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Why the underappreciated Jordan Pickford is one of England's best-ever between the sticks
There aren't many things football fans like doing more than sitting around discussing a team's all-time XI.
Whether it's congregating around a pub table after a match or spamming your WhatsApp group, there's always ongoing chatter about the merits of who should be in and should be out in nearly every position.
So, if the focus of that debate was the England national team, what names would be thrown in the mix when we talk about the Three Lions' best-ever number one?
World Cup winner Gordon Banks is an obvious shout, while Peter Shilton's record number of caps surely puts him in the conversation. Then there's David Seaman, of course, but really, there should be a bigger case for the current England goalie, Jordan Pickford.
The stats don't lie
It's a notion that is often scoffed at, as if Pickford shouldn't be allowed to be put in the same bracket as some of the national team's more 'illustrious' names, but it's evidence of just how underappreciated the Everton goalie is and has been since making his debut in 2017.
Since that friendly with Germany, where Pickford earned a clean sheet on his senior bow, he's gone on to win 80 caps for this country, second only to Shilton for an England keeper, and has amassed a series of accolades that none of his predecessors got anywhere near.
Firstly, he's played in more major tournament matches than any other goalie in the national team's history. Pickford was the first choice at the 2018 World Cup, 2022 World Cup, Euro 2020, and Euro 2024.
Shilton matches him with five finals, but played in four fewer games than the Three Lions' current stopper.
He has also surpassed Shilton's record for most clean sheets in tournaments, racking up eleven shutouts over the course of his five finals.
Going back to Banks, Pickford has also taken records off him, too, setting an all-time England record for most consecutive scoreless minutes posted by a goalkeeper with 721 during Euro 2020 and recently racking up a record eighth clean sheet in a row, by not conceding a goal for a year for the national side during their World Cup qualifying campaign.
Then there's his heroics. We all look back nostalgically at Seaman's penalty saves at Euro 96, but Pickford has matched that and more - saving spot-kicks in England's first-ever World Cup shootout win in 2018, and doing the same in the Euro 2020 final and quarter-finals of Euro 2024.
He's even scored a penalty himself, becoming the first goalkeeper to take (and score) a penalty in a competitive shoot-out for England during the 2019 Nations League Finals win over Switzerland.
"He's been exceptional for England," says David James, a man who once wore England's number one shirt, speaking exclusively to DAZN News thanks to AskGamblers.
“He broke Peter Shilton's record. I think sometimes it helps when the opposition isn't having many shots at you, but he's earned the position, he's earned the right, and obviously he's done enough to deserve that record as well. Getty
“I think, if you look at England's greatest goalkeepers, I mean Gordon Banks has to be there as number one with him being the World Cup winner, but Jordan Pickford's played in finals and has earned the right for England to play in those finals, and you have to put him up there as one of the best England goalkeepers of all time.”
Why the underappreciation?
Yet despite all those accolades and top-drawer performances, there's a sense that Pickford is not as appreciated as he should be, nor lauded as, say, Italy's number one or Spain's, even though his achievements match up.
There is a fair case that competition has never been at its best for England in an era where we haven't seen as many top goalkeepers come through, but even then, that's doing a disservice to the likes of Nick Pope and, more recently, Dean Henderson.
Then there's the notion that his personality sometimes rubs people the wrong way, which may have led to a perceived lack of concentration. However, his character is part of what has made him a successful goalie, and some of those small, negative traits have mellowed with age.
Others have suggested it's because he plays for Everton, where, with the club rarely involved in fighting for honours, he doesn't get the same attention others do at the Champions League clubs.
James weighed in on that point, adding, “I think playing for Everton, as a non-glamour club, it's very easy for people to start picking at them and he's been there five, six years now, through different spells of performance for Everton and therefore, as an England number one, the highlight or the focus would be more on him than perhaps the opposition goalkeeper, but I think there was a time when he was getting wrongly criticised.
“His mannerisms around the pitch, around the goal, encouraged people to make comments, but he is a top-drawer goalkeeper, without doubt."
Everton fans may not see it like that, but what they do see is a goalkeeper who has rarely let them down and has won their Player of the Year on four different occasions. Whisper it quietly, but he's up there with Neville Southall when it comes to the Toffee's best-ever.
The truth is, he's never let England down either. In fact, it's hard to think of a time across his 80 caps that Pickford's position has been in doubt because of a major mistake or a poor run of form.
So, as we head into next summer's World Cup, where Pickford will undoubtedly be number one for a record-breaking sixth major tournament, fans should start earmarking Picks as the country's greatest-ever keeper and appreciate all he has done for the national team.Getty Images
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