Another major tournament, more Pickford nonsense

(Photo by Francois Nel/Getty Images)

Will it ever stop?

Jordan Pickford has been England’s most successful goalkeeper at major tournaments, after the great Gordon Banks.

Peter Shilton may have won the most caps (a record that will soon fall to Harry Kane); David Seaman may have won domestic titles with Arsenal, but Pickford has delivered for England at two World Cups and two Euros.

England have reached two finals, one semi-final and one quarter-final with Pickford between the sticks. After three games of the 2026 World Cup, the Three Lions have kept two clean sheets. In qualifying, they did not concede a single goal.

In fact, Pickford has kept more clean sheets at major tournaments than any other England shot-stopper.

Yet in the wake of England’s 4-2 win (yes, win, not defeat) over Croatia, the usual media circus was up and running over Pickford.

This time it was Emmanuel Petit and Troy Deeney who decided to try their hand at the Pickford bashing.

Petit said on TalkSPORT: “If you want to go until the end, you need to have one of the strongest goalkeepers in the competition. I'm not really confident with him. With the ball at his feet, especially on the line, sometimes when he goes for a free kick or corner, I always have the feeling that something could happen.”

In fairness, Petit wasn’t too harsh. I would disagree about Pickford not being a strong keeper, of course, because he is just as good if not better than Emiliano Martinez and Mike Maignan, and both Argentina and France are likely to go on deep runs.

But there are question marks over Pickford at set-pieces, sure, and his distribution can be iffy. It’s worth pointing out, his distribution can also be spot on, and there were numerous examples against Croatia of him releasing England’s forwards with pinpoint passes.

Deeney, who of course has so much top-level international experience to call on, said on CBS Sports: “We're trying to win a World Cup. That’s why we're here. In my opinion, and respectfully Jordan, because you know I like you. We can't win it with that guy in goal. He doesn't give you any confidence.”

“We can’t win it with that guy in goal.”?

‘That guy’, the same guy who was brilliant in the Euro 2020 final penalty shoot-out, only to for other players to fail to deliver? The same guy who ended England’s penalty shoot-out pain with his heroics against Colombia back in 2018?

Pickford did not have his best game against Croatia, granted. That came down to the first goal, which he should have done better for, because he got a hand to it. But it was also a fierce strike, that came about because of an error from John Stones.

England’s defence, which is much more of a concern than the goalkeeper behind it, was again found wanting for Croatia’s second goal, which was in no way on Pickford, who then made a superb, instinctive stop in the second half, to keep it at 3-2 before Marcus Rashford extended the Three Lions’ advantage.

Pickford had one shaky moment against Ghana, in an awful team display. He charged out of his box but then pulled out of a challenge at the last minute, catching a stray leg from the attacker. It was given as an England free-kick but there has been talk it could have gone the other way. A quick look at the replays, though, show it was a stamp, and whether it was intentional or not, Pickford could have been badly hurt.

He had very little to do against Panama, yet still, the talk continues about his position. Why? What more does he need to prove?

And who else is really challenging him?

Dean Henderson is a good goalkeeper, but he’s not at Pickford’s level yet. James Trafford has a lot of hype and is a great talent — he’s probably the next cab off the rank — but he does not play regularly at Manchester City and has been found wanting in big moments.

Pickford is clear, still, as England’s best option between the sticks, so cut out the nonsense and focus on the areas of the team that do deserve scrutiny, instead of on one of the stalwarts who has always delivered.

Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer ()

John Gall 2 Posted 01/07/2026 at 09:00:49

If England don't win the World Cup, and they won't, it will have nothing to do with Pickford. At best they have two world class players, with the rest of the squad nowhere near as good as the media constantly tells us they are. The best players in the Premier League are not English, as this World Cup shows us. All Evertonians know that without Pickford we'd have been relegated years ago.

Mark Ryan 3 Posted 01/07/2026 at 09:16:32

Troy Deeney = twat

John Collins 4 Posted 01/07/2026 at 09:17:05

Hopefully England get knocked out next round. Jordan can have a little rest before next season.

Dave Abrahams 5 Posted 01/07/2026 at 10:23:29

I think there is a huge difference between what Everton fans and neutral fans think about the ability of Jordan, I couldn’t care less what pundits think and spout about football.

