Perhaps it was worth a try because a third of all goals scored by keepers in Premier League history have not just come at Goodison Park, but in front of the Gwladys Street, but this correspondent at least did not like seeing Jordan Pickford venturing forward to try and head in a last-gasp equaliser for Everton against Manchester United.
It’s nothing personal against England’s number one who I regard as one of the Premier League’s best players in his position, who I have defended staunchly on many occasions amid what I consider to be unfair criticism and who I hope will remain in between the sticks for the Blues for many more years to come. But that’s the point… he’s a goalkeeper.
Many others I have spoken to do not share my disdain for custodians wandering up the field when their team is in search of a late goal and perhaps I might even find I am in a minority of one with this pet hate, but let me at least try to explain why I take such a stance as it’s more than just an irrational dislike of something. Everton’s performance against Manchester United was a poor one, after going ahead against the Red Devils just five minutes in courtesy of Alex Iwobi’s spectacular strike, they failed to capitalise on their early advantage.
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Possession was surrendered cheaply on too many occasions – including for both United’s goals, particularly the equaliser – and a disjointed display left the hosts lacking in inspiration. It wasn’t until stoppage-time that Everton even tested David De Gea with substitute James Garner – on for his debut against his former club – forcing the Spaniard into a spectacular save, but from the subsequent corner kicks it was desperation stakes from Frank Lampard’s side.
Pickford got the nod to trot up and after staying in his advanced position, he almost got himself on the end of a cross aimed in his direction, only to be denied by Raphael Varane’s headed clearance. Fans of these kind of antics will say that he came close but I would argue that if the likes of Amadou Onana – who Pickford got in front of – James Tarkowski or Dominic Calvert-Lewin who were also behind him, had got their head on the end of it first, it would have actually stood a better chance of going in.
There’s no disputing that goalkeepers usually cause carnage whenever they do venture up into the opposition area for corner kicks but in reality they’re usually wreaking as much havoc for their own team-mates as their opponents. While the presence of an additional large body in the mix can present a major distraction for the defending side, corner takers shouldn’t aim their crosses at the attacking keeper but rather hope that he’s just there to provide nuisance value as a decoy.
Those readers who are of a similar age to myself and above will recall a time in the not-too-distant past when goalkeepers never seemed to indulge in such walkabouts. It was still a novelty to see Peter Schmeichel coming forward for a stoppage-time corner kick for Manchester United when Everton last won the FA Cup in 1995 and I remember hoping he’d come gloriously unstuck as the Blues cleared the ball and Daniel Amokachi broke clear on a counter attack.
The Big Dane, who had scored for both Hvidovre and Brondby back in his homeland (netting six times in a single season for the former) clearly fancied himself in such positions and would go on to nod in against Rotor Volgograd in a UEFA Cup tie the following season and in 2001 became the first keeper to score in the Premier League for Aston Villa in a 3-2 defeat to Everton at Goodison Park. However, the watershed moment that appeared to give the green light for custodians to go forward and abandon the code of honour of the 'goalkeepers union' seemingly came in 1999, though, when an on-loan Jimmy Glass famously volleyed in a last-minute winner against Plymouth Argyle to ensure Carlisle United avoided relegation from Third Division.
While it was clearly a moment to go down in Brunton Park folklore, it was in reality a glorious fluke, with Glass himself retiring from football just two years later aged 27 to become an IT salesman, and it merely provided a stay of execution to the Cumbrian club who surrendered their Football League status after 75 years in 2004. We all remember the crazy moments when keepers have scored in the Premier League but that’s because they’re so rare and half of those have been long distance clearances from Paul Robinson (for Tottenham Hotspur against Watford); Everton’s very own Tim Howard (against Bolton Wanderers) and Stoke City’s current Blues understudy Asmir Begovic for Stoke City against Bolton. Two more have been close range shots by Aston Villa’s Schmeichel against Everton and Blackburn Rovers’ Brad Friedel against Charlton Athletic.
So as much as it proved to be crucial in his team’s pursuit of a Champions League place and his manager Jurgen Klopp described it as “insane technique”, Alisson’s winner for Liverpool at West Bromwich Albion some 18 months ago remains, in over 30 years of football, the only headed goal from a keeper in Premier League history. That’s just once in eleven thousand-seven-hundred-and-thirty-two matches to date.
Those don’t sound like tempting odds to me. Yes, a generation on from the introduction of the back-pass rule in football, keepers are becoming considerably better outfield players – Pickford himself of course netted for England in a penalty shoot-out win for England against Switzerland in the 2019 UEFA Nations League – and this improving skill-set might even include headers but they’re still not outfield players.
If I were a football manager, I’d want my team to play the percentages and that would include aiming the ball at the best headers in my side on set-pieces. As stated earlier, if Onana, Calvert-Lewin or Tarkowski had made contact with that corner against Manchester United instead of Pickford missing out then Everton might have been enjoying what would have been an unlikely but wildly-celebrated point.
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