Everton keeper Jordan Pickford concerns Michael Ball with what he has done so far this season
Everton keeper Jordan Pickford has been trying to “burst the ball” with goal kicks this season and should use his “finesse” more often, says Michael Ball.
The Toffees star was the hero of the Merseyside derby draw in the last match the team played, producing numerous vital saves to preserve a clean sheet, but was ruled out with a thigh injury after the game.
Former Everton defender Ball feels that the England number one’s tendency to blast goal kicks downfield with as much power as possible this year could be to blame, admitting it has “concerned” him, and would like to see him use the kind of technique that got him am assist recently.
Writing in his column for the Liverpool Echo Ball said: “I’ve been a bit concerned about Jordan Pickford’s kicking this season and I’ve felt like he was almost trying to burst the ball every time he launched it up the field but when he’s shown a bit of finesse we’ve had the benefit from it, dropping into play or over the top like for Demarai Gray’s goal against Nottingham Forest.
“Maybe all these big kicks have hampered his thigh but fingers crossed he’s back fit soon as he’s been on top form and has kept us in a lot of games this season, being at the best of his ability and showing why he’s England’s number one.”
Dial it down
It would be the the quintessential Pickford injury to be ruled out by getting too intensely wrapped up in doing his job but that looks like it could be the case.
It is difficult to really hold it against him when he has been playing so well and when he is such an important figure in Frank Lampard’s line up.
Thanks to a historic development outside of football the postponement of all the fixtures this weekend after the death of the Queen has prevented him from missing one game, but with the visit of West Ham now going ahead on Sunday (18 September) he will be out for that.
That obviously provides the manager with a bit of a headache as it is not just the ex-Sunderland man’s saves that are important but the presence he has on the pitch while wearing the Everton armband, although there are new candidates to step in.
He will have to hope that if this injury has come as a result of a new kicking technique that the lesson can be learned from it and future problems will be avoided.
It could be an issue that would have cropped up either way, and overall there is little to critique about Pickford so far this season, so if he can recover through the international break it should turn out that the disruption is not be too bad.