Marco Silva: All Everton players must improve to halt poor run, not just Jordan Pickford
Marco Silva refused to single out recent blunders by goalkeeper Jordan Pickford as he said his whole Everton side needed to show more “quality and personality” to halt their recent poor run of results against Burnley on Boxing Day.
England’s No 1 got himself in a muddle with defender Kurt Zouma for Tottenham’s first goal before the visitors ran riot in a 6-2 humbling at Goodison Park on Sunday. It was the third time Pickford had made a significant error leading to a goal in the Premier League this season.
Silva said he accepted the mistake was a “key moment in the match because the team was really good, was competing, was there”.
He added: “But it’s not just because we made a mistake, one of our players made a mistake, because even then everything should not change like the way it did during the match because we have to show personality, we have to show character.
“I’m not saying we didn’t show that but as a team we didn’t do enough to keep fighting for a different result. What we will do with Jordan we will do with the others to change the situation as a team.”
Pickford was extremely fortunate to escape punishment for a rash challenge on Alli that led to his England team-mate’s departure at half-time with a hamstring injury. Alli had been given offside when the keeper committed the foul.
Everton now have a run of matches against teams outside the top six to halt a run of form that has so far left them winless throughout December.
“It’s a bad run, I’ve no doubt,” Silva said of recent results. “We had the good run before. In seven games, we just lost against Man Utd and we achieved very good points for us, but now it’s a bad run. It’s clear you have to face it with work, with quality as well and personality to change the results for us. It will be a tough match, a really tough match, to play against Burnley and we have to be really strong as a team, together, to achieve a good result.”
The manager said it was too early to say whether Andre Gomes will be fit after the on-loan midfielder suffered a knee strain in the first half against Spurs. Idrissa Gueye is nearing fitness, however.
