Michael Owen has claimed that Tottenham Hotspur target Jordan Pickford was ‘outstanding’ for Everton as they recorded a goalless draw in the Merseyside derby on Saturday.
Even though Owen feels Pickford ‘plays to the crowd’ and has an ‘erratic’ mentality for a goalkeeper, he hailed his Man of the Match display, as he told Premier League Productions (03/09/22 at 2:40 pm).
Pickford made a total of eight saves over the weekend, including a brilliant low effort in stoppage-time to deny Mohamed Salah from scoring a winning goal.
The 28-year-old is at the top of his game, including winning Everton’s Player of the Season in 2021/22 and it’s no surprise that clubs in the Champions League, including Tottenham, are looking at signing the England international.
The Toffees have already sold one of their key players in Richarlison to Spurs this summer and a lot of that had to do with the financial situation the club is currently in.
But they sure wouldn’t want to lose Pickford to anyone given the player’s importance, as Owen hailed the Englishman’s performance against Liverpool.
“He’s a good goalkeeper,” said Owen. “Some people will accuse him of playing to the crowd. He feeds off that energy. He is pumping the air when he is making the save.
“He’s not the normal goalkeeper you would expect. You would normally expect them to be cool and calculated. Whilst Pickford is quite erratic in his mentality. But boy could he stop the ball.
“He made some cracking saves (against Liverpool). The most impressive one was the one against Salah (in stoppage-time). He gets the finest of touches to it. He was quick to tell us as well. Outstanding and fully deserved that Man of the Match.”
PICKFORD DESERVES TO BE ENGLAND’S NUMBER ONE
During the past 18 months, Pickford has been at the top of his game and one of his side’s best players and someone who probably deserves more respect.
There’s no denying that Pickford has been error-prone during his career, but that hasn’t shown its ugly head in recent times, yet he still doesn’t get enough credit for his performances.
For England, he has been near-on faultless, never made a mistake, and produced quality performances at the 2018 World Cup, UEFA Nations League and Euro 2020.
Yes, there is serious competition for places at England now, but there’s no reason why Pickford shouldn’t be the number one for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
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