Everton have a number of players away on international duty.
Jordan Pickford played in both games for England and received glowing praise for his clean-sheet performances.
The Everton shot-stopper made two key saves against the Republic of Ireland on Sunday evening and was accomplished playing out from the back, too.
Pickford seems to have really hit his stride now after a difficult start to the season, which has silenced critics who suggested he shouldn’t be England’s number one anymore.
So he returns from international duty full of confidence, though, that may not be the case for one Everton player who received backlash for his display on the weekend.
Orel Mangala criticised by Belgian media
Everton midfielder Orel Mangala, who is on a season-long loan from Lyon, was in action for Belgium on Sunday evening.
Mangala started in the 1-0 defeat against Israel and received criticism from the Belgian media after the game.
Het Nieuwsblad gave the midfielder a 5/10 rating and noted that he passed the ball backwards far too often.
“Little added value. Played too often wide or back. Didn’t take his young midfield teammates in tow.”
Let’s see how his statistics looked…
Mangala stats vs Israel
Interestingly, Mangala’s Sofascore statistics actually make for pretty good reading, though, judging by his 98% pass completion rate, it’s evident he often opted for the safe option.
- 90 minutes
- 73 touches
- 98% pass completion
- 5/8 duels won
- 5 possession lost
- 3 tackles
Most of his data is actually really impressive, however, he was dispossessed a whopping five times during the game.
That’s not really his game at Everton anyway, the former Nottingham Forest man is much more of a destroyer under Sean Dyche.
So, perhaps the Toffees boss would’ve been happy with his performance.
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