Jordan Pickford once again found himself in the Everton fan firing line following his performance against Manchester United on Sunday, with many now questioning whether a replacement could be needed.
Despite saving the Toffees from defeat with an excellent double save in the dying minutes of the game, Pickford’s major talking point was during United’s equalising goal on the half hour mark.
After David de Gea had already demonstrated what goalkeepers should not do, blasting a clearance into the outstretched leg of Dominic Calvert-Lewin and back into his own net, Pickford made an error of his own.
Picking up the ball inside Everton’s half, Bruno Fernandes took aim and struck a shot at Pickford’s near post from around 25 yards out, and without much movement on the ball, the England international let the shot past him when he should have comfortably got his hands to the ball.
Many fans took to social media to angrily lambast the goalkeeper for allowing United back into the game, with Pickford’s error only the latest in a string of high profile mistakes from the shot-stopper.
Heading into the summer, the Blues need to strengthen in a number of positions, namely at centre-back and right wing, but perhaps exploring goalkeeping options wouldn’t be such a bad thing too.
Much of the narrative has often centred around finding a backup goalkeeper who can compete with and challenge Pickford, but so far that hasn’t worked, with Jonas Lossl the latest to fail, being jettisoned back to Huddersfield just six months after signing at Goodison Park.
Therefore, perhaps Everton should consider replacing Pickford, as his long-term viability as an elite goalkeeper has now been called into question.
Carlo Ancelotti indicated in January that he had no intention of replacing the former Sunderland man, but he can surely only accept costly errors for so long before even he comes to realise that Pickford is no longer the man for the job.
I want to see the 25-year old succeed on Merseyside, and following his exploits for England at the World Cup in 2018, he will always be held in high regard by many I’m sure. However, as he continues to detrimentally impact Everton’s results, I do think that it could be worth considering whether better long-term candidates are out there.
