Pickford shines in goal for England against Switzerland

About time the organisers listened to the fans and players, loads of pull-outs, no-marks getting caps... give the players a rest when they can.

Okay, World Cup qualifying had to be completed, but why the friendlies? Ridiculous.

Oh - the clocks went forward, that'll be it.

But I hear H Kane scored a penalty to take him on towards Rooney's record.

As I said - yawwwn!

Pointless from a football perspective. I'd rather bring back the Home Internationals, but the FA, will say there's no time to fit them in.

Paul Birmingham, it's like the FA Cup semi-finals. As great as it is to get to Wembley, that should be reserved for the Final itself, but we continue to pay for Wembley.

Give me Villa Park, Old Trafford, Highbury and dare I say in future Bramley Moore Dock (not for us obviously) any day for a semi-final day out.

I think he is on a different level of application and preparation than the Everton players around him. His distribution could have been better in the Wolves game, but who would be confident in kicking out to most of the Everton players?

Each to their own opinion, but I don't think we've had a decent keeper since Robles had that run of games under Koeman. Pickford is too erratic.

Now, if we are talking goalies, Dai the Drop is worth pages of entertaining debate. A dreadful keeper who had an exceptional record. In contrast to Pickford, it had something to do with the defenders in front of him.

Neil @12, your namesake was on a level with Dai the Drop. Both very average at best and cost us derbies and cups and even a title in 1974. Just as Shilton was up for grabs before Cloughie pounced.

It's a generational thing but, in my lifetime, we were blessed with a generation of genuinely great British goalkeepers in Shilton, Clemence and Jennings. We then had Southall.

After that, the best I've seen is Schmeichel senior.

I think Seaman fell into the category of being fortunate to play behind one of the tightest and most effective defences in football history. I don't believe he was that great, to be honest.

Always remember how Robinson was scapegoated, Stevie Gerard ahead of the pack in doing so, when he couldn't manage the manager's tactics or fed Rooney who was at his Prime. Rooney was never the same after that tournament.

On the highest stage i.e. England he has never let his country down, a top, top keeper. I could see him getting a move to a top 6 club in the next year or so. Ironically, Newcastle are the only other team who could afford him :)

Kind of a combination of what Neil #12 and Martin #8 are saying, captures it for me.

I see the players to build around beyond just next season as:

Pickford
Patterson
Mykolenko
Branthwaite
Godfrey
Gray
Gordon
Richarlison
Dobbin
DCL

It's not especially inspiring but if we reinforce the central defence and central midfield then I suspect the keeper and young full backs will look a lot better.

In many ways I'm not arguing having a weekend "Everton free" but I still can never work out why international matches can't just be fitted in midweek like many of the European Champions League/Europa League games.

Why we come to a fortnight long standstill at such a crucial point of the season beggars belief.

It would be good for the soul if Everton, can work hard to get stability and growth on and off the path.

Hope eternal !

That's why I was baffled we did not hold on to Olsen, because he certainly on most occasions did a very good job, when he came in the team.

Same is happening with England, he is on the top of his game, with Competition for the number one hotting up.

Regardless of Pickfords form for Everton, I am struggling to think of Pickford playing a bad game for England, the defence we have at the moment is not helping, but on the other hand, are the defence nervous of Pickford, the two games with Begovic in, the defence seemed a lot calmer to me, whether that is due to more confidence of Begovic coming to catch a ball, Or more aware of Begovic commanding his area and knowing where he is god knows.

However, no one can disagree, when Pickford pulls on that England jersey, he is near faultless and deserves to remain in goal for them.

Maybe we need to give Pickford some competition, take him out of his comfort zone of being picked every week, it worked before with Olsen, and can work again with Begovic.

Pickford is rightly the England goalkeeper, he has something like 20 clean sheets and if what I read today was correct, has not made an error which has led to a goal whilst playing for them. The issue at Everton is that he is part of a defence which is probably about the worst I can ever remember and one which is crying out for a leader. I would much rather see a big Nev type in that sort of situation but we obviously need to stick with Pickford to get us out of this.

I agree with your player selections, but I feel Richarlison and Calvert-Lewin will be sold in the summer. Richarlison now wants to go and I don't think Lampard is an admirer of Dom.

Also our players' wages are about 90% of turnover and a 70% limit for FFP is coming in for next season, so our wage bill will have to be drastically reduced and they are big earners.

