DON’T PICK ON THE KEEPER
Whole team at fault says boss
MARCO SILVA has leapt to the defence of under-fire keeper Jordan Pickford, insisting the entire Everton team must take the blame for a recent alarming slump.
The England No.1 has come in for savage criticism in recent weeks after gifting Liverpool a last-minute Merseyside derby victory.
That seemed to knock his confidence, with some shaky performances culminating in another nightmare against Tottenham, where Pickford’s mistake gave the visitors a route back into the game – one which they took to go on and win 6-2.
But Blues boss Silva says a single mistake does not explain away a lack of character and fight against Tottenham.
“I don’t want to individualise just on Jordan,” he said. “I can understand the focus, because it was a key moment in the match.
“But we didn’t lose just because one of our players made a mistake. Everything cannot change like it did during the match just because of one mistake. We have to show personality, we have to show character during the match.
‘‘As a team we didn’t do enough to keep fighting for a different result.
“What we will do with Jordan we will keep doing with the others, we have to change the situation as a team and not just with one or two players.”
Everton go to Burnley with just one win in their last seven league games, and having slumped from a Europa League place in the top six to 11th – two places and a point worse off than last term.
Pickford’s form has been an influence in that, with the star of England’s World Cup starting the season brilliantly to inspire the team, but the error against Liverpool has knocked them backwards.
Silva believes it is by working on the training ground with the entire team that he can restore the fight and spirit which took them into the European places.
“Our job is to give them conditions so this kind of thing doesn’t happen again,” he said.
“We will do our job.”