A lot has been said about Everton’s Jordan Pickford this summer while England have been at the World Cup.
The Toffees stopper drew criticism for some of his displays for the Three Lions, particularly during the earlier matches.
It has felt at times as though some of that criticism has been overly harsh.
Are you worried about what you’re seeing from Pickford? 🤔
Jordan Pickford has had a long and distinguished career at international level and has rarely ever let England down.
And it was interesting to see what transpired last night as England played against France in the third-place play-off match, as Pickford was rotated by Thomas Tuchel.
Look what happened when England didn’t have Jordan Pickford
Tuchel was expected to make a raft of changes last night, with the match against France not really mattering in the grand scheme of things.
And one change he did make was to bench Pickford and bring in Dean Henderson for only his third competitive match for England.
It was a decent start to the game for Henderson, as England surged into a 4-0 lead by half-time.
England were in total control, and the defence actually looked relatively solid against one of the most potent attacks in the world.
But then France woke up, and England went on to concede four second-half goals.
Thankfully they still won the game having scored two more themselves. But it was alarming to see France coming back the way they did.
And one has to question if that would have happened if Pickford had been in goal.
Purely from a mentality standpoint, Pickford would surely not have stood for England letting France back into the game like they did. We know he is extremely vocal, and him barking orders may have led to better focus.
Granted, some of the French finishing was very good.
But perhaps Henderson might have done better with Bradley Barcola’s finish at the near post. It’s never the best look when goalkeepers are beaten at their near post. Pickford, of course, was criticised for that happening against DR Congo.
The goal by Dembele was also potentially saveable. Him placing his effort towards the far corner was the only place he could go and Henderson might have telegraphed it.
Interestingly, Pickford has never actually conceded four goals across his entire 91-cap career.
He has also kept 46 clean sheets for his country.
There’s been some talk about moving on from the Everton man after this tournament, but last night was just a little insight as to what can happen when he doesn’t play.
There was just irony about how much criticism he has received, and then seeing how England conceded at will the second he wasn’t there.
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