Hard to say whether Lampard rates Calvert-Lewin because he's not been fit. But it leaves us with a very small core of players indeed for the medium term.

As it always is, it's going to be an important summer.

Pickford is obviously the younger, more agile and talented goalkeeper, but Begovic can organize, seems calmer, and fills his goal, and our defenders definitely seemed more confident with him behind them last week?

They can all make mistakes and when they do everyone get's on their case as it usually results in a goal.

We have the number one England goalkeeper so our problem isn't Pickford but the rest of the squad who are way below Prem standard bar a few.

If Frank can sort this mess out soon then just perhaps he can work on some quality signings for next year all things being well.

Some of the players we have who we could have done within many more games (fully fit) may indeed be looking to leave so that may free up some cash. We should also get shut of some dross and reduce the wage bill.

He does make mistakes, he has made errors but usually he makes up for those by saving at least one certain goal in most games he plays for Everton. We can have a more reliable looking keeper but none that will save as many certain goals as Pickford. It'll be a case of we don't know what we've got till he's gone, when he moves and he will move in the not too distant future.

And recent whose shining moments under pressure include:

https://www.ToffeeWeb.com/season/21-22/news/41985.html#1234782
(2:19)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtGQPve7kjo
(:30)

Yes, by all means Graeme, prefer him to Pickford.

Uh-huh.

We have 2 of the best in Pickford and Calvert-Lewin, we just need a domineering center half. Get one of this type player and with the youth we have in the squad we can build a strong side with additions added and we have got rid of the under performing players.

Before criticizing Pickford, check how many other players make a mistake and get away with it. A keeper is the most scrutinized player on the pitch and like every human he makes mistakes but, if it doesn't cause a goal, nothing is said, they are only remembered for mistakes that lead to goals.

As for kicking for touch, where else is he going to put it? We have nobody in the middle up front and if it did reach the one man we usually have there what is supposed to happen then, but we do have two men playing wide and if he plays it out short to a defender then three passes later it is back to him.

Things are that bad that when we get a free kick near the halfway line it usually ends back to Pickford and similarly, look what happens with this silly idea at goal kicks with a player standing on either side of the six yard box, two passes and it goes back to Pickford and that is where the problem with his kicking is.

But hey, let's get behind and support the team, eh?

Talk about can't see the wood for the trees…

It's the roughest of times to support our team. But you don't achieve 'nothing but the best' by hammering and selling our best.

I hope we keep Pickford. I won't go through an extensive list and it's all down to opinion and views, but I can only think of 2 keepers in the Premier League I would replace him with. One is on the dark side and the other is Schmeical at Leicester.

If we end up selling and looking, here's a tip for you. Keep an eye on Alexander Nubel. Currently on loan to Monaco, he came through Schalke's academy and was signed by Bayern as a potential successor the Neuer (himself a Schalke Academy graduate). He's still only 25 as well.

Burnley dropped him around Christmas (I think after we put 5 past him on Boxing Day?) and turned their season around. At some point, you've got to see past the reputation and look at what's in front of you.

If you said to any of them, "We're playing Man City this week and here are your back four" they'd shit a brick. Jordan has to contend with our poor defenders, week-in & week-out. He's an excellent keeper but it's a debate that can rumble on.

“Everton defender Yerry Mina has stepped up his recovery from a quadricep injury. The Colombian is due to start very light training at Finch Farm”

He would have been an asset for the crucial Burnley game, but it may come just a bit too soon.

It's no coincidence to me that we look a lot calmer at the back and concede less when Begovic plays. Yet with Pickford there we look jittery and ship goals currently. Pattern is there for all to see.

Pickford pulls off some excellent saves which I think fools a lot of people. Trouble is he makes a few howlers most games too and often costs us goals.

There have been several goals I would consider him at fault for just this season, for example (such as the first Southampton goal which he let sneak in at his near post or Trippier's free-kick when we played Newcastle earlier in the season).

Good keepers gain you points each season – Pickford, on the other hand, costs us points.

A problem with the sell/reinvest strategy is that our unusual leaders have managed to piss up the wall the best part of 250 million, trying to get the dross who are floating around these few. Why trust them now to sell and re-invest a baked bean in a butty?

You gave examples of 3 keepers who could replace Pickford. The easy part is identifying a personal list of players who can replace our best. As you say, it is a matter of opinion and, perhaps, a little bit of basic research.

