Well that seems to be that. Everton boss Carlo Ancelotti appeared to rule out any move for a new goalkeeper in this transfer window as he backed Jordan Pickford in his pre-match press conference.
The Everton manager was speaking to the media before tomorrow’s clash with Crystal Palace and based on his comments, he seems to have decided not to bring in another goalkeeper.
This will come as a little surprising to many Toffees fans, who have had reservations about Pickford for a long time now.
His dreadful lapses on Wednesday night will not have endeared him any further to those skeptics, or given any of us a strong belief he has a future at Goodison Park.
It is difficult to know what to think of the England number one these days and yes that’s right, despite his growing catalog of errors in an Everton shirt, he still gets the nod from his international manager Gareth Southgate. Make of that what you will.
Was Pickford just in truth, an average goalkeeper who had a purple patch for a a year or two that catapulted him into his national team and gave him a big money move to Everton?
Or is he genuinely capable of becoming the top class keeper many thought he might be? At the moment if your a betting man, you’d say it looks like the former.
Pickford does possess great athleticism and is a brilliantly instinctive shot-stopper. However, his form has been declining since the high-water mark of the 2018 World Cup and there are more and more doubts about whether he has mental strength and physique to be a top draw keeper.
He has always struggled to impose himself in his penalty area and seems to be reluctant to take control and effectively organise his defenders.
For me, looking back at the great keepers I watched when I was growing up in the eighties, including Everton’s own world class Welshman Neville Southall, they took control of their penalty area and directed their defenders efforts.
And other great goalkeepers of that era like Peter Shilton, Ray Clemence and then later David Seaman and Peter Schmeichel, were not just fine athletes and shot-stoppers, they also did the same. Like Southall, they were also very consistent and rarely made unforced errors due to a lack of concentration.
Funnily enough the one keeper from that time that reminds me of Pickford, was Liverpool’s Bruce Grobbelaar. He was a superbly athletic keeper who made brilliant, instinctive saves but was eccentric in his behaviour and also prone to lapses of concentration and strange, unforced errors throughout his career.
Hard though it is to admit, he was playing behind one of the best teams and defences of that or any modern football era. And successive Liverpool managers seemed prepared to indulge him, despite the error-prone nature of his game.
Returning to the present, and there are now probably fewer high crosses from open play on average for keepers to deal with as more teams play through the middle and very few sides have the sort of old fashioned wingers who used to be almost ubiquitous in the English game.
And although set-pieces are still a regular and important source of goals in the Premier League, keepers can’t come and take the ball as aggressively as they used to as the possibility of conceding penalties has increased considerably.
But while being very dominant in coming for balls in your area, isn’t perhaps so critical in today’s game, it’s still important to establish yourself and lead at the back. Pickford is too often indecisive when dealing with balls into the box.
Another issue, is that Pickford’s lack of height and reach, seems to be exposed often by opponent’s players shooting from distance. Opposing teams do seem to be shooting on sight and it does too often bring goals.
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Modern footballs also swerve and fly through the air making them harder to see and save, so this lack of height and reach can be even more problematic.
Given all that and the evidence of his erratic lapses, and unforced errors, it would seem that Everton should be looking for a solid keeper who could provide real competition and force Pickford to raise his game or take the number one spot from him.
If the Toffees don’t bring in another keeper, then really the only competition for Pickford is Joao Virginia and the Portuguese youngster hasn’t so far convinced he’s ready for the Premier League.
While I understand that Ancelotti wants to prioritise getting another centre-back in and may not have the money to buy a new shot-stopper even if he wants to, it is a considerable risk for Everton to rely on a keeper of such erratic and flawed nature.
While Grobbelaar’s career might suggest otherwise, few teams win the big prizes, certainly with any consistency, without a top quality and truly reliable goalkeeper.