Seasons2021-22Everton News
Pickford denied clean-sheet record at the death
Poland 1 - 1 England

After recovering from a poor clearance that so nearly gifted Poland a goal, Jordan Pickford was helpless to stop Szymanski's late header that gave Poland a draw in Warsaw tonight.
And with media articles talking up Pickford's chance to outdo a record for clean sheets held by Gordon Banks since 1966, the Everton goalkeeper came so close to achieving that accolade.
England had done well to control a difficult game and battled hard to secure the lead through a brilliant strike by Harry Kane. But Poland refused to give up and, in added time, that man Lewandowski chipped up a brilliant ball to the far post, too far out for Pickford to intercept, and Szymanski rose well above Walker to power his header beyond Pickford and deny England's 100% record in the group.
Elsewhere, Moise Kean scored 2 goals in Italy's 5-0 win over Lithuania.
Reader Comments (42)
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2 Posted 08/09/2021 at 22:16:46
3 Posted 08/09/2021 at 22:41:23
I also called 20 mins earlier for subs. Saka for Sterling was a no brainer.
But.. it will have little impact on England qualifying.
Moving on to Ireland.. that is a team going nowhere but backwards. Its tuff being an Everton fan but watching Ireland is unbelievably hard.
Great we are blooding youngsters but there was several truly awful performances yesterday. Like Everton of a few seasons ago, defenders being asked to play out from the back look out of their depth. A poor midfield that lacks pace, skill and creativity.
1 pass forward, 2 passes back. They need to realise their strengths and play to them. Mix it up, go long at times, get the ball into the danger areas and stop messing around with the 'hot potato' on the edge of your own box.
Rant over.
4 Posted 08/09/2021 at 23:20:15
5 Posted 08/09/2021 at 23:28:46
6 Posted 08/09/2021 at 23:51:59
7 Posted 09/09/2021 at 01:26:42
8 Posted 09/09/2021 at 01:54:01
Move on to Lescott and Barmby getting their ears bent by big time players when in the Blightey camp. Lineker and Rooney to a degree the same.
This all stems from our inferiority complex that, if we have players good enough to get capped, surely we are just a stepping stone... (Thanks to the Moyes and Kenwright double act.)
9 Posted 09/09/2021 at 05:23:00
By making an error from which he recovers with with no consequence, he caused England, who were winning by the equivalent of 5-0 at the time, to lose catastrophically 1-1 around 10 minutes after the error because the England defence was too tired to stop a Polish attack.
Pickfords error, which caused the 9-0 defeat, which was recorded as 1-1, caused Sterling to play with his usual lack of intelligence, and made Kane miss all but one of the chances which came his way.
Pickford also made Southgate fail to take off players who were completely knackered and to repeat all the errors against Italy which meant that three incompetent players missed penalties.
Pickford should never play for England again. England should reinstate Joe Hart who can regularly let 5 in for a well-fought 1-1 win on every occasion.
10 Posted 09/09/2021 at 06:47:25
11 Posted 09/09/2021 at 07:52:48
An enjoyable hard-fought game, but one-nil is never enough. If you don't get tight the chances are you are going to get punished, which is exactly what happened to this very good England team. They played some good football but didn't get enough men running into the area, looking to get on the end of the cross.
12 Posted 09/09/2021 at 08:18:56
Incidentally, early in second half, the ITV expert commentary team were busy telling us that England would take advantage as Poland tired toward the end of the game!
13 Posted 09/09/2021 at 08:31:05
Wish he would play Bellingham.
14 Posted 09/09/2021 at 08:41:52
I thought the ref let Poland get away with too many fouls and finally Southgate was undone for not pushing for the win and tiring players giving away possession on the halfway line.
How does Kean (A) get into that Italy team and (B), score a brace?
15 Posted 09/09/2021 at 09:08:23
On Jordan, initially, he impressed as a shot-stopper for me, but his game has matured no end this calendar year. His anticipation to meet Lewandowski in the first half demonstrated great awareness of the danger. A bit of a blooper second half but at least he was alive to recover the situation. Mistakes happen – he fixed it.
