Jordan Pickford had an off night in goal for England (Image: Getty)
Roy Keane reignited his long-standing criticism of Jordan Pickford after England’s shock 2-1 defeat to Greece. The Three Lions were downed by a double from Vangelis Pavlidis, who scored a 94th-minute winner after Jude Bellingham thought he’d rescued a point late on in the Nations League clash.
Pickford put in an uncharacteristically poor performance in goal for Lee Carsley’s third game as interim boss, having been ever-reliable during Gareth Southgate’s tenure. The 30-year-old has had the No.1 shirt locked down for the best part of seven years.
Keane has always been unconvinced by the Everton shot-stopper. His most scathing comment came in May 2023 following a 3-0 defeat to Manchester City at Goodison Park, giving a brutal two-word response after co-pundit Micah Richards labelled him a “top keeper”, declaring: “He’s not.”
"Pickford for the goal… my goodness. He looks so small in there. There is no spring, he's not anticipating. Micah said before the game he's a top keeper. He's not,” Keane slammed.
He first questioned Pickford’s abilities long before that. In March 2020, the Toffees drew 1-1 with United, and Keane felt their goalie was to blame for Bruno Fernandes’ goal.
Roy Keane made his feelings on Pickford clear once again (Image: Getty)
He said: "When I hear that, when people say the ball is moving, of course the ball is going to move when someone kicks it. The bottom line with Pickford, I’m not joking. I don't need to see your stats, I know he's [Pickford] not a good goalkeeper.
“We said it before the game, he is not up to it. We spoke before the game about Everton making progress as a football club, I don't care, he is not a good goalkeeper."
The following March, Keane went so far as to suggest England would never triumph at a major tournament with him in-between the sticks. He argued: “I wouldn’t trust Pickford, to go and win a big tournament. His form at club level doesn’t suggest that. He’s got a mistake in him. Not for me…
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“[Nick] Pope has a good temperament. I look at Pickford sometimes and his head looks all over the place. I go back to when Joe Hart was in goal [for England] and he seemed too lively; too giddy in the tunnel.”
Pickford would go on to have a stellar Euro 2020 that summer, although his five clean sheets still didn’t escape him from Keane’s sharp tongue. The Irishman reckoned he was “really sloppy” for Mikkel Damsgaaard’s free-kick goal in the semi-final against Denmark.
He also thought he should’ve done better as England crashed out of the 2022 World Cup in a 2-1 quarter-final defeat to France, who took the lead through Aurelien Tchouameni’s long-range strike. “It’s a brilliant strike,” Keane told ITV. “[But could the] keeper could he do better? Yeah, I think so.”
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There was a rare moment of praise for Pickford in March 2022 after he made a fine stop to help England beat Switzerland. “I wouldn’t say I’m his biggest fan,” Keane admitted. “But it’s a brilliant save… Gareth [Southgate] has got great faith in him, that’s the most important person. He picks them and looks at them over the last few years. He’s got a lot of credit in the bank and Gareth feels he’s never let him down.”
But that didn’t last long, with Keane’s question marks remaining ahead of Euro 2024. Speaking last December, he said: “I still have issues with the goalkeeper. I do, I can’t shake that off for England. In terms of just the last bit, I just [I’m not sure], that’s just my question mark.”
And Pickford’s hesitation against the Greeks, which forced Levi Colwill to make a superb goalline clearance to spare his blushes, gave Keane an excuse to criticise him again. "It sends a message about concentration levels, and that spreads throughout the team. Again there's a lack of urgency,” he slammed.
Pickford has largely eliminated errors from his game for club and country (Image: Getty)
"What's he [Pickford] doing?! Do it quickly. Brilliant defending, very unlucky by Greece but a lovely message for defenders - never give it up. He [Colwill] chased it and did brilliant. But not a good message from Pickford to send."
ITV colleague Ian Wright added: “Here again, he looks all over the place. He gets caught in no man's land. It's very jittery, Pickford.” To which Keane, 53, added: "That will always be there with Pickford. He's not going to change now."
Despite the repeated comments, Pickford has never addressed Keane directly. He did however explain where he stands on pundits in general back in September 2021, telling reporters: “Let them talk! It’s noise. And I feel like I’ve got my job to do, they’ve got their job to do.
“I’m focused on doing everything I can on the training pitch like always, giving 100 per cent, always improving, trying to get that one or two percent better each time, keeping clean sheets. I think if they are still making noise then it’s a good thing really. For me, it’s just performing on the pitch and not getting distracted by any of that.”
