By Declan Walsh

24th Mar, 2023 | 8:40am

English newspapers react to Jordan Pickford display as Everton goalkeeper concedes v Italy

Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford impressed the UK media with his performance in goals for England in their 2-1 win over Italy on Thursday night.

Harry Kane stole the headlines as he became England’s all-time leading goalscorer by converting a spot-kick in Naples while Declan Rice also scored for the Three Lions.

Mateo Retegui scored for Italy on his debut but English newspapers generally agree that Pickford, 29, wasn’t at fault and did well throughout the 90 minutes.

According to The Guardian, Pickford “could do nothing” about Retegui’s goal and he received a 6/10 rating in their player ratings.

The Express also gave the ex-Sunderland goalkeeper a score of six and pointed out that he “had little to do in the England goal aside from picking the ball out from the back of his net” and “had a quiet evening”.

The Daily Mail were more excited by Pickford’s display, however, handing him a 7/10 rating and saying the Everton goalkeeper’s distribution was “excellent”.

Impressive

Pickford’s going to be England’s number one for several more years if he continues to play the way he has done for the Three Lions.

While there has been plenty of criticism of his performances for Everton over the years, it’s fair to say that the ex-Sunderland shot-stopper has shown improvement at club level in recent seasons.

Last term, he was instrumental in helping the Toffees stay in the Premier League and while this season hasn’t been as spectacular, he has had better defenders in front of him.

James Tarkowski and Conor Coady have had their critics but they concede fewer chances than Everton did previously, which means Pickford has less time to shine.

But either way, Pickford’s performances for England are enough to show that Gareth Southgate shouldn’t be dropping him any time soon, even if Aaron Ramsdale and Nick Pope are performing well at Arsenal and Newcastle respectively.