Season › 2017-18 › News Pickford withdraws from England squad with injury Tuesday, 29 August, 2017 20comments | Jump to most recent Jordan Pickford has left St George's Park and returned to Finch Farm to have a thigh problem assessed. After featuring for England U21s over the summer, the 23-year-old was called up to the full national side for the forthcoming World Cup qualifiers but Everton's new goalkeeper has returned to the club's own training facility to have treatment on the injury. Pickford suffered the knock in the defeat at Chelsea on Sunday but was able to finish the game. Meanwhile, Mason Holgate has also returned to Merseyside from the U21s camp — as a side note, former Blues midfielder Lee Carsley was announced as Aidy Boothroyd's assistant today — with an ankle injury presumably sustained in the same game. Reader Comments (20) Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer Jay Harris 1 Posted 29/08/2017 at 15:59:45 I thought his kicking wasnt up to his normal high standards. Derek Knox 2 Posted 29/08/2017 at 16:00:04 The only redeeming factor being, the injury is at the start of the International break, so affords him more recovery time. Sod's law, it would happen to one of our few consistent players to date.Hopefully he'll be okay, by the time our next fixture.Let's hope that's the last of the International injuries, but not the end our incomings/outgoings. David Currie 3 Posted 29/08/2017 at 16:24:59 Oh no... last thing we need, the thought of Stekelenburg playing again in the Premier League is worrying. Liam Reilly 4 Posted 29/08/2017 at 16:28:57 Good news if it's only a niggle, as he may well have played in those games and he needs to be protected with the number of game we have coming up.Bad news if he's out for any length of time.Wasn't he out for a while last season also with Sunderland; hopefully not a recurring theme. Nitesh Kanchan 5 Posted 29/08/2017 at 17:32:52 Some reports suggesting Vlasic fee has been agreed. How good was this guy against us? Minik Hansen 6 Posted 29/08/2017 at 19:24:08 After what we've seen of Pickford, Stekelenburg will want to show his real worth, so on that aspect there is a motivated cover. Peter Cummings 7 Posted 29/08/2017 at 19:52:30 If he's going to be out for any length of time, I would prefer Joel after he proved himself more than capable when Howard wasn't available, with several clean sheets. Remember when there were screams to 'get rid' across the park when Mignolet was making errors; now, he is one of their most reliable performers, like Robles was proving to be. Jack Convery 8 Posted 29/08/2017 at 20:15:53 Maybe Koeman has asked for him back to help with the removal of Mirallas. Derek Knox 9 Posted 29/08/2017 at 20:37:03 Slightly off topic, but I see the deal for Kieran Gibbs to Watford has broken down, apparently over personal demands, not a bad shout at the reported £7-8M as a back up for Baines, think he can play LCB too.I'd have a punt on him, proven PL, but not given enough run outs with the Arse. Tony Abrahams 10 Posted 29/08/2017 at 20:45:42 Definately Derek, he's a good player Gibbs, also very good with the ball, and if we are building a squad, you can't have too many good players! Michael Lynch 11 Posted 29/08/2017 at 20:57:45 Gibbs is a bit of a sick-note, but at that price I can't believe we're not buying him, since Koeman keeps saying that left back is a position we need to strengthen. The lad is a good footballer, has played at the highest level, and is in his prime. I'd love to know who Koeman and Walsh think would be a better option. No, actually, I'd love to see them BUY the player who would be a better option. Tony Abrahams 12 Posted 29/08/2017 at 21:09:42 I would imagine Baines, could actually play with Gibbs, down the same left side? They are both good footballers, and both very comfortable in possession of the football.The biggest problem is that we are not playing with wide men. It's wingbacks, or inside forwards, simply because we don't have anyone with real pace, who likes to stay wide.If we don't sign another forward, I would like us to try and play a balanced 4-4-2, or even a balanced 4-5-1, but please get away from the current system, because although it makes us harder to score against, it also makes us so much easier to play against, and is also very fucking boring to watch? Mark Andersson 13 Posted 29/08/2017 at 22:38:26 The great thing about TW if like me you no nothing about tactics or team selection after a while when you read the likes of Tony Abrahams post you get a inkling of what their talking about. So on that logic why the hell is Koeman getting paid so much to churn out boring football. I'm neither a fan or detractor of the manager, I simply don't know enough about football.What I do know is the passion from this fan base is most of you seem unhappy, your fickle optimism at the beginning of the transfer window has been eroded by the boring football that has unfolded.Let's see what the next few games bring, another season of dread when it comes to the derby and the likes or that elusive corner taken and we slowly make a long over due return to the top ourselfs..Stay positive blue boys the wait can kill you.. Derek Knox 14 Posted 29/08/2017 at 22:46:43 Looks like WBA have jumped in to sign Kieran Gibbs, having a medical. Think we have seriously missed out there. John Smith 15 Posted 30/08/2017 at 01:27:11 What is it with thigh and hamstring injuries and our players? John Smith 16 Posted 30/08/2017 at 01:27:52 As for Gibbs, yeah the amounts mentioned are only around £5-7million. Sam Hoare 17 Posted 30/08/2017 at 08:48:35 Koeman won't like Gibbs. He's too fast. Joe Edwards 18 Posted 30/08/2017 at 11:39:11 Why would Koeman bid for Gibbs? He's not a midfielder. Mark Morrissey 19 Posted 30/08/2017 at 20:10:04 I find it odd that on the eve of a very important transfer window for our glorious club there isn't an image of BK and Moshiri stood shoulder to shoulder with both men scratching their heads. Why go with an image of young Mr Pickford ?I truly hope they are going to unearth a little miracle or two tomorrow otherwise are ample midfield are going to have a tough winter trying to claw back Roms goals. I normally find the final day quite interesting but I'm nervous about tomorrow. I've got a bad feeling that we have missed the boat on a top striker and we will have to wait until January by which time we could be floundering mid table. I hope I'm wrong Antony Matthews 20 Posted 30/08/2017 at 22:25:02 Probably picked up the injury by being passed back too much to at Chelsea. Maybe if we passed it forward more often this wouldn't have happened. Add Your Comments In order to post a comment, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site. » Log in now Or Sign up as a ToffeeWeb Member — it's free, takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your comments on articles and Talking Points submissions across the site. About these ads