Former England striker Kevin Phillips has backed Everton’s under-fire goalkeeper Jordan Pickford to bounce back from the scrutiny created by his error against Manchester United last weekend.
Pickford gifted the Red Devils their equalising goal in Sunday’s 1-1 draw at Goodison Park when he failed to deal with a 20-yard effort from Bruno Fernandes at his near post, despite having a clear line of sight on the strike.
Carlo Ancelotti’s men had started the game brilliantly with Dominic Calvert-Lewin prodding home his 13th goal of the Premier League season – 15th in all – to open the action after just three minutes, having seen David de Gea leave himself red-faced in the visitor’s net.
Manchester United are now reportedly concerned by de Gea’s blunders and the Spaniard could find himself replaced by Dean Henderson next season, while Pickford has seen his name slapped on the chopping block too.
England boss Gareth Southgate has come to Pickford’s defence and stated that the 25-year-old remains his number one ahead of Euro 2020, a sentiment Phillips supports even though he concedes that our shot-stopper is too error-prone.
“I like Jordan,” Phillips told Football Insider. “I think he has got a great mentality and is a great character – he will bounce back.
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“Jordan is in a position where he makes one mistake and he gets scrutinised because he is England’s number one. There is always going to be criticism. He has to eradicate the mistakes but he knows that and there will be no one more critical of himself than him.
“He still has my backing. He has got the right mentality and for me, that is one of the reasons I would stick for him in the summer because he has been to a major tournament and he knows what it is all about.”
Sunday’s draw with Manchester United was Pickford’s 117th-straight Premier League start, having opened the final 13 games of Sunderland’s relegation campaign in 2016/17 before joining us in a £25million, rising to £30m, deal and playing every available top-flight fixture since.
Fernandes’ 31st-minute equaliser was the 42nd goal that Pickford has conceded in the league this season, with the Washington-born shot-stopper averaging 1.5 goals conceded per game – though has shipped an average 1.9 per match in the 22 games where he has failed to keep a clean sheet thus far.
Ancelotti has a serious lack of suitable alternatives to turn to if he were to end Pickford’s relentless streak of appearances between the sticks, with 37-year-old Maarten Stekelenburg the only other first-team ‘keeper at the club after Jonas Lossl re-joined Huddersfield Town on loan in January.
Stekelenburg has not played in the Premier League since a 1-0 defeat away to Swansea City on May 6, 2017, while last appearing in our goal for an EFL Cup Third Round defeat to Southampton on October, 2 2018.
Pickford, then, is almost guaranteed the goalkeeper role for at least the rest of the season despite his errors, no matter how many more he makes.
In other Everton news, fans have been hailing the “best news” since Carlo Ancelotti joined following a confirmed deal.