Everton must sign a goalkeeper after Jordan Pickford shocker v Brentford
Everton and England number one Jordan Pickford did not have his best day against Brentford in the FA Cup despite the Toffees winning 4-1 at Goodison Park.
The 27-year-old came charging out of his goal shortly after half-time to challenge Bees striker Ivan Toney, only to wipe out his countryman and concede a penalty.
Toney duly converted the spot-kick but it was not enough to keep Brentford in the game as Frank Lampard began his tenure as Everton boss with a resounding win.
It wasn’t a perfect day however and he might be concerned at Pickford’s display between the sticks, even if he was only beaten on one occasion.
It wasn’t just the penalty incident that wasn’t to his usual standards, his distribution, one of his strongest elements, was below par with just 58% of passes finding a blue shirt, according to stats from WhoScored.com.
23 of those passes were long balls but only eight found their intended target which is simply not good enough for someone so adept with their feet.
Maybe Pickford is starting to get too comfortable between the sticks at Goodison Park and needs a proper challenge from within.
Asmir Begovic and Andy Lonergan are not in a position to really oppose Pickford’s place in the team and it seems to have made the 27-year-old complacent.
Lampard should be looking towards the transfer market come the end of the season to sign a goalkeeper who could be compared to Pickford and challenge his number one status.
It worked for Mikel Arteta at Arsenal with Aaron Ramsdale not only outing Bernd Leno but being touted as Pickford’s replacement for England for the March internationals.
It’s a big call to make early in your managerial career at a new club but it is one that would be highly beneficial for the club if Lampard gets it right.
In other Everton news, it’s not good news about this player’s injury concerns after limping off against the Bees.