Former Tottenham and Hull star Ryan Mason has criticised Jordan Pickford after his reckless lunge on Virgil van Dijk in Liverpool’s 2-2 draw with Everton.
The ex-England international wrote on Twitter: ‘Just seen the Pickford tackle. Could end a career that, terrible terrible tackle ! He has done it before & will do again!’
Mason isn’t wrong.
The England glovesman has done it before. A tackle on Dele Alli during Tottenham’s 6-2 win over Everton in 2018 was very similar to his lunge on Van Dijk today.
That particular challenge drew criticism from Alan Shearer as Pickford dived in at Alli’s leg, avoiding any consequence due to the whistle sounding for offside as The Daily Mail covered.
The Tottenham man eventually needed to be substituted at half-time.
In today’s case, Van Dijk had to leave the field almost immediately as he simply couldn’t play on.
The incident didn’t look great. Liverpool’s £75 million centre-back’s leg seemed to buckle slightly underneath him after Pickford jumped in.
Mason is right to say that the Everton shot-stopper could’ve ended a career challenging like this, and it’s twice now that he’s managed to get away with it due to the whistle blowing for offside.
It’s difficult to defend Pickford for these challenges, as much as we’d like to assess both sides of the situation.
The ball had gone after he challenged the Dutchman, in what was a mistimed and dangerous tackle.
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