Nevertheless, the only Everton player over the years who has consistently had and continues to have top international level. This is not only confirmed by the ‘eye test’, but it can also be proven with numerous numbers – expected goals prevented, clean sheets, serious mistakes. In all of these categories, Pickford is at the top of the Premier League.
Pickford is extremely strong on the line and a classic shot-stopper. He is also relatively strong with his foot and has been able to collect an assist here and there. He is relatively small, which means that crosses and generally high balls are not his favorite discipline. But he always has tall central defenders in front of him at both Everton and the Three Lions who make life relatively easy for him.
He is also an important, very vocal leader at Everton and now also at England. At an Everton game, no player can be heard commanding as loudly and as much as Jordon.
Perhaps his greatest strength of all, however, is dealing with pressure. For a long time there was hardly a more powerful position in football than that of the English national goalkeeper. Actually, as far back as I can remember, a number of English keepers failed because of this pressure and many goalkeepers made iconic mistakes that often cost England heavily. Pickford has been in England’s box for eight years now and has made a single crucial mistake against Belgium during that time. This is simply an enormous achievement. And I think that’s a direct correlation to his somewhat peculiar appearance. This slightly disturbed demeanor is his way of responding to pressure and it just works. Since he’s been in the box, the English goalkeeper has no longer been talked about as a weak point, which is good for England.
And in return there are great heroics for England, especially in penalty shootouts – which, as we know, have not been a strength of the English team for a long time. Here too, Pickford changed the perception of the English team and helped to banish some of their old demons, even if they still lost a few penalty shootouts. And there are even greater heroics ahead for Everton, and he probably played the biggest role in staying in the league. Particularly noteworthy was a game in the relegation battle against Chelsea, in which Pickford showed the save of the season, or a saved penalty against James Maddison in the basement duel against Leicester.
Maybe not yet a goalkeeping icon on the same level as the goalkeepers mentioned, but if Jordon keeps goal for Everton and England at this level for four more years, he will have achieved a certain cult status in English football at least. He’s already had it at Everton for a long time anyway.