Paul Merson defends ‘world-class’ Everton keeper Jordan Pickford against critics
Everton keeper Jordan Pickford had the “game of his life” against Chelsea and only gets criticised because he’s England’s No1 says Paul Merson.
The 28-year-old made some incredible saves to preserve the 1-0 win at Goodison Park on Sunday (1 May) but attracts fairly regular criticism.
But Merson believes that is inherent to the position that the former Sunderland man plays, but it is still often unwarranted.
In his Daily Star column the former England forward said: “Jordan Pickford answered his critics with a big performance for Everton against Chelsea.
“He had the game of his life and I was pleased for him because he gets a lot of stick. If he was England’s No10 we would be waxing lyrical about him.
“But because he’s England’s No1 he just gets criticised all the time and sometimes that’s unfair.
“He’s very enthusiastic and gets the crowd going. He seems to love his football – and he showed against Chelsea he has a world-class save in his locker.”
Spotlight
The nature of being a goalkeeper is that if you are noticed at all it is either going to be extremely positive or extremely negative.
And since Pickford is clearly a big character that in itself seems to rub people up the wrong way.
But he’s been a key part of England’s rise to being genuine trophy contenders under Gareth Southgate.
With the Toffees there have been some high profile incidents in big games that have contributed to the notion that he is overrated.
But he proved against Chelsea the extent of his talent when he is on his game, and it isn’t too much of a stretch to suggest that the club could be relegated already without him in the team.
If the club ends up staying in the Premier League by a fine margin the saves he made from Cesar Azpilicueta and Antonio Rudiger could go down in Everton history as what kept them alive.
But he will have to keep up something close to that level of performance for the final few games to give that a chance.
In other Everton news, one Sky Sports pundit knows well why the investigations into Richarlison should clear him of wrongdoing.
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