Jordan Pickford is the hero again, so get ready to rave. But, jokes aside, has there ever been a player with a greater disparity between popular opinion and actual performance than Everton’s England number one?
In this volatile era of ‘fake news’, in which the lines between reality and rhetoric are blurred with social media encouraging like-minded individuals to push their personal agendas in echo chambers where the sound of their own opinions reverberates, rather than examining the facts around a situation, many people who might not watch Pickford play as often as either this correspondent or many readers of this article who have had the opportunity to see him perform heroics for the Blues
Penalty shoot-outs have often been England’s Achilles heel over the years – Everton’s as well, since despite winning their first European competition against Borussia Monchengladbach, they’ve only won six of 18 – but Pickford has consistently excelled in such situations. He saved the winning penalty from prolific Carlos Bacca in the 2018 World Cup victory over Colombia; again against Italy in the last European Championship final from Andrea Belotti and Jorginho, only for the Three Lions’ three misses to result in defeat; and now from Switzerland’s Manuel Akanji.
Those four shoot-out saves are twice as many as all of England’s goalkeepers combined from 1990 to 2012. He has also kept more big tournament clean sheets than any other English goalkeeper. Unlike the frequent taunting that Pickford continues to receive from his detractors, comments that both Everton legend Neville Southall and the late Kevin Campbell described as “a witch hunt,” these, as Rafael Benitez might say, are “facts.” Even throughout the tournament, supporters of England’s games on television have had to endure a constant barrage of Pickford criticism from the experts on their screens.
According to ITV’s Lee Dixonh, having Pickford yell at him during matches didn’t help his game. He would often forget David Seaman was playing behind him, possibly because he was focused on getting in line with the rest of Arsenal’s back four and raising their arms in unison for another offside appeal. During the quarter-final against Switzerland, the BBC’s Shearer criticized Pickford for his long-range kicking. However, this appears to be a personal criticism of the Everton player’s game, despite the fact that he is a Newcastle man.
Unlike observations of whether Pickford should have got close to a certain shot or not – by the way, he made a smart stop to deny substitute Zeki Amdouni in the dying moments to send the game to penalties – surely a big factor in whether a keeper is going long or short with his distribution, particularly from goal kicks, is his manager’s instructions? But, once again, the 30-year-old, who has gained all 66 caps as an Everton player, breaking Phil Jagielka’s previous club record of 40 Three Lions appearances while with the Blues, has never failed his country on the international stage.
Indeed, in a tournament in which we expected England to have an embarrassment of attacking riches but be let down by defensive frailties, Pickford has once again proven to be Mr Dependable, producing numbers that his predecessors, including Dixon’s aforementioned former teammate Seaman, dubbed ‘Safe Hands,’ could not achieve. Pickford’s ranting is not just an angry rant since he is a passionate leader at the rear wanting the best from those in front of him.
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