Everton suffered a damaging at Newcastle United in the Premier League over the weekend.
Neville Southall has claimed that the much-criticised Jordan Pickford is ‘learning all the time’ following his display during Everton’s 3-2 defeat against Newcastle on Saturday at St James’ Park.
The Toffees goalkeeper conceded a penalty in the first half and parried Miguel Almiron’s long-range shot into the danger area which was swept home by Ayoze Perez – at the time, that was the equalising goal.
Southall took to his personal Twitter account to offer his views on Pickford, who was lucky not to see red for the penalty he conceded, with the England man saving Saloman Rondon’s shot.
In the game itself, Marco Silva’s side took the lead through Dominic Calvert-Lewin before Pickford flapped at Matt Ritchie’s cross before rugby tackling Rondon as he tried to make amends for his mistake.
After saving the penalty, his team went onto to double their lead before Rafa Benitez’s side staged a brilliant fightback, with Perez netting a brace and Rondon also making amends for his earlier penalty miss.
After a successful World Cup in Russia with England last summer, Pickford, who is Gareth Southgate’s number one, has produced an indifferent campaign in the Premier League.
There is no doubt that he has made a number of errors between the sticks. Arguably his most costly error came against Liverpool at Anfield earlier on in the season when he failed to deal with a simple shot from Virgil van Dijk, which was punished by Divock Origi, who ended up scoring a stoppage-time winner.
Nonetheless, over the course of the season, he has played 30 league matches for Silva’s side, conceding 42 goals and keeping eight clean sheets in the process [transfermarkt].
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