Thread by @Jhdharrison1

I’ve always thought the discourse surrounding #Pickford is odd

Twitter would make you think he is the worst GK to ever play in the #PremierLeague which isn’t true, he’s an avg #PL shotstopper!

Yes he had a bad 2020 but his recent good form is starting to make up for that

#EFC

Pickford’s #PremierLeague Save% for #Everton = 68.9

Expected Save% for an avg #PL GK who faced the same shots as #Pickford in that time = 69.0

I understand why people think that #England’s #1 should be better than a middle of the road PL GK but the abuse he gets is just crazy!

Also regarding the #England #1 shirt, the main reason he has it is because currently #Southgate believes that being an average shotstopper is outweighed by the fact he is a level above any other English GK when it comes to distributing the ball, especially when under pressure!

Here is #Pope’s pressurised distribution graphic for comparison.

Roughly three quarters of #Pickford’s distributions under pressure result in the opponent not being more likely to score next, whereas for #Pope only a half of his pressurised passes result in such an outcome!

I do understand that #Pickford’s on pitch persona/arrogance can rub people up the wrong way, but a lot of GKs become a bit of a caricature on the pitch & don’t get the same abuse he does. Also for anyone who thinks I wouldn’t critique a GK/#Pickford please see this thread:

https://twitter.com/jhdharrison1/status/1317731749766582273