Former Everton left-back Michael Ball has destroyed goalkeeper Jordan Pickford for having a “lack of maturity” in the defeat to Newcastle on Saturday.
The Toffees surrendered a 2-0 lead in the second half to go on and lose 3-2 to the Magpies after two late goals from Ayoze Perez, and Ball has criticised the £100,000-a-week [Spotrac] stopper for playing to the crowd too much – something which eventually worked against him.
He says that the mainstay – who has played 32 times this season – needs to learn how to be a professional in these types of games, something which he did not do in this game.
“Once again, we’ve seen Pickford get too ‘hepped up’ on the big occasion where he plays to the crowd a little bit, when he should be more professional. Perhaps it’s a lack of experience from these big games, but he doesn’t seem to know how to handle the big occasion or to ride out the storm a little bit,” he said in his Liverpool Echo column.
“He was far too erratic with his display, and then their fans reacted to that to eventually lift their team up. His maturity was really lacking and he needs to learn to be professional in those situations. The only way to quiet the home support down is to do your job properly, in a professional manner.
“He didn’t do that though, he was making the same mistakes as we’ve seen him make all season and the crowd took full advantage of that, it got their fans going. It’s a lack of maturity from him. When your goalkeeper is erratic, it makes you even more nervous as a player in front of him.
“There’s something lacking with Jordan right now, and the pressure of these big occasions seems to get the better from him.”
OPINION
Many pundits have no doubt taken aim at Jordan Pickford after his display at the weekend, and rightly so. There is no doubting that he has not been at his best this season after his heroics for England at the World Cup, and that has been rightly pointed out by ex-Everton stalwart Ball after this abysmal display. Being a former Sunderland player means that he has more of a rivalry with the Newcastle fans, but his behaviour only provoked them more on Saturday. This is ultimately what led to his downfall that afternoon, and many Everton fans are no doubt fuming with him for the way he acted. He is one of the players who cost them the result, so he must start to demonstrate that he is a “professional” or they may start to lose patience with him. He has the potential to become one of the Premier League’s best goalkeepers, so he must knuckle down and show just that.