D
Deleted member 1486
Guest
We're currently averaging two articles a day on The Times website. Crazy times we live in 
------------------------------
Enda Stevens has survived a few setbacks â even playing in defence with me
The full back is thriving under the Sheffield United manager who rejected him at League Two Northampton Town, writes former team-mate Gregor Robertson
November 2014. Enda Stevens is approaching the end of a month-long loan at Northampton Town from Aston Villa. The Cobblers are 18th in Sky Bet League Two. The Irish left back has lost all four games in which he has played (three, as it happens, in the same back four as this writer). Training takes place at a veterinary college on pitches with grass so long that they would have been better suited for grazing livestock. And, on the morning in question, another left back, Tom Newey, has just been signed. âI thought, âSomethingâs not quite right here,ââ Stevens recalls. âSo I went to see the gaffer after training, and he wasnât even renewing my loan. I remember driving back to Birmingham, thinking, âWhere do you go next after here?ââ
The âgafferâ, of course, was Chris Wilder, now the Sheffield United manager with whom Stevens was reunited at Bramall Lane in 2017. The 29-year-old defender has been a virtual ever-present during the clubâs rise from the Championship to fifth in the Premier League. Wilderâs squad is littered with stories of rejuvenation and yet, while Stevens admits he was coasting back in 2014, his advancement under the manager who cut him loose, was responsible for his lowest ebb, has been remarkable. Playing under Wilder âyouâll never be comfortableâ, Stevens says.
Those defeats by Burton Albion, Cheltenham Town, Oxford United and Luton Town were discomforting for Stevens and Wilder. After the 1-0 defeat at Kenilworth Road, Wilder slammed the dressing-room door shut and delivered a series of coruscating individual appraisals, one by one, lasting almost an hour. Damning grades were administered. No punches pulled. The same home truths are still delivered when necessary today. âHe takes it personally if he doesnât see us doing what reflects him on the pitch,â Stevens says. âHeâs a results-based man, but he wants to see his team really playing well, representing him.â
Stevens is a key cog in Unitedâs finely calibrated system, often drifting infield to allow Jack OâConnell, the left-sided centre back, to overlap, linking play adroitly, creating the overloads in wide areas that opponents have toiled to combat. This season he ranks among the top five Premier League defenders for chances created (27) and crosses from open play (88), while Ricardo Pereira is the only defender to have completed more dribbles.
âWeâve got strong partnerships all over the pitch,â Stevens says. âThe left side, with me, Jack [OâConnell] and Flecky [John Fleck, the midfielder], we all know each otherâs strengths and weaknesses. But weâve worked on it. Itâs not like itâs just nailed up on a piece of paper and we go out and play. We work on it every day in training.â
Every session, Stevens says, is aimed to âinterpret how we should play on a Saturdayâ. Wilder drives standards relentlessly. Alan Knill, his assistant, leads the majority of training. âWeâll often do a game with four goals [in each corner], on a big area, which is about working on switching play: if itâs not on to score in one goal, switch out to attack the other one, where the space is. Some of the lads joke that Knilly must practise set pieces and stuff in his back garden, because he comes up with some mad ideas. Every week thereâs fresh ideas. But it keeps the lads on their toes.
âEvery Thursday weâll do video analysis on the opposition, and then weâll go out and do shape against the [youth team]. There was one week recently where they absolutely popped us off the park. They were unbelievable, we couldnât get the ball off them. The gaffer was raging. But we never set up not to lose, if you know what I mean.
<on the website there's a graphic here showing Enda has completed the second most dribbles in the Premier league after Andreas Pereira>
âPeople keep going on about us being a surprise package, but it was the same our first year in the Championship. Weâve played with each other for so long. Weâre not going to dominate every game in the Premier League, thatâs impossible. But we stay in games and we know weâll always create chances to score. Weâve got quality in the team.â
Stevens first came to prominence during Europa League adventures with Shamrock Rovers in 2010 and 2011: Juventus at the Stadio delle Alpi, Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane. In 2012, the Dubliner signed for Villa under Alex McLeish and made his full Premier League debut in a 3-2 defeat by Manchester United, the club he supported as a boy. A 5-0 humbling against Manchester City and a goalless draw against Arsenal were a baptism of fire but âyou get the taste for it, you feel like youâre comfortableâ, he says.
