Ever since making the horrific blunder at Anfield that let Liverpool win, Jordan Pickford has been struggling to prove to the Goodison Park faithful that his confidence was not shot.
Everton’s number one has been pulling off some key and mightily impressive saves between the Merseyside Derbies, but it was not until Sunday’s encounter between the two halves of Stanley Park that the 24-year-old looked anywhere near back to his best, but only in terms of shot stopping.
The 15-cap England international pulled off a key save in the first half to prevent Mohamed Salah from opening the scoring when the Egyptian winger was running down the wing in acres of space, but when the ball was pumped into the box through the air Pickford again showed his poor decision making.
For fans on the Grand Old Team forum following the game, his poor decision making was one of the clear takeaways from his 28th Premier League appearance this term, and his seventh clean sheet.
Coming, or rather opting not to come, for crosses was not the only concern raised by the Goodison Park faithful either. As while his 1v1 action was fine, and hopefully the start of another strong run for Pickford, our number one regularly booted the ball straight out of play or back to Liverpool when he had teammates open.
Tragically, it has to be noted that Pickford only recorded a pass success rate of 26%, meaning he only managed to direct the ball to someone in blue twelve times from his total 46 attempts – needless to say, no player completed fewer passes for either side.
Here’s some of the constructive praise Pickford received on the Grand Old Team forum following the game…
“Played well today. He does need to get better at certain things there’s absolutely no doubt about it. But kept everything simple today. There is no way we’d be able to get a better keeper than him. I’m sure of it.” – ijjysmith (March 3, 18:39)
“Rescuing a point today mathematically redeems the point from the game in December.” – Nymzee (March 3, 18:55)
“Terrible kicking from him today, but a great save when it mattered. Well in.” – Amw79 (March 3, 19:06)
“Needs to come and catch the ball sometimes.” – Zatara (March 3, 19:08)
“Hoping he’s turned a corner, he’s been as poor as anyone this season. Hoping now he can get his confidence back and start collecting crosses.” – MercuryBlue88 (March 3, 19:18)
“Even Gary Neville recognised that coming for crosses are part of his game he’s got to work on.” – Sharpies volley (March 3, 19:20)
“That 1v1 save was huge. His kicking drives me nuts though. I think he kicked it straight to Allison 3 times, and straight out of bounds at least 3 other times.” – Ilikecheese (March 3, 19:23)
“Fantastic save in the first half, but his decision making is atrocious when balls are sent into and around the six-yard box” – KillenEFC (March 3, 20:04)
“Kicking was hit and miss but his goalkeeping was pretty much flawless” – Mikey_Fitzgerald (March 3, 21:52)