Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford was criticised after England’s 2-1 defeat to Argentina in the World Cup semi-finals.
Jude Bellingham was frustrated at Jordan Pickford for not saving Enzo Fernandez’s goal, as he seemingly claimed the strike was in the middle of the goal.
Gary Neville, on The Overlap’s watch party, agreed with Bellingham: “Not gone in the corner, that, he’s got to save that. Got to save it. He’s past it.”
Just focusing on Everton’s right-back search, who should the club bring in this summer and why? 🤔
From Spence, to White, to Norton-Cuffy, there have been links to so many players so far…
Well, now there has been a new angle of the goal which clearly shows how obstructed Pickford’s view was.
Jordan Pickford could do nothing about Enzo Fernandez’s goal
Goalkeeping analyst Sascha Fltr has posted a video on X which shows Pickford’s POV for Fernandez’s goal.
As seen below, the video demonstrates that the Everton shot-stopper was completely unsighted as soon as Fernandez picked up the ball.
The first sight he got of the Argentina midfielder was when he shifted the ball to shoot, so there was virtually no time to react.
ESPN commentator Leonardo Bertozzi reacted to the new footage and stated that Pickford shouldn’t be blamed.
“Pickford’s vision on Enzo’s goal. I’m not saying it was an impossible shot, but the reaction time after he sees the ball is almost nonexistent. You can’t blame the goalkeeper.”
It’s also worth noting that Fernandez’s shot was clocked at 66.5 mph and it had a very high spin rate of 3.7 revolutions per second.
Hopefully, Bellingham has since apologised to Pickford as his reaction, which was captured on the big screen, fuelled a lot of the criticism towards the England goalkeeper.
The 32-year-old will now have an extended summer break before returning to Finch Farm for Everton’s pre-season friendlies.
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