âThen I got injured, I probably didnât look after myself or my body right. I was going out drinking, things like that. Not living my life right away from the training ground.
âAt Villa, I never appreciated what I had until it was gone. It was a great environment, but the environment in the dressing room wasnât. As a team we werenât going through the best of times. It bred negativity and you end up becoming negative yourself.â
Loans to Notts County and Doncaster Rovers preceded the nadir at Northampton and when no contract offer from Villa was forthcoming, a lifeline came in 2015 from Portsmouth. In Paul Cook, Stevens found a manager who imposed âdiscipline, stripped away egosâ. Players had to sign in and out of training every day. No more coasting, some much-needed individual coaching. âHe backed me,â Stevens says of Cook.
<another graphic... 4th most chances created>
When Wilder cut Stevens loose at Northampton, they had âchatted for about an hourâ, Stevens recalls. âI asked him for some advice, what I should do. He said I had to get out of Villa, start playing regular football.â By the time Portsmouth won the League Two title in 2017, he had played 99 games in two seasons.
The call from Wilder, who had just led United into the Championship, was a shock, but both men knew that Stevens was fitter, stronger, more mature. âI didnât expect to ever get a move back to the Premier League,â says Stevens who, after making his Ireland debut in 2018, is now one of the first names on Mick McCarthyâs team sheet. âBut when I came to Sheffield United, saw how good the team was. I had the sense there was a big opportunity.â
Growing up in Drimnagh, Dublin, Stevens is grateful for the support of his mum, Mary, a civil servant, and dad, Gerry, who worked for Colgate-Palmolive, both of whom ferried him to training and games, first for Castle Celtic, aged six, and later for Cherry Orchard, while having to look after his two older sisters, Sinead and Elaine. There were trials at Hull City, Nottingham Forest and Plymouth Argyle, among others, but he says: âI struggled, I was a real home bird, quite shy and introverted. I hated it. I can see why it never worked out for me as a kid.â
<graphic... 4th in crosses from open play>
The family were struck with sorrow when Elaine died days after Stevensâs move to Villa on deadline day in August 2012. âShe had Friedreichâs ataxia,â Stevens says. âShe was a normal kid, but it attacks your nervous system, you lose your balance, then she ended up in a wheelchair from 12 years of age. Then the body slowly shuts down, attacks the eyes, then the speech. It was tough ⊠Iâd got the move to Villa, and she was a big Dublin fan in Gaelic football. They won the All-Ireland that September, so it was a fitting way for her to go.â Stevens and his fiancĂ©e, Sinead, had their first child last summer, Bella Elaine.
The Premier League remained a distant dream when, at 17, Stevens enrolled on a football scholarship with University College Dublin. âI think UCD paid me about âŹ50 a week, and then I used to deliver pizzas for Four Star Pizzas,â he says with a smile. Next was a season with St Patrickâs Athletic, then on to Shamrock Rovers, led by Michael OâNeill, now the Stoke City manager, where there were two League of Ireland titles, a Setanta Cup and those European adventures.
The way United are going, there could yet be more European escapades. âThe gafferâs big on saying we donât want to rest on our laurels; we want to kick on, go again, keep getting better,â Stevens says.
No more coasting. âYouâll always be on your toes at this football club.â
---------------------------------
Wanted: an English goalkeeper who can use hands and feet
Gloves are up for grabs but Gareth Southgate needs a No 1 who will fit his system, writes James Gheerbrant
As a moment of collective national exorcism and brave-new-dawn symbolism, Englandâs penalty shoot-out victory over Colombia at the most recent World Cup will take some beating. But as Gareth Southgateâs team prepare for Euro 2020, the heroes of Moscow find their prospects of writing the next chapter of Englandâs tournament history imperilled. Eric Dier has had a difficult couple of seasons at Tottenham Hotspur and was left out of Englandâs past two squads. Kieran Trippier has rebounded well at Atletico Madrid this season but he too is under threat given the depth of Englandâs options at right back. Now Jordan Pickford, whose save from Carlos Baccaâs spot kick was one of the indelible images of that night in July 2018, finds himself encircled by doubt.