Even if we avoid relegation, the difficult bit in the sale of our best players will be to get any of the comparable replacements to come here.

Sell Stones, sell Lukaku, sell DCL, sell Richarlison, sell Pickford. Sell any player who is outstanding and in his prime.

Our mediocrity and general shiteness appear to be mirrored by some on here not only accepting, but actually wanting, our best players to be sold. It got tedious a long time ago, but now it's predictable and sad.

Not only is Pickford an outstanding keeper, he's a bloody legend the way he's handled scrutiny from those looking for mistakes, and the way he handled the ridiculous and childish response of the media and LFC to the injury to St Virgil last season. He is a mental rock of a keeper playing for a shit team, whether the team is Everton or England.

He got too much criticism over the Liverpool incident with their centre back but Stan would you trust him to play in the Derby game in a few weeks time?

Another example of how some always see the solution to our problems being in the players who don't play - rather than in the ones that do play, playing better.

Ray #50, spot on. TW's most cherished players are the ones who don't play, the ones we sold and the ones we failed to sign. In the words of the Roman poet Sextus (the inventor of Sexting, I believe): Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Dave #49, I think he does a perfectly adequate job of controlling his 6-yard box. But he doesn't go out 12 yards and lots of folks here can't see past that. Anyway, all keepers make mistakes and give up goals they shouldn't, but I would point out that the last true howler Pickford committed was the one we watched together. I would certainly trust him not to make another one in the Derby.

Unrelated but shocking: US media reporting that Abramovich and several Ukrainian officials were poisoned in Kiev this month while meeting with the Russians for "peace" negotiations.

Yes no doubt he is a better goalkeeper at shop stopping than Begovic, that is Pickfords strength, reaction saves, his weaknesses for me are shots in the higher end of his nets, and not commanding his area, defenders left in no mans lands.

Begavic although had a stinker in the Carrabea cup, since then, I thought even when down to ten men, our defence looked more relaxed and organised against Newcastle, I was not shitting myself as much, when we gave a corner away, there was a lot more communication, whether that is down to Begovic organising the defence and defenders knowing his presence, I just do not know.

So the golden question is not about who is the better goalkeeper, but which goalkeeper helps the team more.

For saving you have to go with Pickford hands down, if you pick someone who has more influence on the people in front of him, then Begovic for me wins it, I would rather have the lesser goalkeeper there with 4 defenders playing better, than the better goalkeeper there, and the defence shot to pieces all over the place.

Devil and the deep Blue sea, in a way of making sense of the above, you could put many class players in midfield over the years, far superior, but most on here would pick a less flair player in Gareth Barry, he did a job there and was not a one man star man, he was a team man, where others excelled alongside him.

Pickford is the star man, but certainly not a team man, if he cannot have the support and confidence, of his defence.

Mike (52), you think Pickford does perfectly adequate job of controlling his six yard box, the lad is rooted to his line most of the time and some of his punching the ball out is hit or miss, I'd hate to see him if he was inadequate, for me he needs to improve that part of his game considerably.

I'm with you. I don't even think he commands his 6 yard box. Very reluctant to come off his line.

I'll maintain that I think he is a very good keeper and I can't think of many that we could realistically replace him with. But he isn't a great, just very good.

And you guys think he's our #1 keeper.

If my eyes were rolling any higher they'd pop out the top of my head.

It's mad how much I totally disagree with you there. Young French lad hasn't kicked a ball for us yet, could be a Baines, could be a Galloway.

Kenny when he played for us looked slow and lacked positional sense. Did okay for Schalke who didn't win any of their last 15 games.

Keane is a squad player, Mina is often caught out of position at the back and the other two are again completely unproven. Gibson hasn't kicked a ball for us either.

Everton need to sell Pickford and replace him with one of the star performers from this season. If not, Ben Foster will do for a year. Pickford concedes a goal a game which he should do better with. It can't happen anymore.

Everton need a new right back, not as cover for Coleman, but to replace Coleman. Loyalty is great but football moves quickly.

We need a new left-back as competition for Digne and then we need to sell Mina and replace him with a young-ish centre-back who has played regular football for the last few seasons.

We then need to sell Bernard, Walcott, Sigurdsson and replace with better quality whilst also purchasing a defensive midfielder, but maybe Gbamin may come good and finally fill that gap. If not, then Allan or Gana back would be my choice.

