L’Equipe react to Everton star Jordan Pickford performance for England v France at World Cup
French outlet L’Equipe have handed Everton and England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford a 5/10 rating for his performance in the World Cup quarter-final.
The Three Lions crashed out at the last eight stage as they were beaten 2-1 by the reigning world champions, thanks to a long-range Aurelien Tchouameni strike and an Olivier Giroud header, while Harry Kane scored and then missed a penalt that would have tied the game.
But when giving their ratings for the game L’Equipe (11 December), who are famed for their player ratings, handed Pickford just a 5/10 despite an assured performance between the sticks for Gareth Southgate’s side.
Only Phil Foden and Theo Hernandez got a lower rating than Pickford across both teams, with both scoring a 4/10, while all of Kylian Mbappe, Dayot Upamecano, Adrien Rabiot, Ousmane Dembele, Aurelien Tchouameni, Jude Bellingham, Jordan Henderson, Luke Shaw and Harry Maguire received fives too.
Harsh
Pickford certainly didn’t have the best game of his international career against France, but handing him just a 5/10 seems massively harsh.
Many will point to Tchouameni’s long-range opening goal as something that Pickford should have done better with, but it’s quite clear on the replay that he’s unsighted and can only react late to it.
As for the winner there was nothing he could do about it, and other than that he had very little to do throughout the game.
His distribution from the back was good, he was vocal to help the defence remain organised and keep France at bay for the most part, showed great leadership and ultimately he did that job.
Whether you rated the performance as a 3/10, a 5/10 or an 8/10, if he performs to this standard for Everton in the second half of the season then we will be starting each game with a solid base to build from as they look to move away from a relegation battle.