England manager Gareth Southgate has refused to commit to Everton’s Jordan Pickford remaining as his first choice goalkeeper after being probed about the shot stopper’s high profile errors against Newcastle.
The 25-year-old conceded a penalty against the Magpies with a rugby-style tackle on Salomon Rondon and after avoiding a sending off, saved the resulting effort from Matt Ritchie, the Toffees storming into a 2-0 lead shortly after.
However, the former Sunderland keeper went on to have a shaky game between the sticks, parrying a shot straight into the path of Ayoze Perez to see the Spaniard score one of three goals in a 3-2 defeat.
As such his place in the England starting XI has been questioned by fans and pundits and Southgate refused to commit over the goalkeeper’s future.
When asked if Pickford was his number one choice, he told the press live on Sky Sports News: “Jordan has played extremely well for us, I think you could look at any of the players across the squad and say they’ve had moments where they’ve played well and moments where they’ve had difficult afternoons.
“No question that was the case for Jordan across the weekend (v Newcastle), but if I look at what he’s done with us, there’s got to be an element of what the players are doing with their squad and what the players are doing and have done with us. His performances have been excellent.
“I’m never keen to say this player is the number one, this player in that position is first choice because you’ve always got to have competition for places. We’ve got to help him through what was hopefully a blip.”
Opinion
England are very fortunate to have so many good goalkeepers at their disposal and so Pickford might consider himself somewhat fortunate if he does remain among the starting XI in their upcoming games. He is not in form, nor is he playing for a side who have impressed in terms of their defensive capabilities and with the likes of Jack Butland and Tom Heaton breathing down his neck for the Three Lions, he is not safe in his position. His performance at Newcastle was a really weird one, looking like nothing would breach him before a sloppy error allowed the home side to bounce back to victory. Some have questioned his concentration and mental strength and perhaps that got to him at St James’ Park – something we have not seen when England have been playing. Not great for Pickford or for Southgate, who admits he was not impressed with the shot stopper’s performance, but perhaps not enough to end his time in the starting XI just yet.