Ex-Everton scout reacts to controversial Goodison incident v Man City, blasts ‘so-called England No.1’ Jordan Pickford
Goodison News is delighted to welcome aboard our brilliant new columnist Bryan King, the former goalkeeper who spent over eight years as a scout at Everton and 28 years in total in first-team scouting roles. Bryan also spent six years on Tottenham’s recruitment team and 11 years scouting at Aston Villa across two different spells…
Former Everton scout Bryan King says he has seen worse handball decisions given than the one against Amadou Onana versus Manchester City and blasted Jordan Pickford’s performance against the Premier League champions.
Everton were beaten 3-1 at Goodison Park on Wednesday (27 December) having led through Jack Harrison’s first-half opener.
Phil Foden equalised before the game swung completely in City’s favour when Onana was harshly penalised for a strike that was hit at him from close range.
However, King – speaking to Goodison News – was far more concerned by the performance of Pickford than the decision that went against Everton.
He said: “I thought the so-called England number one goalkeeper was at fault for all three goals in one shape or form. “The first goal, a great strike by Foden, but leading up to that situation he’s having an argument with his captain Tarkowski. Tarkowski’s got hold of him and pushed him back into the goal, he’s still waving his arms as the ball gets cleared, played out wide, played into Foden. He’s still not settled down after the argument when the fella took his shot, great strike but still could have been a bit nearer it England’s number one.
“The second goal, the ball comes in, he gets amongst the players to get it away, the punch doesn’t even go out the box and an 18-yard melee follows.
“It looked handball, but I’ve seen them given for less and seen them given for worse. But prior to that Manchester City were in the driving seat.
“There was no danger you could see Everton winning that game – one good chance they had after that.”
Everton have now lost back-to-back games against Tottenham and Manchester City having previously won four on the bounce in the top flight.
They will look to return to winning ways when they face Wolves on Saturday (30 December).
In other Everton news, one loan deal is set to be terminated early in January according to reports.