Arsenal legend and popular pundit Ian Wright has revealed why Jordan Pickford struggled against Newcastle.
The Everton keeper made some costly errors during the game and Newcastle took advantage of it.
Wright believes that the reaction from the home fans got to the England international and he lost his composure.
Newcastle fans jeered him throughout the game because of his history with Sunderland.
Wright claims that Pickford should have kept his calm and focused on the game.
He said: “I thought Pickford got too wrapped up in the whole Sunderland-Newcastle emotion of the day. He should have been focussing on his game more I thought. How he didn’t get sent off for the incident with Rondon in my opinion was terrible. That is a deliberate attempt to take the man out and it’s poor. For me it is a sending off and he is very fortunate to be on the pitch to save the penalty. It was happening all day with him and the Newcastle fans, the gestures, and he should have just been focussing more on the game. He made mistakes in the game and Newcastle took advantage of it.”
This will be an interesting learning curve for the young goalkeeper. He will need to deal with the stick from the fans better in future.
The fans were extremely disappointed with the way he let his team down at the weekend and that cannot happen again if he wants to succeed at the top level.
Pickford has had his fair share of criticism this season. His howler in the Merseyside derby earlier in the season was unacceptable as well.
It will be interesting to see if he can work on his flaws and finish the season strongly now.
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