OPINION
What is happening to Jordan Pickford?
The England number one was a national hero last summer after pulling out a series of world class performances that helped the Three Lions to a first semi-final since 1990.
Since then, however, he has been increasingly erratic, and showed it again against Newcastle United.
After dropping an absolute howler, the stopper was then lucky to stay on the pitch as he rugby tackled Salomon Rondon to prevent the Venezuelan from scoring a tap in.
Pickford did save the penalty, but from that point onwards it was all downhill.
His dexision-making and positioning left more than a lot to be desired, and there were a couple of occasions where the only thing that saved his blushes was sheer dumb luck.
As is often the case with the 25-year-old, his performance was peppered with a number of good saves, but there were to many hairy moments to ignore.
The culmination of this harum-scarum outing came when he parried Miguel Almiron’s shot right back at the waiting Ayoze Perez to give him a tap in form close range, but even the first goal will be disappointing for the keeper when he watches it back.
It’s getting to a point now where Marco Silva must begin to reassess Pickford’s role as an automatic starter for the Toffees.
That doesn’t mean that he should be dropped for good, necessarily, but maybe a break would be good for the former Sunderland man.
He looks as if his confidence has taken a real beating in recently, and maybe some time out of the limelight could allow him to regain some composure.