Jordan Pickford: A modern man at the heart of 'England's DNA'

Goalkeeping has never been as modern, and modern goalkeepers have never been as valuable as they are right now. This summer Liverpool spent £67m on Alisson while Chelsea cashed out even more, £71m, on Kepa Arrizabalaga. There is now a clear template for the goalkeepers teams want if they have any real hope of success.

And fitting that template almost as well as any other goalkeeper in the Premier League is Jordan Pickford, of Everton and England. For too long English keepers have been behind the evolutionary process, but now they have one at the forefront of it.

Joe Hart, remember, was cast aside by Pep Guardiola because he could not pass the ball. Pickford, who replaced Hart as England keeper for the World Cup, has proven that he is comfortable with it at his feet, able to build up from the back, start attacks or kick long and with precision. He is quick off his line, allowing his team to defend further up the pitch, and at 24 years old he should be the England keeper for the next few tournaments to come.

So it was fascinating to hear Pickford speaking about the next generation of goalkeepers at St George’s Park, how important it is to play out from the back, when to pick your moments, and how Pickford himself became so good at it. “The quality of goalkeepers is very good,” Pickford said. “You have to be good at using your feet. It's something I'm good at, something I will keep practising. The new manager at Everton, [Marco] Silva, is big on it as well, playing out.”

The fact that Pickford himself has become so good with his feet – the best English goalkeeper ever at this aspect – is a testament to the modern coaching methods, both at the Sunderland academy and in the England youth set-up. “When you’re younger you’re playing on smaller pitches, aren’t you,” Pickford said. “When I was at Sunderland I was always involved in the little passing drills, so when you're a kid you're growing up into that habit.”

Yes, Pickford spent years on loan in the Conference as a teenager, playing for Darlington and Alfreton Town, where he could not play the ball out in the same way. “I did a lot of lower league, and in lower league you're not going to be playing out from the back, you're going to hit it long and try to get the second ball.”

But Pickford was also playing for England from under-16 level onwards, right at the start of the era of ‘England DNA’. He was one of the first English goalkeepers to be taught to play like this, or at least one of the first successes. “Being through the England set-up since I was a young lad, that [playing out] was always the style of football. With England, that was always the big thing.”

Pickford even remembers Gareth Southgate attending the Under-17 European Championship in Serbia in 2011, where he and Raheem Sterling played. “I think the gaffer has been in the system and I remember seeing him at the Under-17s Euros, he was there watching the game,” he said. “So it's always been part of the England way for me.”

The next generation of keepers, born in the late 1990s and early 2000s, will be even more versed in this than Pickford is. “In development [football] they’re playing out from the back,” he says. “The way the academies work now, the Under-23 games they play out a lot from the back. It’s the nature of the academy set-up now. The young generation coming up are going to be learning that, no matter what.”

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But when Pickford talks about this side of the game, he does not keep emphasising the technical aspect of control and kicking, but “decision making” and “game management”. Knowing when and where to kick, when to keep the ball, and when to take on opposition attackers: “It's all about decision-making, doing it at the right times, and I never put myself in too much risk.”

Asked about Alisson’s famous failed Cruyff turn last week, Pickford said he hoped that he would not do the same, but there was a hint of sympathy for goalkeeping mistakes, wherever they happen. “I try not to [do tricks] because I don’t want to be caught with it,” Pickford said. “It’s a risk. If it comes off it looks good, but if it doesn’t…”

Pickford likes the ball at his feet, but knows his limitations. “For me, I’m going to try not to put myself in that position to make those mistakes,” he said. “It’s the timing of the game. You don’t want to get too comfortable if you’re wining and start trying to be a number 10. For me, if it’s on to do I’ll do it, and if it’s not we’ll manage the game. That’s where I learn more. The more games you play the more game management you learn.”

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The key, as Alisson must know, is not to make the same mistake twice. “Mistakes will happen, and it’s about not making the next one,” Pickford said. “It’s all about managing the game and not making it again in the same game I’d say. It’s going to happen. Look at Ederson at Man City, Guardiola puts a lot of faith in him doing it. Look at him a few weeks ago getting the assist for Aguero.”

But sometimes keepers have to go long. “It’s what works at the right time” Pickford said. “You don’t have to play out every time. You might’ve had a spell of five minutes where you’ve been under a lot of pressure, and you need to calm the game down. And the last thing you want to do if a team’s pressing you is you playing out, they win it, the crowd’s going up. It’s about it getting the right balance.”

Ultimately Pickford knows what all goalkeepers do, which is that anything they get wrong will be blown up unlike any other player on the pitch. And that is as true in this era as any other. “Mistakes happen all over the pitch,” he says. “A goalkeeper’s mistakes are always crucial ones, or get talked about a lot.”