Gary Neville pointed the finger at Jordan Pickford after the Everton goalkeeper was beaten by Mohamed Salah for Liverpool’s first-half opener in the Merseyside derby on Monday evening. The goal came just moments after James Tarkowski had gone within inches of scoring for the visitors at Anfield with a thumping header that struck the post and rebounded back into play.
Liverpool wasted no time in racing down the other end of the pitch with a devastating counter-attack which saw the ball land at the feet of Salah, who fired home from the edge of the area to give the Reds the advantage before the break. Pickford appeared to be caught in two minds as he raced off his line and was unable to prevent Salah from scoring, with his decision to close down his opponent doing little to help apart from giving the Egyptian forward a near-open goal to aim at.
Neville was quizzed on the incident at half-time and did not mince his words in blaming Pickford when asked if the Everton goalkeeper’s positioning was ‘interesting’, with the former Manchester United defender telling Sky Sports: “It’s not interesting, it’s just bad. I’ve no idea what he’s doing.
“It’s almost as if he doesn’t think the ball is going to end up at Salah’s feet, and that it’s going to end up at the back post. He makes a real mess of it. It’s an open goal, he makes it really easy for Mo Salah.”
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It was a comical blunder from Pickford, who is already an unpopular figure at Anfield after injuring Virgil van Dijk for several months with a reckless challenge at Goodison Park two seasons ago. Jamie Carragher was also quick to question Pickford’s decision-making ability in his role as a co-commentator on Sky Sports after the goal went in, saying: “You have to question the goalkeeper. Where is he going? He’s in no-man’s land!”
Everton hero Leon Osman, also on commentary duties, went on to bemoan the fine margins between his former side taking the lead and falling behind. He added: “Cruel, cruel 20 seconds for Everton.
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“Working that corner kick so effectively last week against Arsenal, so nearly doing it again, but the criminal thing for Everton is to then allow Liverpool, and the pace that Liverpool have on the counter attack in Mo Salah and Darwin Nunez in particular, to find a way through the heart of your defence.
“It’s the first time Everton have really been so far up the pitch to allow themselves to be counter-attacked on, and in doing so, so disjointed.”
The incident killed Everton’s early momentum against Liverpool and ultimately ruined their chances of building on last weekend’s impressive win over Arsenal by taking another three points at the home of their local rivals on Monday. The Reds went on to double their lead just moments into the second half through new January signing Cody Gakpo, who tapped in from close range after a rapid restart from the hosts.
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