Jordan Pickford has improved massively at Everton over the past couple of games, but the national media weren’t so forgiving in their assessment of him for England.
Everton relied heavily on Jordan Pickford last time out against Newcastle United as he saved Anthony Gordon’s penalty to keep things at 0-0.
Pickford even made Troy Deeney make a U-turn on the England defender for his performance and save in the game, which is something you don’t see everyday.
Sean Dyche was another who admitted he had questions at one point over Pickford, but was pleased that he’s starting to find some form.
However, the national media weren’t so kind to the goalkeeper after his display for England against Greece in the Nations League last night.
National media react to Jordan Pickford’s England display
Jordan Pickford was at fault at the start of the game, giving the ball away outside of his box, but Levi Colwill, who made a goal-line clearance, saved his blushes.
The national media didn’t forget about that incident and his performance for the rest of the game.
Here’s what the Express said.
4/10 – “This was an unusually nervy performance from England’s goalkeeper. His wild decision to rush out of his goal was saved by Levi Colwill’s remarkable goal-line clearance, before the offside flag saved the Everton man’s blushes moments later. Pickford will need to improve, with several top goalkeepers waiting to take his place.”
The Standard stated.
4/10 – “His distribution was not what it usually is, and he was tackled in the first half as Greece almost scored, but for Colwill’s outstanding clearance. From the subsequent corner, Pickford missed a punch and was fortunate that Dinos Mavropanos was offside when he headed in.”
Here’s what The Independent had to say.
3/10 – “Calamitous start as he gifted two would-be goals: dallying outside the box and losing the ball, then missing an attempted punch. The ball went in, but the flag was up – he was so fortunate. Beaten more definitively just after the restart, then again twice more with the offside flags again rescuing him. Still time for one more goal to fly past him for the winner.”
Adrian Durham of TalkSPORT even gave him a 1/10.
Jordan Pickford’s England display against Greece
Jordan Pickford had a night to forget. At times, he just didn’t look like he wanted to be there, and he made a number of errors in the process.
He had 41 touches on the night, a passing accuracy of 85%, made three of his eight attempted long balls, made two clearances, won one duel and was fouled once.
The stats don’t actually make him out to be too bad, but it wasn’t one of his best performances.
All that matters is that he dusts off the cobwebs in time to face Ipswich Town in just over a week, with Pickford having the opportunity to follow on from his impressive display against Newcastle.
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