And no way was he to blame for the equaliser. No-one was. Peach of a cross from Lewandowski and great centre-forward play, totally bulldozing the centre-back who was caught out by the quality of the cross and on the back foot. That's not a criticism.
Lewandowski. What a player. Like Ibrohamovic before him, he seems ageless. At 33, and even if we'd have had a sniff of a chance of him coming to Everton, I'm convinced half of our fan base would have been up in arms at signing a player with no sell-on value, past his best and not aged 19 etc, etc.
Kane's goal. We've said before, that's the difference with him and why he's more of a complete striker. You don't get that from Dominic and that's the difference. Kane can do what Dominic does but more of what he can't or doesn't.
On Kean. Well, I maintain my view that he's going to be a top striker. Too many judged a 19-year-old kid in a foreign land and league too early. He's still only 21 and developing. But technically, still an Everton player, so who knows? I said on another thread, had he been from Kirkby or Kirkdale, would some have been kinder and more patient with him?
16 Posted 09/09/2021 at 09:22:01
17 Posted 09/09/2021 at 10:14:03
18 Posted 09/09/2021 at 10:35:20
I have similar views on James; I want to see him play at Goodison in an Everton shirt but, if he doesn't want to put the effort in or only wants to get away as soon as possible, then I'd prefer someone else gets chosen for the first-team squad.
England did quite well last night albeit against a well-organised but fairly ordinary Polish side, but against better opposition, they will have to find a way of creating more chances more often and of course taking them.
If Sterling had have concentrated on making chances rather than trying to prove a point by scoring himself, England would have won comfortably.
19 Posted 09/09/2021 at 10:40:12
20 Posted 09/09/2021 at 10:46:20
By the time he finishes his loan at Juventus, he'll have played for 2 of Europe's biggest current names, played 3 seasons in the Champion's League and no doubt played for the current European national champions and 4 x World Cup Winners countless times.
And will have scored goals along the way.
Some are rightfully calling out the role of Brands. But this in my opinion was a Brands signing. Young potential, up and coming star that was highly rated. A signing that caught headlines and one for the future.
But we expected him, at 19 years old having been uprooted from his surroundings, to deliver in 3 weeks. Rather than wait and watch him develop into the player I think he will become in the next 2 to 3 years.
Okay, it was Dunfermline, not Turin, but I remember a certain 20 year old Graeme Sharp not exactly hitting it off at Everton straight away.
21 Posted 09/09/2021 at 10:53:08
22 Posted 09/09/2021 at 11:15:08
I'd rather a couple of Keans not working out than a couple of Bolasies or Schneiderlins.
23 Posted 09/09/2021 at 11:27:21
A Southgate speciality which is flawed against decent opposition. It happens all the time, but he can't see it, bless him. And somebody tell bloody Sterling to just cross the bloody ball.
As for Grealish, stop moaning fella and play quicker and move – nobody likes a smart arse on a football pitch.
Good job Kane's goal wasn't against us as Pickford would have been hung out to dry!
And confirmed, Lee Dixon is a knob!
Anyway, can we now have proper footy back now for a few weeks?
24 Posted 09/09/2021 at 11:30:52
Along with Richarlison, he looks like he'll end up with Lukaku and Stones on the list of players we thought were rubbish but who win trophies for elite Champions League teams.
The only possible learning point is that, since we're not exactly awash with cash, we might limit our outlay on teenagers to about £20M (which is what Leipzig do).
25 Posted 09/09/2021 at 11:55:33
John Stones. You mean that player who arsed about with it too much? Too fancy to be a centre-back? Should get rid of the ball rather than keep it?
Okay, there's a time and place but that's decision-making and you need options in front of you. Stones's instinct is to keep the ball, which is why he fits into the Man City team & Guardiola's concept. And why he's won shit.
The most similar footballing centre-back I've seen to Alan Hansen in my lifetime yet the Park End hounded him.
I can only think certain elements of our supporters are scared of footballers and would rather have kickers and chasers.
