DON’T PANIC!
How Pickford matured from excitable gloveman to calmer keeper who’s inked in as England No 1
IS it possible to win a World Cup without an elite level goalkeeper? Brazil may have proved the exception over the years but recent history suggests not.
the last four finals have featured some of the best of we have known in modern times. Hugo Lloris in 2018, Manuel Neuer in 2014, iker Casillas in 2010 and Gianluigi Buffon in 2006 all won the trophy.
For some time, England have not been quite so well stocked. the days when goalkeepers of the calibre of Ray Clemence, Joe Corrigan and Phil Parkes could not get into the team are now as distant as they sound.
in Qatar though, England do have a goalkeeper who has matured to a level that now sees him as an automatic pick, a player who will be a key part of anything that England manage to do well in the middle East.
Jordan Pickford, the Everton goalkeeper, has been England’s No 1 going back to before the last World Cup four years ago. Only now has the 28-year- old established himself as a goalkeeper of genuinely top-class quality.
He has always been a terrific, agile and natural shot- stopper. this is what saw him lauded as one of the heroes of England’s progress to the semi-finals in the 2018 World Cup.
But anyone who watched Pickford properly in that tournament will have seen an excitable and emotional goalkeeper, one who would too often bring a little panic to those playing in front of him with the unpredictability of his attempts to organise a back four.
At Everton, at least one manager recognised this. Marco Silva, now doing well at Fulham, said publicly that Pickford needed to prove himself capable of being calmer. As the great Peter Shilton once said, the really good goalkeepers tend to be the ones you don’t really notice unless they are actually handling or kicking the ball.
Not everything has been smooth for Pickford since the last World Cup, despite his tally of 45 caps at a relatively young goalkeeping age. His form during the period of Covid lockdown was relatively poor and the untidy challenge that left Virgil van Dijk with a seriously injured knee in a Merseyside derby in October 2020 saw him subjected to the kind of abuse on social media that nobody who plays sport for a living should ever be subjected to.
Pickford wondered for a while why his public image as a footballer was not as he thought it t should be and reached out to a PR R professional for some help. He also worked hard on his football, especially his distribution, which we know to be so important.
A source who knows him well told Sportsmail this week: ‘Some of the criticism did sting him a little bit. i think he wondered what he had done to deserve it. He e thought quite a lot about that.
‘But in terms of the Van Dijk k thing, he was pretty level. He was s really upset that Van Dijk was s injured. Of course he was. And he apologised for the challenge.
‘But he also knew it was not deliberate. Had he not known that he would never have forgiven himself.
‘Jordan is a nice lad, deep down. He is competitive and he cares deeply. But he’s basically a good bloke who, like most footballers, is more bothered about what people think than he may let on.’
Pickford’s place in Gareth Southgate’s team is secure. it would take something monumental, or an injury, to shift him.
Newcastle’s Nick Pope spoke in these pages this week about the mistake he made while standing in for Pickford at Wembley in September’s 3-3 draw with Germany. the more prosaic truth is that it is Pope’s kicking that prevents him more closely challenging Pickford.
And Dean Henderson, the Manchester United goalkeeper on loan at Nottingham Forest, is equally limited when it comes to his distribution.
time spent at the top of the Premier League with Arsenal will not do Aaron Ramsdale any harm in terms of his development. the 24-year-old is the third goalkeeper in England’s current World Cup squad.
At Everton, though, they see every day at first hand how much Pickford has improved and matured. He has become a talented and steady goalkeeper as opposed to the unpredictable, adrenaline-fuelled player it was sometimes impossible to take your eyes off several years ago.
Goodison Park goalkeeping coach Alan Kelly told Sportsmail recently: ‘People do not see it behind the scenes.
‘there is scrutiny and pressure on his shoulders but he just puts the work in and that’s the best way to deal with it.
‘People can have their theories but, believe me, his preparation gives him the best chance to perform at the top level.
‘He has looked at everything. it’s strength and conditioning, we work hard every day in training. You have to think about it — if he is bulky and muscly, it’s going to take a fraction longer to get off the ground.
‘What you have seen recently
is the perfect evidence of how seriously he is committed to being the very best.’
the statistics back up those who have noticed the change. Last season he made a single mistake that led to a goal in more than 30 games. At 28, he is now at the age at which many goalkeepers approach their peak. Peter Schmeichel, for example, was that age when he joined Manchester United.
Pickford is not quite at that level and probably never will be. But the improvement he has made is likely to be enough for England over the next four weeks in Qatar.