The Everton keeperâs shot-stopping has come under scrutiny this season, culminating in a basic error during Saturdayâs game against Crystal Palace, when he allowed Christian Bentekeâs shot to go underneath his body. It hardly helped Pickfordâs cause that Dean Henderson, whose stock has risen sharply after his excellent glovework for Sheffield United, produced one of his best saves of the season on Sunday, flying to his left to keep out Ryan Fraserâs volley. With only four months to go before Englandâs opening game of Euro 2020 against Croatia, the No 1 jersey suddenly feels up for grabs.
Pickford, 25, has suggested that he is being unfairly singled out because of the magnetic flak-attracting properties of the England shirt. âEveryone hates you, for some reason, thatâs part of being an England player,â he said after the Palace game. âThe press and everybody . . . just want to come for England players.â But the criticism of his shot-stopping is not entirely without foundation. Of all the keepers to have played at least 600 minutes in the Premier League this season, Pickfordâs save percentage of 62.4 per cent is the third-lowest, in front of only Angus Gunn and Kepa Arrizabalaga. Hendersonâs is 75 per cent, which ranks third behind Alisson and Hugo Lloris.
Of course, this does not take into account the relative quality of the shots a goalkeeper faces. Optaâs âgoals saved above expectationâ metric, which scrutinises the difficulty and goalmouth location of on-target shots, gives a more nuanced picture. But evaluated by this measure, Pickfordâs season remains underwhelming: he has conceded 1.6 goals more than the average goalkeeper would be expected to. Henderson excels by this metric, with 6.2 goals saved above expectation, as does another goalkeeper who does not appear to be in the England picture. Watfordâs Ben Foster has made saves worth 6.9 goals this season, but he is 36 and has not played for his country since retiring from international football in 2014.
Pickfordâs temperament has also been called into question. At his best, he is an expressive performer but sometimes, his overcaffeinated demeanour can be a distraction, radiating jittery agitation rather than the desired sense of calm assurance. There is an unwelcome England precedent in the case of Joe Hart, whose displays of chest-beating machismo in the tunnel were correctly adjudged to be better suited to the silverback enclosure than a modern international football squad.
The Everton goalkeeperâs hyperactive energy can be an asset in penalty situations. Not only did Pickford thwart Bacca in the World Cup and Josip Drmic in last yearâs Nations League third-place play-off against Switzerland, he has also saved a respectable 21.6 per cent of the penalties he has faced in normal time for club and country. But again, Hendersonâs record is superior: his penalty-save percentage of 47 per cent is exceptional.
However, it is not quite as simple as just selecting the best shot-stopper. These days, a goalkeeper is part of a teamâs attacking machinery, and in Southgateâs progressive side, whoever wears the gloves cannot simply punt the ball long with no thought for retaining possession. Faultless short distribution and accurate long passing are de rigueur, and here Pickford excels. He has completed every single one of his 243 short passes this season, while his percentage of passes played short, 29.7 per cent, is high, befitting Englandâs build-from-the-back style. His long kicks, often hit with a perfectly executed âside-volleyâ technique, are also a strength. Pickfordâs overall pass completion of 56.3 per cent is middling by Premier League standards, but he is the best distributor available to Southgate.
Hendersonâs Sheffield United team play a completely different style â 92.7 per cent of his passes go long, and often he is not trying to pick out a specific team-mate. That is reflected in a pass completion rate of 34.3 per cent, the lowest of any Premier League goalkeeper. You could argue that Henderson, the 22-year-old on loan from Manchester United, is only following Chris Wilderâs orders and could be a better passer given the chance; he has played in a more possession-based system in Englandâs youth teams. However, transplanting the Cumbrian into Southgateâs team is not quite the no-brainer it appears.
Why does the passing ability of Henderson and Pickford even matter? Surely the England goalkeeperâs job is to save shots? After all, Gordon Banks, Peter Shilton and David Seaman were not exactly known for their passing game. However, the sport has changed massively over the past decade. In 2009-10, Premier League goalkeepers completed 42.4 per cent of their passes; this season that figure is 59.9 per cent.
