Everton keeper Pickford shines again in England win
England moved one step closer to World Cup qualification last night and Everton keeper Jordan Pickford was again the Three Lions first choice between the sticks.
Pickford has been in fine form for Everton this season and against Albania he made an excellent and important save when the score was still 0-0 following a poor back pass from Kyle Walker.
It’s true aginst Albania he didn’t have much to do but still it was a sharp stop and underlined his much improved concentration.
This situation was precisely what happened to Pickford two weeks ago at Wolves when Ben Godfrey hit a weak and miss-timed pass to him which was intercepted. That time he couldn’t prevent the goal being scored when Raul Jimenez dinked the ball over him.
Despite his rock solid recent form in an England shirt (he was arguably the Three Lions most consistent player in the Euros) Pickford’s future for the national team has been debated recently and many commentators have expressed the view he is under pressure from others in the squad like Aaron Ramsdale of Arsenal.
It is typical really and Blues’ supporters are well-used to having even our best performing players questioned by a media that is always heavily biased in favour of their favourite ‘top’ clubs and those in London.
Given how good and reliable Pickford has been for his country even when he wasn’t at his best for Everton, it’s ridiculous really to be questioning his position as Gareth Southgate’s number one and Toffees’ fans have taken to social media to make that point.
As we know it’s almost certain that if Pickford played for Liverpool, Manchester Utd or City he wouldn’t be facing this amount of criticism given his current consistent excellence.
Anyway, this sort of talk is par for the course I suppose and not really that important. More critically, the former Sunderland man has been just as solid for his club as for his country this season so far, which is what really counts and he’s continued where he left off during the final third of last season.
This is a positive development that has somewhat gone under the radar as the focus of attention has as usual been on outfield players and issues.
But, it does make a significant difference from past campaigns when Pickford’s erratic and eccentric performances had so often proved costly.
While there are plenty of problems in front of him with some truly awful defending at times again these past few weeks, Pickford can’t be blamed for most of the goals that have been conceded.
Let’s hope that last weekend’s much-improved effort by the players in front of him will continue when the season resumes next weekend as Everton are sure to need it again before this campaign is over.