John Barnes raves about Jordan Pickford in Everton defeat v Liverpool
John Barnes was full of praise for Jordan Pickford as Everton lost 2-0 away at Liverpool on Saturday.
Pickford, 29, impressed as the Blues suffered another Merseyside defeat at Anfield, pulling off a tremendous save to deny Harvey Elliott late on.
There was little he could do about the goals he did concede and Liverpool legend Barnes, speaking during the interval, admitted that he foresaw the Reds struggling to break down Everton’s rearguard.
Speaking to beIN SPORTS while it was 0-0 at half-time on Saturday (21 October), Barnes said: “I see opportunities coming. You can never legislate for goals.
“Pickford’s a great goalkeeper. Everton are going to defend doggedly, they’re a big, physical side so crosses and corners with Konate and van Dijk don’t really do well.
“They’ve been defending well.”
What you’re looking at is the master plan
Sean Dyche’s side is built upon it’s defence.
Pickford is easily one of the best goalkeepers in Europe and has been responsible for survival-winning saves in the last couple of Premier League campaigns.
Ahead of him, Dyche has got the best out of the likes of James Tarkowski, Michael Keane and Jarrad Branthwaite to make the Blues a real defensive force.
Liverpool needed a penalty and a 97th-minute goal to break down an Everton side that played with 10 men for almost an hour at Anfield.
That’s because Dyche’s plan was to frustrate Jurgen Klopp’s side and had they finished the game with 11 men on the pitch – and Liverpool had rightly been reduced to 10 – we could have at least been looking at a draw.
We were unlucky for the penalty and Mo Salah’s second goal was just the result of a counter-attack as Everton pressed for an equaliser.
There are a lot of positives for Evertonians to take from that derby-day defeat – and, admittedly, that cannot be said about most defeats to Liverpool.
In other Everton news, Alan Shearer was raging with what he saw in the Merseyside derby.