Jordan Pickford highlights big Everton change to answer supporter calls

Jordan Pickford was Everton’s hero at West Ham United with a string of important saves. But the goalkeeper believes his Blues’ team-mates have now recovered from their tough start to the season to show that they’re a “proper side.”

Everton were beaten in their first four Premier League fixtures this term,. But they now go into the final international break of the calendar year with just one defeat from their last seven games thanks to their share of the spoils at the London Stadium.

Pickford said: “Hopefully we can start to turn these draws into wins but it’s better than losing games because those points will add up toward the end of the season. In the first four games, we weren’t good enough for the standards that we set ourselves as players or for the badge.

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“Apart from last week, in the last seven we’ve been showing the proper Everton side that we are and where we want to go as a team and where we want to push forward as a club.

“Those first four games feel like a lifetime ago. The Bournemouth game was a bit of a strange one, they were all a bit strange.

“If you look back and reflect on them, we weren’t what we are as a team and as a unit. The last seven have shown that we’re more of a unit and that’s what we are and what we’ll push to be.

“It’s only small margins. Those clinical moments, the deliveries, those opportunities to create them a bit better and put them under a bit more pressure.

“I think we saw it in the first half, if you create opportunities and put crosses into the box, you’re going to suffocate the team you’re playing against. It’s about them making a mistake or us coming up with a bit of magic.”

Pickford wasn’t tested until the last couple of minutes of the first half but after denying Jarrod Bowen and Michail Antonio just before the break, he then pulled off impressive stops to keep out a long range effort from Guido Rodriguez and then a brace of big chances for substitute Danny Ings late on. He said: “It was a good point away from home, the team played well. It was a good performance and a good save at the end.

“It was a quick reaction. I had to change my footing a bit and it was a good save.

“You’ve just got to stay in the moment, the momentum in football changes quickly. We’re creating chances and then all of a sudden, they’re going to create.

“That’s the game of football and as goalkeepers and defenders, that’s what you’ve got to be switched on for, those counter attacks or the slight errors that we make and they get chances from it. You’ve just got to stay in the moment.”

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Only Arsenal (18) kept more clean sheets in the Premier League than Everton (13) last season but after enjoying a first shut-out with Jarrad Branthwaite in the side in the current campaign, Pickford insists it doesn’t matter who is in front of him so long as they display the right attributes that the supporters insist upon.

He said: “Whether it’s Jarrad or Keano, whoever you are, you’ve got to work hard during the week. That’s the platform, you work hard Monday to Friday to give yourself the best opportunity to start on a Saturday and take your chance.

“You know Jarrad was a Rolls-Royce last year and we’ve got another clean sheet here.

“This is my eighth season as an Everton player. All the fans ask for is dedication and hard work, win or lose.

“They want you to put the shirt on with pride and passion and give 100% for the badge, that’s all they ask for. If you give that, they’ll be happy with you.

“I think that’s why I get on with the fans so well because of how much I wear the shirt with pride and the passion I give them.”