Walcott and Bolasie have stolen a living with us. Get them off the books. Go out and get young upcoming wingers who will work hard for the team and provide some creativity for a change.

I would even be tempted to tell Tom Davies he's going on loan all season next year to a Championship club so we can find out what he's really made of and his best position. It worked for Leon Osman many moons ago.

I know it's unrealistic to try and replace the whole team but we certainly need 5/6 players and some to leave. You know what, while we are at it, stick Iwobi on the transfer list as he is the biggest waste of £30million.

Tosun too.

Long gone should now be the days where we go out and get United rejects and players who are 35 years old. If we ever want to challenge we need to be buying proven players and not getting ripped off. Sigurdsson imo has been a good servant to us, but again loyalty gets you nowhere in football. He has been worth about £30 million, 100% nowhere near the 50 odd we paid for him. Swansea must be laughing their socks off.

Complete overhaul. War chest open. Break FFP, take the fine. Get rid of the dead wood and the none-tryers. It's time!

You can roll your eyes at a 3 nil loss and a clean sheet, you can also roll your eyes at Palace knocking 4 past us, Spurs 5 past us, our neighbours 4 past us, Watford, yes Watford putting 5 past us, as you say, unbelievable, each time Pickford in goal.

We can blame a shambolic defence til the cows come home and praise Pickford for some great saves, however if you see an improvement and organisation in the defence, then surely you have to at least ask the question, is Begovic better at organising his defence out, if that is the case then surely for the sake of the team, you have to give it some thought of picking him for now.

That one worked out well didn't it? Those goals would come in handy now!

Magnifying one perceived fault (trapping a ball or not coming off the goal line enough) and ignoring all the good stuff is crazy. No player is perfect, especially younger ones.

‘One of the most knowledgeable crowds' or a load of arl arse moaners who get on the players' backs at the drop of a hat? The latter is true, but is it a fault or just a weakness which overrides the first statement?

Maybe the club should sell us because we are full of arl arse moaners and bring in the Crystal Palace fanbase instead, because they play drums all through the match instead of moaning…?

Would that be the same tactical move that saw Begovic dropped for the same reason?

The formation obviously helped that night, but so did our keeper imo, simply because he looked like he was talking, and trying to get his defenders to play higher and maybe even tighter, which is how I viewed his hand signals, admittedly from the back row of the stands!

I suppose we defended in a similar way against Man City, when Pickford was in goal, and although I think Begovic's legs have gone (a decision I made after the QPR penalties), I sometimes view Pickford as a goalkeeper who might not have to make so many saves if he organized the defenders in front of him better, and also gave himself a better starting position.

My own opinion is that Pickford is too short with insufficient reach to be a truly world-class goalkeeper. Against that, Pickford is a better reaction goalkeeper and better distributor – so it's swings and roundabouts. There's temperament to consider also.

I guess the point I was making is that for many contributors, the answer to our problems seems always to lie in the players who are not playing. At various times this season, Iwobi, Gbamin, Davies, Tosun or an all rookie defence of Patterson, Branthwaite, Godfrey and Mykolenko have been our salvation when clearly they are not. The key is in the better players playing better.

The Pickford / Begovic argument is far more nuanced admittedly. Begovic might be a better option for the Burnley game, for instance?

That Derby is likely to be a very unpleasant affair with or without Pickford in goal, and Everton must resist Liverpool's cheating and try to play their own game with the best team available, which must include Pickford.

It will be either a success or, more likely, a disaster, because the RS are what they are, cheating bastards, and unfortunately Everton are prone to rising to their unpleasant bait regardless of the team selection.

England's back four is obviously much, much better than Everton's, Geoff, but in the two biggest games they've played/lost, they have ended up camping on their own 18 yard box the longer both of those games went on. This will have been more to do with England's inability to keep the ball, although Pickford never really pushes his defenders out either, imo.

I've just been on the phone talking to a couple of match going Evertonians, and both have said although they think Pickford is the better goalkeeper, they'd play Bergovic at the minute because he seems a lot calmer than his teammate.

Yes on the field Liverpool players are cheating bastards, as you say, and will again use every occasion to try and cheat their way to a win especially getting in the referees face for every perceived foul along with the crowd on the Kemlyn Road side getting into the linesman to go their way.

Let's be honest here Liverpool are an excellent team so why they still try and cheat so much is pathetic and is one reason, along with their supporters tunnel
vision of only seeing one team is why they are possibly the most hated team in England.

