Everton keeper Pickford shows quality for England
Everton goal keeper Jordan Pickford turned in a solid performance for England in their friendly win over the Netherlands.
England won 1-0 in Amsterdam to secure a morale-boosting win ahead of the Wembley visit of Italy and then of course the World Cup itself in the summer. Everton player Pickford was reliable and competent in goal.
The national team has been under intense scrutiny in the last week or so with much comment about how many problems and conundrums England have to deal with.
One of the areas most under discussion has been who should be first-choice goal keeper to start the World Cup.
There were different schools of thought with some commentators feeling Jack Butland of Stoke City or Joe Hart playing for West Ham at the moment as the best option.
Many Evertonians were expecting their keeper Jordan Pickford to be first-choice Pickford has experienced a decent season overall in his first campaign in an Everton shirt.
After his high-profile big money move from Sunderland in the summer, there was a certain amount of pressure on him to re-produce the stunning performances he had put in for the Black Cats last season.
Early on this season he must have thought he had not left Sunderland at all they’d simply changed shirt colours! Everton were shambolic defensively and despite his brilliant efforts, were leaking goals for fun.
Gradually Everton have improved defensively since Sam Allardyce took over from Ronald Koeman as manager after Everton’s disastrous start to season.
Pickford’s form has wobbled a little bit of late he has been exposed a few times not coming for high balls. He has also been criticised for not commanding his area with the authority he should.
However one thing very much in his favour is his confidence and competence in possession. That ability of a keeper to be comfortable passing the ball is of course of increasing importance in today’s football.
The combination of rule changes and the shift in the game tactically have changed the role of the goal keeper. Today goal keepers are much better protected than of old when powerful, direct centre forwards would often physically batter a keeper with virtual impunity.
When Everton won the FA Cup final in 1984, Andy Gray appeared to head the ball out of the Watford keeper’s hands for one of the Blues goals.
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A goal like that would never be allowed today when keepers generally always get the benefit fi the doubt in any physical confrontation, however innocuous.
The other main change in the game has been the decline of the winger and the traditional centre-forward in the modern game.
Going back to football in the pre-Premier League era it was a maxim that nearly every team had a fleet-footed winger to get past the full back and put in a cross and a powerful centre forward, who was dominant in the air.
Today the attacking full back fulfils the role of the winger who looked to beat his opponent and cross the ball and who has virtually disappeared from football.
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All this means that a goal keeper today doesn’t need to be a big, imposing figure who is at his best coming for and claiming high balls. Rather he needs to be an all-rounder now just as much at ease with the ball at his feet as in his hands. Pickford certainly meets those criteria.