As football has evolved, so has the England team. Southgate wants his side to pass their way through the press and retain possession, rather than inviting pressure by losing the ball by regularly lumping it upfield. He is likely to select two centre backs who are very proficient with the ball at their feet, whomever he picks from Joe Gomez, John Stones and Harry Maguire, so it does not make sense for Englandâs goalkeeper to keep launching the ball over their heads.
One intriguing contender who offers some of Hendersonâs shot-stopping ability, while being more comfortable distributing the ball, might be the England Under-21 goalkeeper, Bournemouthâs Aaron Ramsdale, 21. His pass completion rate this season, 54.8 per cent, is almost as good as Pickfordâs, and he plays 36 per cent of his passes short. His shot-stopping statistics are not exceptional like Hendersonâs, but they are better than Pickfordâs: a save percentage of 69.9 per cent, and only 0.7 goals conceded below expectation. Nick Pope, the 27-year-old Burnley goalkeeper, has featured in recent squads but given that his passing accuracy and save statistics are well below average this season, it is not clear that he should be in the frame.
Then there is the wild-card option. Fraser Forster has been in the England wilderness since 2017, and appeared to suffer a terminal dip in form at Southampton. But having been loaned to Celtic this season, the 31-year-old has rediscovered his mojo. Opta does not record advanced statistics for the Scottish Premiership, but his save percentage this season of 76.4 per cent is excellent, while a career penalty-save record of 38.9 per cent adds to his allure as an option.
Southgate faces a tough choice â one that could define Englandâs quest for a second tournament title. Wanted: a goalkeeper who can not only keep Englandâs opponents at bay, but also fit the system they have built.
How the English goalkeeper compare
Dean Henderson
Sheffield United
Save percentage 75%
Pass accuracy 34%
Passes short 7%
Aaron Ramsdale
Bournemouth
Save percentage 70%
Pass accuracy 55%
Passes short 36%
Jordan Pickford
Everton
Save percentage 62%
Pass accuracy 56%
Passes short 30%
(at the end of the article is a poll: "Who should be England no1?" Pickford, Pope, Henderson, Ramsdale or Forster. Henderson is the runaway leader with 50% of votes).
------------------------------
Enda Stevens has survived a few setbacks â even playing in defence with me
The full back is thriving under the Sheffield United manager who rejected him at League Two Northampton Town, writes former team-mate Gregor Robertson
November 2014. Enda Stevens is approaching the end of a month-long loan at Northampton Town from Aston Villa. The Cobblers are 18th in Sky Bet League Two. The Irish left back has lost all four games in which he has played (three, as it happens, in the same back four as this writer). Training takes place at a veterinary college on pitches with grass so long that they would have been better suited for grazing livestock. And, on the morning in question, another left back, Tom Newey, has just been signed. âI thought, âSomethingâs not quite right here,ââ Stevens recalls. âSo I went to see the gaffer after training, and he wasnât even renewing my loan. I remember driving back to Birmingham, thinking, âWhere do you go next after here?ââ
The âgafferâ, of course, was Chris Wilder, now the Sheffield United manager with whom Stevens was reunited at Bramall Lane in 2017. The 29-year-old defender has been a virtual ever-present during the clubâs rise from the Championship to fifth in the Premier League. Wilderâs squad is littered with stories of rejuvenation and yet, while Stevens admits he was coasting back in 2014, his advancement under the manager who cut him loose, was responsible for his lowest ebb, has been remarkable. Playing under Wilder âyouâll never be comfortableâ, Stevens says.
Those defeats by Burton Albion, Cheltenham Town, Oxford United and Luton Town were discomforting for Stevens and Wilder. After the 1-0 defeat at Kenilworth Road, Wilder slammed the dressing-room door shut and delivered a series of coruscating individual appraisals, one by one, lasting almost an hour. Damning grades were administered. No punches pulled. The same home truths are still delivered when necessary today. âHe takes it personally if he doesnât see us doing what reflects him on the pitch,â Stevens says. âHeâs a results-based man, but he wants to see his team really playing well, representing him.â
Stevens is a key cog in Unitedâs finely calibrated system, often drifting infield to allow Jack OâConnell, the left-sided centre back, to overlap, linking play adroitly, creating the overloads in wide areas that opponents have toiled to combat. This season he ranks among the top five Premier League defenders for chances created (27) and crosses from open play (88), while Ricardo Pereira is the only defender to have completed more dribbles.
