the game.
“We need to keep focused, and Trent was a big help in this, because he’s very secure on the ball and can be decisive with his crosses. He did this solid defending and one decisive action that helped us score, so a good performance overall.”
Jude Bellingham started on the bench but the midfielder wore the captain’s armband after replacing Harry Kane during the closing stages. “He was the captain against New Zealand before the World Cup,” Tuchel said. “It is always a reward and always an honour. If you’re the captain at the end of these matches you can for sure be the permanent captain.
“He loves to be with us at the moment. We had this small talk today about his role. We felt in our hearts to say: ‘Let’s go again, let’s start again’ and also our heads told us maybe 30 minutes is enough for this match because he hasn’t played in this quick turnaround through this season. He has done it before, but not in the season, so we didn’t want to be the first ones to try that. But even in this little encounter, you can see that he’s confident and happy to help from the bench.”
England moved clear with a late goal from Kane and are second in Group A3 after Spain’s 4-1 win over Croatia. Next up is a trip to Croatia on Saturday. Tuchel hopes that the Manchester City left-back Nico O’Reilly will return from injury.