Keith Harrison 6 Posted 01/07/2026 at 10:40:49

Trivia fact. All 3 keepers were involved with Carlisle United early in their careers, and Pickford was a maverick even then!! He is decidedly dodgy on set pieces, but that England defence in front of him is absolute gash. Guehi has gone backwards since joining Citeeeh, Quansah should not even be in thew squad, and Konza is like a rabbit in the spotlights. O Reilly has been the standout by virtue of being the least crap. bet Tuchel wishes Jarrad had been fit, and he'd taken Jimmy Garner. The tournament looks France's for the taking, but stranger things have happened at sea.

Dixon and Deeney AKA Dumb and Dumber don’t know what they are talking about. Pickford is the only quality defender in the squad. As far as I can see there are only two things wrong with England. 1) We can’t break down teams that park the bus against us,because we left our most creative players at home. And, 2) We can’t defend against skill full attacking teams.

That said England should be home soon and France go on to win it. Been riveting this World Cup,well worth losing sleep to watch.FIFA,another corrupt organisation,has successfully managed to change a premier football competition into a greedy money making scheme. Fitting indeed that it should be partly held in Trump’s USA!!

Frank Worrall 8 Posted 01/07/2026 at 11:56:48

Another outburst of anti-Pickford bile from two masters of the art And now, Stuart Pearce has joined in and added his pearls of wisdom! The witches of Shakespeare's 'Macbeth' have nothing on this trio!

Paul Hewitt 9 Posted 01/07/2026 at 11:57:47

I'd love to know who these pundits would pick instead of Pickford?

Sean Mitchell 10 Posted 01/07/2026 at 12:47:48

He doesn’t play for one of the gobshite 6. They’d be slobbering if he did.

Alan McGuffog 11 Posted 01/07/2026 at 13:05:02

When we get knocked out you can rest assured that it will be all down to him

Christy Ring 13 Posted 01/07/2026 at 13:49:17

Same old shite, from the likes of Dixon, Deeney and Pearce, plus a few others, just to be heard, and little criticism bringing Henderson and extra centrebacksm to play out of position, instead of picking "two genuine fullbacks " in the squad. No criticism of playing Quansah at fullback?

Neil Tyrrell 14 Posted 01/07/2026 at 14:09:05

We get Kevin Kilbane on TSN for our sins and he's another one who never fails to get a dig in at Pickford

Stan Grace 15 Posted 01/07/2026 at 15:11:25

He's the best keeper at the tournament. That simple.

No player is perfect at everything their position demands. Look at how poor Olise's shots to goals ratio is, for example. Doesn't make him a limited player.

Jeff Spiers 16 Posted 01/07/2026 at 16:24:29

Neil@14 Kilbane. ffs.

Mike Gaynes 17 Posted 01/07/2026 at 16:37:14

Hey, we've got a fair number of Dim Deeneys right here on TW.

I've seen enough dumb comments about Picks on this board that I could print 'em out and wallpaper the living room.

Just laugh.

Raymond Fox 18 Posted 01/07/2026 at 16:43:59

Sean @ 10, exactly right, he's not playing for one of the luvvies.

For corners you now need a a goalie 9ft tall and weighs 22 stone, it's a bloody joke, theres less action in a rugby union scrum.

Les Callan 19 Posted 01/07/2026 at 17:05:04

I bet there wouldn’t be many standing in big Nevs way at corners

Mike Powell 20 Posted 01/07/2026 at 17:25:20

I knew as soon as they scored they would blame Pickford,no mention of how back the defence was

Mike Powell 21 Posted 01/07/2026 at 17:35:38

How bad the defence is

Mick O\\\'Malley 23 Posted 02/07/2026 at 07:50:11

Im.sorry but Pickford is not the best keeper at the tournament, and I'm pretty sure professional players know what they are talking about, it is ok for ex pros and pundits not to think the sun shines out of arse, He got beat on the near post again last night, any other keeper done that and TW would be howling about it, he doesn't command his area well and his distribution can be iffy at time, he palms shots back into the danger area, yes he does pull off some magnificent saves but he does have flaws

Si Cooper 24 Posted 02/07/2026 at 08:20:14

Mick, I think you are giving other goalies far too much credit. They all have flaws and I think Pickford rates with the best overall.

That wasn’t a run of the mill unforgivable ‘beaten at the near post’ incident last night. The attacker had effectively all of the goal to shoot at so Pickford couldn’t simply guard the near post. The attacker did everything right, converting quickly, powerfully and accurately and Pickford wasn’t that far off stopping it. I reckon plenty of keepers would have been beaten relatively easily by that shot.

I also think Pickford would have made all the saves the Congo keeper did and probably saved Kane’s header to boot.