14/11/2024 24comments  |  Jump to last
Greece 0 - 3 England

Jordan Pickford plays in goal tonight for England in their must-win game against Greece in Athens, the prize being 1st place in and promotion from Group B2 of the Nations League.

It's the penultimate game in charge for former Everton midfielder, Lee Carsley, whose selection has been challenged by nine players withdrawing from the quad through injury.

Ollie Watkins, leading the line in place of Harry Kane, had an easy finish after just 6 minutes when Madueke made it to the byeline and cut a nice ball back to him. 

Three brilliant saves by Jordan Pickford kept England in it but the Three Lions couldn't fashion another goal until Kane came on with 25 minutes left.

 

Reader Comments (24)

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Michael Kenrick
1 Posted 14/11/2024 at 19:55:02
Very simple goal gives England an early lead.
Mike Gaynes
2 Posted 14/11/2024 at 21:11:29
Pickford having a great day.
Christy Ring
3 Posted 14/11/2024 at 21:15:58
Mike, absolutely, showing his class
Brian Williams
4 Posted 14/11/2024 at 21:21:33
Pickford showing why he's undoubtedly England's number one!
Liam Mogan
5 Posted 14/11/2024 at 21:24:38
Pickford is perfectly suited to international football with its lack of aerial threat. His reflexes are superb.

And he doesn't continually boot it like Peter Kaye in that 'have it' advert like he does for us!

Peter Mills
6 Posted 14/11/2024 at 21:36:01
Pickford is a very good goalie, with some weaknesses, but I’m happy we’ve got him.
Martin Mason
7 Posted 14/11/2024 at 21:44:14
Great saves, completely dominated his area and superb distribution. Same as he does every game.
Bill Gall
8 Posted 14/11/2024 at 21:46:32
Should keep Pickford's constant critics quiet.

It was not a very good game, but England without the dropouts made the best of it.

Martin Mason
9 Posted 14/11/2024 at 21:47:22
Lee Carsley would be as good a choice for Everton manager as anybody for me.
Paul Swan
10 Posted 14/11/2024 at 23:09:39
Dixon and Keane having to admit through gritted teeth that Pickford played well.

He was only a club shirt away from a MotM performance.

Steve Shave
11 Posted 15/11/2024 at 08:04:33
Martin @9 totally agree, Carsley is highly rated and I believe would be a perfect fit. My only doubts are around his clear discomfort in the England role, whilst he's done okay, he has looked discombobulated at times. Maybe it's the media attention and he's just not used to it.

I am continuously bemused by how little credit our Jordan gets. He is an excellent keeper who is consistent and an outstanding shot-stopper. He especially deserves more international praise. Well done, Pickford, I for one am proud you are a Toffee.

Dave Abrahams
12 Posted 15/11/2024 at 08:36:55
Martin (7).

“Same as he does every game.”

Stop it, Martin — or keep your eyes open when you watch him every game!

Ian Jones
13 Posted 15/11/2024 at 08:38:01
Steve, re Pickford, agreed, he's an excellent keeper with some flaws (like most keepers) which some people including me focus on. Too easy to focus on his mistakes and not on the number of times his saves have won points.

Agreed, re Lee Carsley and the media attention. I'm not sure if the current unease he seems to demonstrate isn't more to do with the fact that he's only taking care of the England team for a short period and it seems he was thrown under the train a bit in the last international fortnight. He was being asked questions on his future by the media that he couldn't truthfully answer as Tuchel seems to have been appointed before at least one of the games.

If Sean Dyche was to leave, I would be happy to have Lee Carsley, not because he's an ex-Everton player but because he seems to be very good at developing younger players and is highly regarded.

Mark Murphy
14 Posted 15/11/2024 at 09:37:26
Jordan has improved lately, and I doubt very much that any keeper since big Nev himself could've made that save against West Ham.

But, to say he commands his box in any game, let alone every game, is just wrong. I get that that's not his game and, as one of his critics earlier in the season, I am glad to see his improvement.

But I think, if we can cash in on him and bring in a big keeper who actually does command his area, the dynamics of the defence would improve. Sure we'll miss the shot-stopping heroics but, so long as we spend the money on a decent keeper and other areas that need strengthening, I think I'd accept that.

Dons tin hat and pacamac!

Ian Jones
15 Posted 15/11/2024 at 09:54:34
Mark, whilst I generally agree with you about having a goalie who commands the box, we'd also need one who could pull off the shot-stopping heroics that we could afford.