âWeâve got strong partnerships all over the pitch,â Stevens says. âThe left side, with me, Jack [OâConnell] and Flecky [John Fleck, the midfielder], we all know each otherâs strengths and weaknesses. But weâve worked on it. Itâs not like itâs just nailed up on a piece of paper and we go out and play. We work on it every day in training.â
Every session, Stevens says, is aimed to âinterpret how we should play on a Saturdayâ. Wilder drives standards relentlessly. Alan Knill, his assistant, leads the majority of training. âWeâll often do a game with four goals [in each corner], on a big area, which is about working on switching play: if itâs not on to score in one goal, switch out to attack the other one, where the space is. Some of the lads joke that Knilly must practise set pieces and stuff in his back garden, because he comes up with some mad ideas. Every week thereâs fresh ideas. But it keeps the lads on their toes.
âEvery Thursday weâll do video analysis on the opposition, and then weâll go out and do shape against the [youth team]. There was one week recently where they absolutely popped us off the park. They were unbelievable, we couldnât get the ball off them. The gaffer was raging. But we never set up not to lose, if you know what I mean.
<on the website there's a graphic here showing Enda has completed the second most dribbles in the Premier league after Andreas Pereira>
âPeople keep going on about us being a surprise package, but it was the same our first year in the Championship. Weâve played with each other for so long. Weâre not going to dominate every game in the Premier League, thatâs impossible. But we stay in games and we know weâll always create chances to score. Weâve got quality in the team.â
Stevens first came to prominence during Europa League adventures with Shamrock Rovers in 2010 and 2011: Juventus at the Stadio delle Alpi, Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane. In 2012, the Dubliner signed for Villa under Alex McLeish and made his full Premier League debut in a 3-2 defeat by Manchester United, the club he supported as a boy. A 5-0 humbling against Manchester City and a goalless draw against Arsenal were a baptism of fire but âyou get the taste for it, you feel like youâre comfortableâ, he says.
âThen I got injured, I probably didnât look after myself or my body right. I was going out drinking, things like that. Not living my life right away from the training ground.
âAt Villa, I never appreciated what I had until it was gone. It was a great environment, but the environment in the dressing room wasnât. As a team we werenât going through the best of times. It bred negativity and you end up becoming negative yourself.â
Loans to Notts County and Doncaster Rovers preceded the nadir at Northampton and when no contract offer from Villa was forthcoming, a lifeline came in 2015 from Portsmouth. In Paul Cook, Stevens found a manager who imposed âdiscipline, stripped away egosâ. Players had to sign in and out of training every day. No more coasting, some much-needed individual coaching. âHe backed me,â Stevens says of Cook.
<another graphic... 4th most chances created>
When Wilder cut Stevens loose at Northampton, they had âchatted for about an hourâ, Stevens recalls. âI asked him for some advice, what I should do. He said I had to get out of Villa, start playing regular football.â By the time Portsmouth won the League Two title in 2017, he had played 99 games in two seasons.
The call from Wilder, who had just led United into the Championship, was a shock, but both men knew that Stevens was fitter, stronger, more mature. âI didnât expect to ever get a move back to the Premier League,â says Stevens who, after making his Ireland debut in 2018, is now one of the first names on Mick McCarthyâs team sheet. âBut when I came to Sheffield United, saw how good the team was. I had the sense there was a big opportunity.â
Growing up in Drimnagh, Dublin, Stevens is grateful for the support of his mum, Mary, a civil servant, and dad, Gerry, who worked for Colgate-Palmolive, both of whom ferried him to training and games, first for Castle Celtic, aged six, and later for Cherry Orchard, while having to look after his two older sisters, Sinead and Elaine. There were trials at Hull City, Nottingham Forest and Plymouth Argyle, among others, but he says: âI struggled, I was a real home bird, quite shy and introverted. I hated it. I can see why it never worked out for me as a kid.â
<graphic... 4th in crosses from open play>
The family were struck with sorrow when Elaine died days after Stevensâs move to Villa on deadline day in August 2012. âShe had Friedreichâs ataxia,â Stevens says. âShe was a normal kid, but it attacks your nervous system, you lose your balance, then she ended up in a wheelchair from 12 years of age. Then the body slowly shuts down, attacks the eyes, then the speech. It was tough ⊠Iâd got the move to Villa, and she was a big Dublin fan in Gaelic football. They won the All-Ireland that September, so it was a fitting way for her to go.â Stevens and his fiancĂ©e, Sinead, had their first child last summer, Bella Elaine.
