Everton: England players loved what Jordan Pickford did against Leicester after keeper got to James Maddison months before – David Ornstein
Jordan Pickford told James Maddison to take penalties down the middle at the World Cup before the Everton keeper saved one against his international teammate at the King Power, David Ornstein reports.
The 29-year-old pushed away a tame effort from the Foxes star in first-half stoppage time of the 2-2 draw last week (1 May), allowing the Toffees to rescue a point after the break through Alex Iwobi.
But England players were particularly entertained by the penalty stop, believing Pickford had got into Maddison’s head months before in Qatar, with the Everton star claiming afterwards he’d “doubled-bluffed” the midfielder.
Ornstein wrote in his Monday (8 May) column for The Athletic: “During the tournament, the pair had a conversation in which Maddison asked Pickford where goalkeepers do not like opposition players to aim their penalties. Pickford explained that goalkeepers do not like players sending spot kicks down the middle because they tend to feel the need to dive one way or the other.
“Fast forward to last Monday and Pickford getting the better of Maddison by deciding to stand his ground. That prompted much amusement among England players, who thought the goalkeeper had successfully managed to get one over his international team-mate by sowing a seed of doubt in his mind.”
Sneaky
Pickford clearly didn’t set up the specific penalty save against Leicester that long in advance but it shows he outsmarted Maddison in the moment, knowing what had been said previously.
Either the Leicester star forgot that or thought he could triple-bluff his international colleague, and came off second best.
Had he scored, long after the clock had ticked past 45 minutes, to make the score 3-1 it isn’t a stretch to imagine his side going on to win comfortably on the night.
As it was Everton equalised soon after the break and neither side could find a winner, letting an opportunity both needed go begging but keeping each team in with a shout of safety before the end of the season.
The Toffees travel to the Amex on Monday night (8 May) for a tough assignment against Brighton, so if Pickford has any previous encounters with the likes of Alexis Mac Allister or Kaoru Mitoma to draw on now would be the time to use them as well.
The Seagulls are in decent form and defeated Manchester United with a 99th-minute penalty in midweek (4 May), but were comfortably beaten at Nottingham Forest recently (26 April) to prove they can certainly still be got at.