Brilliantly accurate appraisal Swissclaret, one of my best mates is a mad Evertonian and says he would happily send £10 million and Pickford in a taxi if the Toffees could have Pope.
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Pickford has played 38 full games for England, has 19 clean sheets and has conceded 29 goals and that is why he is England's keeper.
Nick has only conceded 1 goal in 7 matches and nobody can argue against that record, however, his injury did him no favours at all and it appears that Gareth is reticent to give him more game time, although from what I have heard, last night would not have been much use in any case.
Sometimes a keeper is only as good as the ten guys in front of him.
I would imagine Nick wouldn't have minded missing that one. I could have been in goal and they wouldn't have scored. It was a joke game, I'd be embarrassed to pick up my cap if I'd been playing for England against that lot.
Fact wander
As in my post you can’t argue with what he’s achieved ( though it’s nothing in reality -,they’re not wins ).
However as i said earlier I reckon Bt me you any of us could have done what we’ve done with the pool of above average players we have to choose from. ( golden generation springs to mind ).
Interestingly I listened to talk sport only way to a job yesterday and Jamie o hara debated the non inclusion of mason Greenwood while Bamford started - he does have a point pace and a natural finisher is something we’ve lacked certainly a different option ( kane best finisher I’ve seen for some time ( exception of last weeks game) but is slow by comparison.
So question is why wasn’t Greenwood included and blooded for when the World Cup comes around , and will Bamford go to the World Cup in reality ?
They are indeed, they would even have won the Euros for him if he hadn't chosen kids to do a man's job with the penalties. I wonder how many of them on the halfway line were thinking 'WTF' as that debacle unfolded ? Just as thousands in the stands and millions watching on TV were.
There's been quite a bit of media pressure to give Bamford a game army, there's also been a few questions asked in the media about why Alexander-Arnold has been left out. Gareth likes to keep the media boys and girls onside, and Bamford gets a game against Andorra while AA is chucked into the midfield where he's a disaster. The media pressure may have led to those selections, or maybe not, who knows ?
But you can't blame the media for him continuing to select Trippier at left-back, where he spends more time facing and playing towards his own penalty area than he does the opposition's. That one seems to be his own bright idea.