The Premier League remained a distant dream when, at 17, Stevens enrolled on a football scholarship with University College Dublin. âI think UCD paid me about âŹ50 a week, and then I used to deliver pizzas for Four Star Pizzas,â he says with a smile. Next was a season with St Patrickâs Athletic, then on to Shamrock Rovers, led by Michael OâNeill, now the Stoke City manager, where there were two League of Ireland titles, a Setanta Cup and those European adventures.
The way United are going, there could yet be more European escapades. âThe gafferâs big on saying we donât want to rest on our laurels; we want to kick on, go again, keep getting better,â Stevens says.
No more coasting. âYouâll always be on your toes at this football club.â
---------------------------------
Wanted: an English goalkeeper who can use hands and feet
Gloves are up for grabs but Gareth Southgate needs a No 1 who will fit his system, writes James Gheerbrant
As a moment of collective national exorcism and brave-new-dawn symbolism, Englandâs penalty shoot-out victory over Colombia at the most recent World Cup will take some beating. But as Gareth Southgateâs team prepare for Euro 2020, the heroes of Moscow find their prospects of writing the next chapter of Englandâs tournament history imperilled. Eric Dier has had a difficult couple of seasons at Tottenham Hotspur and was left out of Englandâs past two squads. Kieran Trippier has rebounded well at Atletico Madrid this season but he too is under threat given the depth of Englandâs options at right back. Now Jordan Pickford, whose save from Carlos Baccaâs spot kick was one of the indelible images of that night in July 2018, finds himself encircled by doubt.
The Everton keeperâs shot-stopping has come under scrutiny this season, culminating in a basic error during Saturdayâs game against Crystal Palace, when he allowed Christian Bentekeâs shot to go underneath his body. It hardly helped Pickfordâs cause that Dean Henderson, whose stock has risen sharply after his excellent glovework for Sheffield United, produced one of his best saves of the season on Sunday, flying to his left to keep out Ryan Fraserâs volley. With only four months to go before Englandâs opening game of Euro 2020 against Croatia, the No 1 jersey suddenly feels up for grabs.
Pickford, 25, has suggested that he is being unfairly singled out because of the magnetic flak-attracting properties of the England shirt. âEveryone hates you, for some reason, thatâs part of being an England player,â he said after the Palace game. âThe press and everybody . . . just want to come for England players.â But the criticism of his shot-stopping is not entirely without foundation. Of all the keepers to have played at least 600 minutes in the Premier League this season, Pickfordâs save percentage of 62.4 per cent is the third-lowest, in front of only Angus Gunn and Kepa Arrizabalaga. Hendersonâs is 75 per cent, which ranks third behind Alisson and Hugo Lloris.
Of course, this does not take into account the relative quality of the shots a goalkeeper faces. Optaâs âgoals saved above expectationâ metric, which scrutinises the difficulty and goalmouth location of on-target shots, gives a more nuanced picture. But evaluated by this measure, Pickfordâs season remains underwhelming: he has conceded 1.6 goals more than the average goalkeeper would be expected to. Henderson excels by this metric, with 6.2 goals saved above expectation, as does another goalkeeper who does not appear to be in the England picture. Watfordâs Ben Foster has made saves worth 6.9 goals this season, but he is 36 and has not played for his country since retiring from international football in 2014.
Pickfordâs temperament has also been called into question. At his best, he is an expressive performer but sometimes, his overcaffeinated demeanour can be a distraction, radiating jittery agitation rather than the desired sense of calm assurance. There is an unwelcome England precedent in the case of Joe Hart, whose displays of chest-beating machismo in the tunnel were correctly adjudged to be better suited to the silverback enclosure than a modern international football squad.
