Jeff Stelling and Matt Le Tissier destroyed goalkeeper Jordan Pickford for his role in Everton’s demise against Newcastle United at St James’ Park on Saturday.
Pickford conceded a penalty in the first-half and was lucky to have not been sent off before saving Matt Ritchie’s resulting spot-kick.
Everton then went into the break 2-0 up, but Newcastle were sensational in the second-half and took advantage of the England number one’s poor performance by scoring three goals to win 3-2.
Pickford was blasted by Stelling and Le Tissier on Sky Sports after he conceded the second goal, which came as a result of him parrying a Miguel Almiron shot straight to Ayoze Perez.
“Pickford, it’s too hot to handle for him,” said Le Tissier giving his live reaction to the goal on Sky Sports Football’s Gillette Soccer Saturday [04:38pm].
“He parries it out and Ayoze Perez is first to the rebound and smashes it back past him. What a left-foot strike by Almiron, it’s moving a bit.
“I think Pickford’s going to be very disappointed in the way he parries it out though, poor goalkeeping.”
Stelling added: “It’s awful from Pickford, isn’t it?
“He’s got to think he’s a lucky boy to be on the pitch, but Newcastle won’t mind that so much now because he will be desperately disappointed.”
OPINION
Pickford has had a rough season for Everton, and it failed to get any better on Saturday when he conceded three goals to Rafa Benitez’s side. Everton should have won that game after Lee Mason failed to send off the shot-stopper, but something changed at half-time. Newcastle came out of the blocks flying while you can say that the Toffees had become complacent. Pickford has been this shaky most of the season though. He was one of England’s best players at the World Cup in Russia and was unlucky to have not been included in the team of the tournament, but he looks like a completely different player now. He’s short of confidence and needs to try to get back this best as soon as possible. Is the England number one shirt a poisoned chalice? Everyone says that the manager’s job is a heavy burden, but being the Three Lions’ shot-stopper has also crushed careers in recent history.