PICK’ BUNCH
Jordan ‘strives to be the best’
“When we go with England, we are always pushing to be the best but my focus is to be the best at Everton and to keep striving forward.
“We all strive to be the best, you keep pushing each other day to day.”
Pickford has been an impressive keeper since he arrived at Goodison Park in 2017 from Sunderland.
But if there was one criticism it was his temperament.
Often it could lead to poor decisions like when he palmed a looping effort from Virgil van Dijk into the path of Divock Origi to hand Liverpool a 90thminute winner in December 2018.
Then there was the tackle on Van Dijk in October 2020 which was rash, encompassed a goal from Daniel Podence had been replaced by jangling nerves on and off the pitch.
Lage, though, believes his team’s power-cut late in the game, which Saints could and should have capitalised on, is being replicated throughout the Premier League.
With a shortened summer break and early start to the campaign, a crammed schedule is having its effects.
Striker Raul Jimenez might have been on the bench but dangerous and ended the Dutchman’s serason.
Here on Saturday, he showed no such issues with a calm head on cool shoulders in a high-octane clash as, despite Alisson making a couple of brilliant saves in the opposing goal, he was the best player on the pitch.
There was the first-half save from Darwin Nunez that he tipped onto the bar. Then there were three saves in two minutes from Roberto Firmino and Fabinho.
The most impressive was the late save when he got his fingertips to a low Mo Salah strike that seemed destined for there was no way he was ever coming on.
Lage revealed: “We played Raul three games in a row without him doing a pre-season.
Fatigue Late
“It was so hard for him even to make the bench because he started to run (in the warm up) and felt pains, fatigue, so it was an easy decision to play (Sasa) Kalajdzic. Raul couldn’t even have played 10 minutes.
the bottom corner.
“You learn, don’t you?” the England keeper said when asked if he is now more mature. You get better. I’m getting older, I’m 28 now. I’ve done my paper round when I was younger, it is just about learning.
“You never want to stop learning, you always want to be better. That’s what I seem to do. Whether that’s technically, tactically, mentally, physically, I’ll keep doing it to be the best Jordan Pickford I can be.”
Liverpool needed the win more here and Everton will be happier with the point even if they are still winless in the Premier League this season.
The Reds were left to rue the failure of Nunez, on his return after a threegame ban, to really click alongside Salah and Luis Diaz.
“He has had a start-stop integration,” said Kop boss Jurgen Klopp. “We play
“It’s about players who haven’t done a pre-season. There are a number so it’s hard when you have so many games in the season.
“It’s about playing with energy and that just doesn’t come from the physical side, it’s also mental. Energy can also come from outside (the fans).”
Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl sensed that the midweek eclipse of Chelsea could come back to bite them on the backside.
LIVERPOOL keeper Alisson has insisted there is no panic for Liverpool despite their worst start to a season under Jurgen Klopp. And the Brazil star believes his teammates have shown the will to turn around their poor results, and deliver. A draw at Everton was disappointing but could have been worse but for three fine saves from Alisson (left).
But he said: “We can improve. Even
all the time and that means we cannot train constantly. He has been suspended in a week where we had two, three normalish sessions.
“He didn’t score but it’s not a concern, it’s just the situation.”
Meanwhile, Frank Lampard saw enough to convince him that his Everton side have shown they have the mentality to blast clear of the relegation scrap and head towards the Premier League’s top 10.
“I do think we are evolving our style now,” he said. “You could see what we are aiming for. Last season, I had to compromise (my) ideas (to stay up),
“Our recruitment is a big deal. We have brought in players who can receive the ball and play through the midfield, be comfortable on the ball and make the right decisions.”
“On Tuesday we had outrun Chelsea. You could feel the tank was empty at times against Wolves,” he said. last season, we had an amazing season and at the end we could look at ourselves and see some things we could improve in our game.
Injuries
“Our poor start is only because of the circumstances around us. The injuries.
“Now is not the time to look at the points. At the end of the season you can see whether we dropped points or not. We are improving and will fix it.”
Blast
Pickford ............................ 9 Patterson ........................................ 7 Coady ............................................. 8 Tarkowski ........................................ 7 Mykolenko ....................................... 7 Davies .............................................. 7 Onana ................................ 7 Iwobi ............................................... 6 Gray ................................................ 6 Maupay ........................................... 6 Gordon ........................................... 6
Gueye (Davies 61) .......................... 6 McNeil (Gordon 83)
Alisson ............................................ 8 Alexander-Arnold ........................... 6 Gomez ............................................. 7 van Dijk .............................. 7 Tsimikas .......................................... 6 Elliott .............................................. 6 Fabinho .............................. 7 Carvalho ......................................... 6 Salah ............................................... 5 Nunez ............................................. 5 Diaz ................................................. 7
Firmino (Carvalho 46) .................... 8 Milner (Alexander-Arnold 59) ....... 6 Robertson (Tsimikas 59) ............... 6 Matip (Elliott 80)
Jota (Nunez 80)
Sep 11 Sep 18 Oct 1
Sep 7 Sep 10 Sep 13
Arsenal (away) .............. PL West Ham (home) ......... PL Southampton (away) .... PL
Napoli (away) ................ CL Wolves (home) .............. PL Ajax (home) ................... CL (left)