“You sometimes get these days, when a goalkeeper is on form and nothing is getting past him.”
Jordan Pickford made eight big saves – including two worldies to deny Darwin Nunez and Mo Salah – as Everton drew 0-0 with Liverpool at Goodison Park.
The Toffees had a couple of decent efforts on goal, and had a Conor Coady tap-in at the back-post ruled out for offside. Liverpool shaded it in terms of clear-cut chances, but there was no getting past Pickford today.
The England No.1 tipped a Nunez volley onto the crossbar, in the first half, then pushed a Mo Salah shot onto the post, in stoppage time after the 90 minutes had elapsed. Told, after the game, that Pickford had made over half a dozen quality saves, Liverpool boss Jürgen Klopp remarked, “Wow. What can you do?”
“Another unfortunate goal disallowed for VAR but it has very tight,” Pickford told BT Sport after the drawn game.
“We’re building, we’ve got that character and the team spirit is pushing us on. We haven’t got a win yet but we’ve been tough to beat. I thought I had a good game today – I helped the lads and you need lots of leaders on the pitch and I think we’ve got that. We didn’t get three points but we got a draw and we can keep building.
“They were good – Alisson made some wonderful saves as well but that’s our job, to help the team when we’re needed. It’s my first clean sheet of the season and that’s where we have to keep building and get better and better. Four draws but it’s hard work and commitment… if we keep building and get stronger then we’ll get the wins.”
Asked if he was celebrating Salah’s late shot hitting the post because he had got a touch, Pickford grinned.
“Of course! It’s one of those were you have to reverse and get back down, low.”
"We're building. We've got that character now as a team. Our team spirit is pushing us on."
Phenomenal 'Man of the Match' performance from Everton's Jordan Pickford 👏
🎙 @TheDesKelly pic.twitter.com/SzsEFAbNxn
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) September 3, 2022
“It was a real derby, super intense and full of really spectacular moments,” Jürgen Klopp said after a draw that saw his team leapfrog Manchester United into fifth place.
“They scored a goal – I didn’t see it back but I think it probably was offside. Ali made an excellent save.
“I think we hit the post three times and there were a few unbelievable saves from Pickford… in this game, easy and free-flowing is not possible. You have to dig deep, that’s what we did. A 0-0 draw sounds strange, but that’s it.”
