Everton had a number of brilliant performances from individuals against Newcastle, and one of them happened to receive plenty of praise from Troy Deeney.
Anthony Gordon‘s return to Everton was a heated one, as chants could be heard throughout Goodison Park after the manner in which he left the club last year.
Sadly for him, Gordon ended up breaking a 101-year streak by being the first former Everton player to miss a penalty at Goodison Park since 1922.
And, after the game, the club decided to take the mick out of their former player, which left Jamie Carragher fuming on X.
Everton deserve to have a bit of a laugh after the tough times they’ve endured this season, and Jordan Pickford should be given his flowers for the role he played in keeping him quiet.
Interestingly, Troy Deeney made a U-turn with his opinion on one Everton player this weekend.
Troy Deeney gives £30m Everton player his flowers
In the first-half, Gordon stepped up confidently to take a penalty but ended up missing as Jordan Pickford chose the right way and made the save.
Pickford even revealed how he outsmarted Gordon after the game as he stated that the Newcastle man had gone the opposite side the last two times, so he decided to go the other way.
This will give Pickford much-needed confidence after a rather sloppy start to the Premier League campaign.
Troy Deeney was a big fan of what the Englishman did in the game, as he picked him in his BBC Team of the Week and stated this.
“I’ve given Jordan a lot of stick over the course of this season because I think he’s played awful at times, but now I’m going to give him his flowers.
“I thought he played really well against Newcastle, not only with his penalty save, but I thought he was more measured and more controlled.
“He got hold of his team, claimed a clean sheet and earned them a well-deserved point.”
Jordan Pickford’s performance in numbers vs Newcastle
Jordan Pickford’s highlight was obviously the penalty save.
He made three saves, two punches, one successful runout, one high claim, one penalty save, two saves from inside the box, had 44 touches, made 16 passes and two clearances.
His leadership at times was brilliant, constantly marking orders from the back and getting his defence in shape.
The turning point in the game was the penalty save, which makes it easy to understand why Troy Deeney included him in his team of the week.
To be fair to Deeney, even Sean Dyche admitted he’s had questions over Pickford this season.
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