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The Manchester City loanee has caught the eye with his confident displays for the Whites since August, breaking into the England Under-21 set-up and keeping eight clean sheets as part of the division’s meanest defence.
But the 20-year-old laughs off most of the metrics and data used to measure his performances this season. In his own words, he will decide whether he is playing well, or not.
“I’ve only played professionally for one-and-a-half years,” he chuckled. “Is this my best form? Maybe. But then if you had asked me the same question four weeks ago I’d have said yes too. I just feel like I am getting better with every game. I’m better now than two, three, four weeks ago and I’ll be better in four weeks as well.
“Stats mean nothing. Everyone has apps on their phone and can see the stats but I don’t read too much into them. Football is a game of the eye. When they are in your favour it’s great but when they are not you can’t really get down about it. They are nothing I give too much of my time to, really.”
However you choose to judge Trafford’s progress at Bolton, his input in last weekend’s 0-0 draw at Cambridge United was undeniable.
It is hoped within the Wanderers camp that a solid point can now be followed up by another positive result against Fleetwood on Saturday, with Ian Evatt looking to build up confidence and consistency within the squad.
Trafford does not feel the team are too far away from where they need to be.
“You say there has been indifferent form but one of the defeats was the FA Cup, and not to take away from it, but we tried a different system and it didn’t really work. Even then we might have got back in the game.
“Before that was Oxford – I feel like I’d got fouled on the last goal, so if that gets disallowed then anything could happen – but we’d won the two games before that. I don’t feel like it is terrible.
“In the two games we won (against Accrington and Burton), we knew we didn’t play particularly well. The main thing was getting three points.
“There is a process and you have to take care of a performance, then points come. You can’t get bottled up in your mind about what people are saying too much.
“You look back and reflect after every game – but the main thing is May. We can talk over and over each week but you can’t really tell the full picture. You need 46 games once it has all finished.”
Trafford has had some busier games of late compared to earlier in the season. On average he faces 3.22 shots per 90 minutes, which is 17th of all keepers in the division to have played 10 games or more.
Asked if he would like an easier day at Fleetwood on Saturday, he added: “I prefer the games when we get three points, to be honest. I can’t really go looking for anything, I can only deal with what comes my way.
“There are no free wins and they all pose different threats.”
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