The Everton goalkeeperâs hyperactive energy can be an asset in penalty situations. Not only did Pickford thwart Bacca in the World Cup and Josip Drmic in last yearâs Nations League third-place play-off against Switzerland, he has also saved a respectable 21.6 per cent of the penalties he has faced in normal time for club and country. But again, Hendersonâs record is superior: his penalty-save percentage of 47 per cent is exceptional.
However, it is not quite as simple as just selecting the best shot-stopper. These days, a goalkeeper is part of a teamâs attacking machinery, and in Southgateâs progressive side, whoever wears the gloves cannot simply punt the ball long with no thought for retaining possession. Faultless short distribution and accurate long passing are de rigueur, and here Pickford excels. He has completed every single one of his 243 short passes this season, while his percentage of passes played short, 29.7 per cent, is high, befitting Englandâs build-from-the-back style. His long kicks, often hit with a perfectly executed âside-volleyâ technique, are also a strength. Pickfordâs overall pass completion of 56.3 per cent is middling by Premier League standards, but he is the best distributor available to Southgate.
Hendersonâs Sheffield United team play a completely different style â 92.7 per cent of his passes go long, and often he is not trying to pick out a specific team-mate. That is reflected in a pass completion rate of 34.3 per cent, the lowest of any Premier League goalkeeper. You could argue that Henderson, the 22-year-old on loan from Manchester United, is only following Chris Wilderâs orders and could be a better passer given the chance; he has played in a more possession-based system in Englandâs youth teams. However, transplanting the Cumbrian into Southgateâs team is not quite the no-brainer it appears.
Why does the passing ability of Henderson and Pickford even matter? Surely the England goalkeeperâs job is to save shots? After all, Gordon Banks, Peter Shilton and David Seaman were not exactly known for their passing game. However, the sport has changed massively over the past decade. In 2009-10, Premier League goalkeepers completed 42.4 per cent of their passes; this season that figure is 59.9 per cent.
As football has evolved, so has the England team. Southgate wants his side to pass their way through the press and retain possession, rather than inviting pressure by losing the ball by regularly lumping it upfield. He is likely to select two centre backs who are very proficient with the ball at their feet, whomever he picks from Joe Gomez, John Stones and Harry Maguire, so it does not make sense for Englandâs goalkeeper to keep launching the ball over their heads.
One intriguing contender who offers some of Hendersonâs shot-stopping ability, while being more comfortable distributing the ball, might be the England Under-21 goalkeeper, Bournemouthâs Aaron Ramsdale, 21. His pass completion rate this season, 54.8 per cent, is almost as good as Pickfordâs, and he plays 36 per cent of his passes short. His shot-stopping statistics are not exceptional like Hendersonâs, but they are better than Pickfordâs: a save percentage of 69.9 per cent, and only 0.7 goals conceded below expectation. Nick Pope, the 27-year-old Burnley goalkeeper, has featured in recent squads but given that his passing accuracy and save statistics are well below average this season, it is not clear that he should be in the frame.
Then there is the wild-card option. Fraser Forster has been in the England wilderness since 2017, and appeared to suffer a terminal dip in form at Southampton. But having been loaned to Celtic this season, the 31-year-old has rediscovered his mojo. Opta does not record advanced statistics for the Scottish Premiership, but his save percentage this season of 76.4 per cent is excellent, while a career penalty-save record of 38.9 per cent adds to his allure as an option.
Southgate faces a tough choice â one that could define Englandâs quest for a second tournament title. Wanted: a goalkeeper who can not only keep Englandâs opponents at bay, but also fit the system they have built.
How the English goalkeeper compare
Dean Henderson
Sheffield United
Save percentage 75%
Pass accuracy 34%
Passes short 7%
Aaron Ramsdale
Bournemouth
Save percentage 70%
Pass accuracy 55%
Passes short 36%
Jordan Pickford
Everton
Save percentage 62%
Pass accuracy 56%
Passes short 30%
(at the end of the article is a poll: "Who should be England no1?" Pickford, Pope, Henderson, Ramsdale or Forster. Henderson is the runaway leader with 50% of votes).
