An exciting night at Wembley but not the result that England wanted against the world champions. 

Exciting going forward but a calamity at the back, Thomas Tuchel’s side have started an important Nations League campaign with a defeat. 

Here Daily Mail Sport look at the good, the bad and the ugly of another setback for England against a top ten team.

Tuchel under pressure

The FA remain convinced that Thomas Tuchel is the man to take English football forward but in the eyes of the public, the 53-year-old will now start to feel a little pressure. 

Certainly Tuesday’s game in Czechia suddenly feels very big indeed. Tuchel’s team were a real threat with the ball here. They made a usually parsimonious Spain defence look very ordinary.

The FA remain convinced that Thomas Tuchel is the man to take English football forward

Had Harry Kane not slipped in missing a penalty early in the second half, England would probably have won

Had Harry Kane not slipped in missing a penalty early in the second half, England would probably have won. But the fact is that they didn’t. They lost. 

And this adds fuel to the argument that England tend to struggle against good teams. Tuchel will present World Cup wins against Croatia and France (in a meaningless third-placed game) as evidence to the contrary. 

And there was that memorable night in Mexico, of course. But Tuchel needs to convince people that his team are moving forward as we approach a home Euros in 2028 and a night like this – when his team gives the opposition endless chances with poor use of the ball – doesn’t help him. 

Afterwards winger Anthony Gordon tried to accentuate the positives when he said: ‘We can win that game so easily. I think you’ve seen here tonight that we’re a top team.’ 

Top teams don’t ship three goals at home, whoever they play. This was not a brave or plucky defeat. It just a defeat.

Limited options across the back

This was a calamitous defensive performance by England and former centre half Matthew Upson put it well when he said: ‘I want to see more of the boring stuff, not the high octane stuff.’ 

Tuchel’s back four maybe had taken too much notice of all the pre-match chat about English DNA and seemed intent on playing their way up the field even when more direct options would have served them better. 

How many chances did Spain have as a result of an Englishman giving the ball away? Half a dozen maybe? It was painful to watch and seemed to be catching. 

This was not a night that Marc Guehi will want to remember after his hand in Spain’s opener

Everton’s Jarrad Branthwaite had only been on the field a matter of moments when he passed the ball straight to a red shirt.

He got away with that one but on the whole England did not and it will be interesting to see what Tuchel does on Tuesday night in Prague. 

He can swap his left backs – Lewis Hall for Nico O’Reilly – but doesn’t trust Trent Alexander Arnold defensively over on the other side. 

As for his central defenders, this was not a night Marc Guehi and Ezri Konsa will want to remember but will Tuchel really want to hand responsibility to Branthwaite and Trevoh Chalobah on Tuesday? It’s hard to see it.

Gordon could be the future

This was a night when England impressed going forward. ‘We’re playing against the world champions,’ said Kane. ‘And we went toe-to-toe’. 

This was a sign of what this team could become if only they get other parts of their game right and Anthony Gordon typified that. The Gordon we saw here was the one we needed at the World Cup. 

The Liverpudlian was aggressive and purposeful and dangerous. Why he was taken off with 20 minutes to go was a mystery. A move to a really big club can either daunt a player or infuse with them confidence. 

For Gordon, it seems as though his summer move from Newcastle to Barcelona has filled him with the belief that he belongs on the biggest stage. Here, he frightened the Spain defence throughout with straight line running, good delivery and an ability and will to drift in from his wing on occasion and cause damage through the middle. 

Anthony Gordon has the chance to lock down a place on the left for the foreseeable future

His goal was a case in point. The one-two he played with Jude Bellingham was lovely and he took advantage of poor positioning from Spain goalkeeper Unai Simon to score with a firm low shot. 

Much of the absentee talk ahead of this game was about Cole Palmer but Marcus Rashford’s withdrawal has allowed Gordon to lock down the spot on the left for the foreseeable future and this was a good start.

The race is on

Tuchel’s decision to replace Jordan Pickford was a bold one. Pickford has 91 caps and has grown into a truly top-class goalkeeper. But I get the sense that the England manager has been waiting for James Trafford to play regularly at club level – as he is now at Leeds – before giving him some games. 

Trafford is the one he sees England’s long-term No 1 but it’s interesting that Tuchel plans to play both goalkeepers during this four-game spell of games. ‘He gets two consecutive matches because he deserves and then Pickford gets the other two,’ explained Tuchel before kick-off. ‘The decision is half and half.’ 

Back in the 1980s, English football had a spell when Peter Shilton and Ray Clemence shared goalkeeping duties on a rotation basis but it doesn’t feel like a solution for Tuchel going forward. 

He is going to have to decide and the race is now on. Trafford did nothing much wrong here playing behind a back four that simply must have terrified him.

A mixed night for Rodri

The fact former Manchester City midfielder Rodri is one of the few defensive players ever to win the Ballon D’Or says everything for the depth of his ability. Late in the first half at Wembley, he received the ball under pressure in this own penalty area, turned away from two English players and ran past two more to find space in midfield. 

Within ten seconds, Spain were creating a chance at the other end of the field. The 30-year-old didn’t have it all his own way, though. He was left standing by O’Reilly’s run as England created a goal for Kane and then poked a foot out for Bellingham to tumble over for a penalty that Kane subsequently missed. 

Some of that was down to the pressure being exerted by England’s attacking play. Despite their issues at the back, England were a real threat going forward. They made a normally resolute Spanish defence look very ordinary at time. 

They have to try and use that as a positive heading to Prague on Tuesday night.