Jordan Pickford jotted names of West Ham’s penalty takers on water bottle
Jordan Pickford headed into Sunday’s Premier League clash with West Ham United fully prepared, but Everton succumbed to a 1-0 defeat in the end.
The England international goalkeeper, 27, made some crucial saves and kept his side in the game for as long as he could, but he was beaten by Angelo Ogbonna’s header with a few minutes left on the clock.
Pickford went into the game preparing for a possible penalty kick, and he listed West Ham’s takers on his water bottle, detailing where Mark Noble, Declan Rice and Michail Antonio had placed their recent kicks.
Cameras spotted the tactic sheet the Everton ace attached to his bottle, and ESPN shared it on their official Twitter account.
Incredible
Pickford clearly does his homework on every opponent, and he was not ready to leave anything to chance if West Ham were awarded a spot kick at Goodison Park.
While he did not need his cheat in the end, it goes to show the length the Toffees ace goes with his preparations.
He first became popular for deploying the help of his water bottle during England’s World Cup last-16 penalty shootout victory over Colombia in 2018.
The Everton goalie also deployed similar help in the Nations League clash against Croatia in 2018, as well as the friendly against America the same year.
He stopped two penalty kicks in the final of the summer European Championship against Italy thanks to his bottle trick, and it is not surprising to see his swift growth over the years.
Pickford clearly does a lot of work behind the scenes, and Rafa Benitez would be proud.
In other Everton news, Benitez has admitted he finds it hard to understand Toffees man sometimes.
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