As has been said on many other threads, the art of goalkeeping has changed over the years for a variety of reasons, including the use of lighter balls, coaching techniques, more ball-playing keepers etc.

I think the days of the old-fashioned keeper are well and truly over.

Kim Vivian
16 Posted 15/11/2024 at 10:11:20
We will not replace Pickford with anyone who is better.

If he goes, we better get a bloody goal scorer in sharpish. (No pun intended.)

Danny O'Neill
17 Posted 15/11/2024 at 10:22:12
Many talk about Carsley, but I've had these conversations before and he has come out himself and said he is content coaching at development level.

He wasn't interested in taking on the England job full-time and wants to go back to the U21s.

Mark Murphy
18 Posted 15/11/2024 at 10:53:06
Coventry are "wooing" Lee Carsley, Danny. Frank Lampard has also sent his CV in but they want a coach rather than a manager.

Personally I'm very nervous that Southgate is still available. He's exactly the sort of high-profile manager that "the suits" would think fits the bill. And I really don't think he does.

Danny O'Neill
19 Posted 15/11/2024 at 11:35:44
I've been a believer for a long time that head coach is the way forward under a DoF.

The new owners will have their own ideas and we may end up with something we didn't see coming if they decide to change.

I hope they cast the net further than the usual suspects: Potter, Southgate. I know, this won't go down well, but take a punt on Alonso to see if we can tempt him. Now that would have the cousins up in arms on top of their jealousy of the new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock!!

Christy Ring
20 Posted 15/11/2024 at 11:49:26
I believe Lee Carsley would be a great choice as Everton manager as well. He would definitely be more attack-minded, and gave Branthwaite his debut with the U21s.

I see Ndiaye played the No 10 role for Senegal last night — can someone tell Sean, who doesn't believe he can play in that position.

Nigel Scowen
21 Posted 15/11/2024 at 13:05:08
Martin @ 9,

I would certainly welcome this as an interim short-term option Martin, if Dyche were to go; whether he would take that I don't know.

Dave Roberts
22 Posted 15/11/2024 at 15:04:25
Nobody will ever compare to Neville Southall for me. In 69 years of watching Everton and football in general, he represents very easily the best goalkeeper I have ever seen. For me, that even includes Gordon Banks.

Big Nev very rarely made a mistake. For that reason, Pickford will have a hard task ahead of him to match Nev's standing.

But nevertheless, at the moment and while there is always a mistake in him, Jordan is the best around for me, certainly in the Premier League and I've seen nobody else so far elsewhere to change my mind.

Paul Ferry
23 Posted 15/11/2024 at 20:17:28
Can someone name me one keeper in the Premier League who is excellent in all that is asked of him?

Martinez? No. Allison? No. Raya? No. Pope? No. Ederson? No. Sanchez? 😝 Ramsdale? No. Leno? No. Flekken? No. Henderson? No. Verbruggen? No. Onana? 😝 Sels? No. Muric? No. Vicario? No. Hermansen? No. Areola? 😝 Sa? No. Kelleher? No. Kepa? 😝 Fabianski? No.

So, why is it that Pickford is constantly berated on here for an aspect (aspects for the anti-Pickfords) of his game that is important (this commanding the box stuff) when he excels in others and in fact does command his area and box a fair amount of the time.

Each one of those keepers mentioned above has a flail, flop, howler, misplaced pass, own area fuck up, near posty, ooops through the legs in him.

But, no, our Jordan has to be perfect. Even the comparisons with Southall are unfair and meaningless, because Nev is quite simply the best.

Mistakes made by keepers by dint of their role will always be triple-bad because they can lead to goals more than any other position on the field. They also tend to attract/court attention because more than a few of them are/can be nutty.

Pickford is one of a handful of current players that for me cannot be sold at this moment in time. How many of the folks who pounce on him when he does something wrong and compete for the highest hyperbole will type about the magic he produced last night and on countless other occasions?

I would love to see the serious science, statistics and metrics – pipe-dream, I know – that once and for all demonstrate exactly how many points Jordan has won for us and how many points he has lost???

It will be the former but it would be so nice to have that at hand whenever the Pickford poppers launch another Exocet (and not one of them is perfect or even accomplished at everything he or she does).

72 England caps but he's (what?) shite, crap, unable to control his box? Jesus wept.

Nigel Scowen
24 Posted 15/11/2024 at 20:24:45
Amen, Paul!

Anyone who thinks this lad is the problem must be out of their minds.


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