26 Posted 09/09/2021 at 12:28:20
27 Posted 09/09/2021 at 13:10:58
Danny (15) - That sort of insidious comment that your post closes with - which is basically a think-veiled allegation of xenophobia - is lazy, convenient, and completely devoid of evidence to back it up. There are plenty of voices on here who similarly argue that there is a bias against local players on the basis of their origins. Why must everybody be so susceptible to their alleged bias? I prefer to think that people will criticise a player on the basis of how they rate their performance and ability, and in the absence of any proof otherwise then I think that is the more generous assumption.
28 Posted 09/09/2021 at 13:20:17
29 Posted 09/09/2021 at 13:38:45
It was a cheap shot (admittedly) at some who often tell us that if some of the foreign players we had didn't have exotic names and came from places like I do, we'd treat them different. A bad attempt at reversing the argument.
To repeat. I don't really care where the player comes from as long as he performs and delivers for Everton. And I come from a generation when the Gwladys Street used to chant stuff that shouldn't be repeated here and, quite frankly, was disgraceful. I judge players by footballing ability, not by locality, regionality, nationality or race.
I still need to declare Burnley and Monday as it's going to be an over-nighter. I'll break the news on Saturday with some flowers.
30 Posted 09/09/2021 at 13:49:18
Unless we want them to go Row X, which achieves little.
31 Posted 09/09/2021 at 14:38:01
32 Posted 09/09/2021 at 15:18:37
33 Posted 09/09/2021 at 15:36:47
Defending his decision not to use subs. yesterday. is stupid.
When you have a lead and they have Lewendowski you need fresh legs to see out the game. Southgate failed !
Luckily England's group contains teams who are no better than Sunday league.
34 Posted 09/09/2021 at 15:42:53
Someone mentioned because hes not from Kirkby some view / treat him differently. Actually I consider the opposite is true, because from abroad hes given leeway as young kid, away from home. I see a lot more people unforgiving on young local lads throughout the years.
However, some of woke brigade coming out to deter others from criticising a player because hes foreign or maybe people just cant express their opinion and has to think everything is rosy.
Loads of people criticise Kenny. Some stick up with him, same as Kean. Loads criticise Richarlison (although mainly cos hes sulky, dives and selfish over the penalty - not many criticise his play)
As for comment about James - I dont think anybody criticises his ability / he is unbelievable. We would all be made up if he procured the goods like he did in first half a dozen games for us. But his speed, fragility and fact some people see him as sticking two fingers up to club at back end of last season and beginning of this means some fed up and want him gone.
Compare contempt for James by some to that of his compatriot, Mina (black so heaven forbid if he dare get criticised) who cost loads more, has been injured and regularly made errors - he comes off relatively unscathed, why is that? I would put that down because hes always seems delighted to play for us and tries his best and says nothing but good things. If youre 100% you get loads of leeway - The Argentinian forward we signed under Moyes strings to mind - Straq?
People on here criticise what they see as sulky behaviour and rotten antics - has nothing to do with somebodys nationality.
35 Posted 09/09/2021 at 15:43:10
It's after the Norwich game on Sept 25th, at the Bramley Moore pub.
36 Posted 09/09/2021 at 17:14:34
37 Posted 09/09/2021 at 17:43:45
Just out of curiosity is there a bus route close to the Bramley, if taxi is hard to come by.
38 Posted 09/09/2021 at 18:23:30
39 Posted 09/09/2021 at 19:49:00
40 Posted 09/09/2021 at 20:20:27
I haven't even mentioned Norwich on the 25th yet. But she knows I'll always come back. My Everton. Our Everton.
Peter, I guess I'm being sympathetic of young lads leaving home at a young age. I did at 16 and was put into an environment I didn't like for years, but had to get used to it. I was sent abroad (6 years initially, then more in later life) and to places that I'd rather not have been in.
It often takes you a while to settle, so I have sympathy with Kean. Sometimes it just doesn't work out. He will grow and become a good player. I'd like that to be for Everton but it won't happen.
41 Posted 10/09/2021 at 05:02:14
"I'll break the news on Saturday with some flowers. "
I trust they will be blue!
May I suggest one of the Myosotis family? Otherwise known as 'Forget Me Nots'. :-)
42 Posted 10/09/2021 at 11:18:30
I might have to go for claret and blue to appease her Villa roots.
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1 Posted 08/09/2021 at 21:56:16