Pickford: “It is about me becoming better as a goalkeeper”

Jordan Pickford has dismissed criticism of his recent form after keeping his England starting place for Friday’s opening European Qualifier against the Czech Republic.

Pickford said. “I think… apart from the Newcastle game, I think up until then I was doing well. In the Newcastle game, I made a mistake and bounced back with a good performance against Chelsea, so that shows my mentality and my character in myself, and I think that’s been good for me.

“I don’t really look into my form too much. I know whether I’ve played a good game or a bad game. I always take it game by game and how can I improve from that game to get better for the next game.”

“The manager has put faith in me to start tomorrow. I’ve been training well all week as well, so that’s good.”

On being pressed on the criticism aimed at him in recent weeks, Pickford said: “It is about me becoming better as a goalkeeper, it’s not about the criticism I’m getting, it’s about how I can go to training and what I can do in training to become better for game day.

“I have done it in the game (made mistakes against Newcastle), so I don’t mind watching it back.

“I know if it’s a goalkeeping error or a misjudgement, I know what type of error it is after I have watched it back again.

“Sometimes you don’t need telling or looking at it again if you know you have made that error, it’s about knowing how to improve and knowing how to then cancel those errors out.”