Jordan Pickford leads England defensive stability as World Cup spot beckons

Jordan Pickford has had to make two saves in England’s World Cup qualifying campaign – ‘what we’ve got is that solid base’. Photograph: Eddie Keogh/The FA/Getty Images

As they like to say in the US, dee-fense wins championships. The sentiment is not an exclusively American thing. “Attack wins you games, defence win you titles,” Sir Alex Ferguson once said. And he should know, having won quite a lot of them with Manchester United.

As England look forward to next summer’s World Cup, which will be co-hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico, the idea has come to resonate, mainly because of how miserly they have been at the back under Thomas Tuchel.