It turns out that it is not their new German manager Thomas Tuchel that players from England might struggle to understand this week.
Burnley Keeper James Trafford, who comes from Cockermouth, revealed that he and colleague Cumbrian Dean Henderson are Dik as thieves in the three Lions camp and talk about “Nobody else knows things about the North.”
Chippy Tea, a good brew and the grim weather?
“I get along very well with Deano,” said Trafford in St George's Park Tuesday. “We speak a lot, on or outside the camp, and it was really good when I was called, it means that there was someone from my area – because we are otherwise in the north.”
There is a bit of a north-sided gap in the current English team with 11 of the 26 players in the group of Tuchel for the world cup qualifications against Albania and Latvia from the north.
There are nine (soft) southerners, four from the defender of Midlands and Crystal Palace Marc Guehi, who was born in the Ivory Coast but moved to London between the age of one.
“It's really someone with the same Craic,” said Trafford of his friendship with Henderson. 'We go to the same gym as we are at home. We can talk about things from the north that nobody else knows because we are both out of the area. '
Trafford grew up at his family farm in Cumbria, still run by his parents Alison and James SNR, and became a football player or a farmer.
He helped the lambs to give birth and made his part of the folding out. When he goes home, he still likes to keep his hands dirty. An England football is not firing him from the daily chores.
“When I'm not busy, I always try to go home and spend time with my friends and spend time with my family and just doing things on the farm, with my mother and my father, whom I like to do,” he said.
“They don't see us at home in football, they just see us in front of the boy they knew they are growing up!”
In the meantime, there have been a lot less dirty on the field. This season, Trafford only admitted 11 goals in the championship and for more than 1,000 minutes without leting in a goal, on the way to keep 26 clean sheets so far.
He is so proud of his northern roots that Trafford baulked the suggestion that he came from the same city as England test captain Ben Stokes, who spent a large part of his childhood in Cockermouth after his family emigrated from Zeeland.
“Ben Stokes does not come from Cockermouth,” said Trafford in his typical Deadpan delivery. “He moved there when he was 12.”
England team
Northerners: Trafford (Cockermouth), D Henderson (Whitehaven), Pickford (Sunderland), Burn (Northumberland), Quansah (Warrington), Walker (Sheffield), J Henderson (Sunderland), Jones (Liverpool), Rashester (Stockport), Gordon, Gordon, Gordon, Gordon, Gordon, Gordon, Gordon, Gordon, Gordon, Gordon, Gordon, Gordon, Gordon, Gordon), Gordon, Gordon), Gordon, Gordon), Gordon, Gordon), Gordon, Gordon), Gordon, Gordon), Gordon, Gordon), Gordon), Gordon), Gordonport), Gordonport), Gordonport), Gordon)
Southerners: Colwill (Southampton), James (London), Konsa (Newham), Lewis-Skelly (London), Livramento (Croydon), Rice (Kingston-Upon-Thams), Bowen (Leominster), Kane (Ivorystow), Solanke but Menke but Menke but Menke but Menke but Menke but Menke Maarlee but Menke but Maarzieke but Menkehi. One)
Midlanders: Ramsdale (Stoke), Bellingham (Stourbridge), Gibbs-White (Stafford), Rogers (Halesowen)
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