Former England international Stuart Pearce believes that national team goalkeeper Jordan Pickford should be among the regular penalty takers for the Three Lions in penalty shootouts.
With England set to travel to Germany for the European Championship finals, Pearce argues that if the team reaches a shootout in the tournament’s knockout stages, Pickford should take on the responsibility of taking one of the penalties. He candidly states, “The stats suggest it, I would put Pickford in the mix as a penalty taker because he’s always been confident from the spot. When I had Joe Hart, his stats in training for taking penalties were up there, so he took our second. It’s not just a gut feeling. Of course, you consider someone like Palmer, who looks calm in taking them for his club, and if he’s not in the starting eleven, you’d think about bringing him on to ensure your strongest takers are on the pitch.”
Pickford is no stranger to taking penalties for England. In the 2019 Nations League shootout against Switzerland, the Everton goalkeeper confidently converted his spot-kick. After the match, Pickford coolly remarked, “Gareth Southgate asked me to take the fifth penalty, and I just said ‘Wow.’ Even though I’m not a regular penalty taker, I was relaxed and confident in my ability.”
Pickford holds the record for the most England appearances by an Everton player, having made his international debut on November 10, 2017, against Germany at Wembley. Since then, he has represented his country 61 times. Heading into this summer’s Euros, Pickford is expected to be the starting goalkeeper, guarding the English goal.