I'd leave Pickford at home for this game if only for his peace of mind.

“In relation to the style of play, especially. I thought we had a team that could have a lot more possession, which we had the quality for. He asked me the question, I gave him my answer” the France international stressed.

“I know my place. I felt legitimate to give him my feelings and those of the other players in the locker room. The group was unanimous. The sequel proved me right, since he was fired because of the poor results. I think he also had a bad philosophy. He didn't fit at Everton.”

I'm not sure Lucas is quite right about us having the quality of player to play a possession based game. It's often proven that we go sideways sideways back and hoof it when our players are tasked with it and lack the creative penetration required from midfield.

Ancelotti came to the same conclusion. The difference was that Benitez was a powder keg appointment from the start, that a large majority didn't want , Carlo was the opposite. It was therefore a bit easier for the players to down tools and blame the manager .

Frank Lampard is has given them an opportunity to prove they were right . Now though he will also have to adopt the pragmatism of his predecessors. At least until the summer when he can sign some players and get a preseason into them.

Certainly Begovic is better a dealing with crosses and seems a calmer influence behind his defenders, and certainly there will be games that his ability to deal with crosses will be a big benefit to the team. I would certainly consider him for the games at Burnley and Liverpool

But yeah it's just coincidence we ship goals when he's there, look all over the place at the back and have been on a general downward slide defensively with him between the posts.

People talk about him being one of our 'best' players who can't be sold - why not? We are rubbish with him in nets anyway so what real difference would it make? If we were challenging for trophies and actually winning games, I would understand this view of him being untouchable more.

It's like Richarlison - I know people like him but actually look at his stats for the last few years and his performances in general over a whole season. You rarely get a full season of good performances out of him and his goals return is generally poor. He spends most of his time on his backside or losing the ball. Look at how poor we have been this season with him being part of that. He is not untouchable and not unsellable. Him and Pickford are not elite level players who are putting in consistently high level performances every week.

It's common sense to get good money for players like Pickford and Richarlison who are not irreplaceable to revamp the squad/refresh things. This is even more true in out current situation when the whole squad needs overhauling. All teams do it - look how Utd sold Beckham or our neighbours moved on Coutinho or Suarez when they needed too. We need to bring some money in to buy new players and avoid another relation battle next year - there is only one way to do it for us right now.

Jordan Pickford is a very good keeper.

A lot of the most successful teams have very good keepers. Very few have a world class keeper.

But they have a very good defence in front of that very good keeper. That's what we lack.

David Seaman looked good because he had a solid defence in front of him. He wasn't that great in my opinion.

Pointing out the bad mistakes he has made regularly each season since playing for us and the weaknesses plain to see in his game is not stupid. It is obvious and common sense. It is more stupid to pretend he is perfect and try to ignore poor errors like the derby win he cost us.

If people really think he is good at claiming high balls and hasn't made lots of bad mistakes that shouldn't be happening so often, they must be watching a different side or have very low standards.

Offensively we have been inept since DCL got hurt and Richarlison followed.
Add to that the ineptitude of Rondon and the apparent injury to Tosun who really wasn't good enough anyway.

Richarlison is an enigma. Still not the best striker around but number one starter for Brazil (scored again yesterday) but all we have,

If he is set to leave then maybe we can get Werner on loan with an option to buy.

He's 25 in May, this his 4th season with us. Our team is weak and the club run terribly. I'd like to think of a reason he'd stick around. The only one I can come up with is pretty weak. That the World Cup has been moved to the Winter and staying at Everton means he'll be playing regularly up til then. Closer to my wishful thinking than an actual good reason.

We'd get a fair wedge for him, though. I'd be surprised he's still in an Everton uniform come August. I wonder if Ancelloti will make a move for him in June.

He's been much better this season but his stats over the last 3 years do not make for great reading. I'd rate him pretty midtable in the Premier League.

Right now, a new goalkeeper is nowhere near a priority.

So how many suitors may there be?
I think we can rule out Newcastle.
United, City, Arsenal and the neighbours seem content with theirs, I don't think Levy would pay that much for a keeper and are Chelsea allowed to bid. Even Barca, Real and Juve are baulking at these sort of prices. And the other "big" clubs are?

No, Pickford won't be going anywhere unless Everton have reason to start a fire sale.