Everton: Ex-FIFA official rages at Jordan Pickford footage, wants crackdown on ‘nonsense’ behaviour
Ex-Premier League referee Keith Hackett wants referees to clamp down on time-wasting goalkeepers after footage of Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford emerged from the win over Newcastle United.
In the early stages of stoppage time while the Toffees were 2-0 up at Goodison Park on Thursday (7 December), Pickford was spotted messing around with the ball in his hands to kill some of the clock.
Everton ended up winning 3-0 and Pickford wasn’t booked for time-wasting.
After seeing the video clip, Hackett took to Twitter on Saturday (9 December) to slam Pickford’s antics and also call on referees to start dishing out punishments when goalkeepers take more than the allotted time to clear the ball out of their hands.
“It’s about time referees enforced the six-second law to stop this nonsense,” said the former FIFA official.
He’s got a point
This isn’t specifically about Pickford but more about goalkeepers in general.
What’s the point in having a law in the game if it’s never, ever followed up on by referees?
It happens all the time against all teams, including Everton. It’s not just Pickford who does it and we do not blame him or any other goalkeeper because it’s the officials who let them get away with it.
It’s yet another thing that referees have done to slightly spoil the game.
Why do players go down so softly all the time now? It’s because referees award free-kicks for the softest of touches all the time.
You can point the finger at the players as much as you want but the PGMOL and the referees have the power to make a change by clamping down on rules to keep matches flowing as much as possible.
Fewer soft fouls and being stricter on time-wasting will help massively – not adding stupid amounts of stoppage time.
In other Everton news, Robbie Savage has shared a Sean Dyche prediction after “massive” developments.