Daniel Feliciano

Sun 11 December 2022 13:40, UK

Danny Murphy has praised Everton star Jordan Pickford’s leadership qualities after what he saw him do after England crashed out of the World Cup to France.

The Three Lions suffered a heartbreaking 2-1 defeat in the World Cup quarter-finals, with Harry Kane missing a late penalty that would have made it 2-2.

After the game Pickford was seen consoling Kane who was in tears on the pitch, before telling TV cameras to move away and show some respect as they surrounded the Spurs man, and Murphy told the Daily Mail (11 December) that he was impressed by the role Pickford took up in the squad.

“We know the end result but what impressed when I looked down on the pitch at full-time was the role of Jordan Pickford,” he said.

“He was first over to console Kane as the captain slumped to the pitch and shooed the photographers away.

“It was the type of leadership and camaraderie from the England goalkeeper that typified the whole of Gareth Southgate’s campaign in Qatar.”

Leader

We’ve seen it at Goodison Park with Everton over the last 12 to 18 months and now he’s showing it for England, but Pickford has really grown into a leader on and off the pitch.

He’s always been a vocal goalkeeper, who shouts and screams at his defenders and is very animated in game, but speaking in interviews, coaching players during the game and his performances have all gone up a notch as his maturity comes to the fore.

Kane’s miss was hugely unexpected and will no doubt have been hard for him to deal with at the time, and Pickford showed great courage to step in front of the camera and protect his teammate in arguably the toughest moment of his career so far.

Just like with England, Pickford’s role in helping to create unity at Everton was a huge reason as to why we managed to avoid relegation last season and he’s constantly backing it up with performances too.

He’s one hell of a player and now proving to be a better human being too, and we’re so lucky to have him as a Toffee.