Jordan Pickford will be back in the Everton XI for their clash with Manchester United next weekend. That’s what Carlo Ancelotti said.
In fact, the manager confirmed his early team selection for the visit of the Red Devils just minutes before Everton’s Premier League encounter at Newcastle on Sunday, having decided to send Pickford to the bench at St James’ Park.
Ancelotti was in no mood to create a scandal out of the omission. Pickford, who has endured a rocky start to the new season and had his status as England’s No1 goalkeeper put under the microscope this autumn, was rested. Nothing more, nothing less.
“I just want to give Jordan a rest for this game and to give an opportunity to Olsen, to have minutes,” the Italian said. “Jordan will be back for the next game against Manchester United.”
Yet this isn’t what Premier League managers do, is it? To rest a goalkeeper who is enduring a rocky patch while assuring him of his starting berth for the next game seems a bit nonsensical.
In an era of modern football where we almost expect players to be punished for their poor performances and demoted for a long spell, assuring Pickford will return to the XI next weekend is certainly a strange one.
And that is especially pertinent considering his replacement – Robin Olsen – barely put a foot wrong on Tyneside despite the Toffees’ 2-1 defeat to a spirited Steve Bruce side.
Twice was Olsen on hand to deny Newcastle guilt-edge chances in front of goal. The Toon didn’t have another shot on target bar Callum Wilson’s goals – the first from the penalty spot, the second on the break thanks to Ryan Fraser’s tireless running – and neither of them were the Swedish goalkeeper’s fault.
It seems remarkable, therefore, that Olsen loses his place in the side.
Olsen was picked up from Roma on loan on transfer deadline day last month. At 6ft 5in the shot-stopper – who was linked to Watford during the summer – lacks neither confidence nor vocal cords required to marshal a top-flight defence.
And had Ancelotti not decided to reinstate Pickford before the new man even had the ball at his feet, plenty of Toffees fans would be expecting the 30-year-old Swede to be lining up at Goodison Park next weekend to take on Marcus Rashford and co.
Make no mistake, Olsen is a solid No 2 goalkeeper in the Premier League – especially when competing with an in-form Pickford for game time. Yet he has the experience and temperament to handle big games and retain the confidence of the men in front of him.
The Sweden international earned his first big break at Malmö back in 2012 and helped the club win two league titles before moving on. He re-emerged at FC Copenhagen a few years later and was instrumental in their back-to-back Danish championships, before getting a £10m transfer to Roma.
Now, Olsen’s stock at the Italian club certainly isn’t high. After initially arriving as replacement for Liverpool signing Alisson, he remained at the Rome club for just one season before moving on loan to Cagliari last term. A year later and he rocks up on Merseyside for another loan deal, with Roma clearly uninterested in his services.
He is by no means the best goalkeeper Everton have ever signed – nor is he even the best in the team right now. But if Ancelotti really wants to get Pickford performing again, he may want to withhold his upcoming team selection until the man trusted with filling in has a chance to prove himself.
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