"Another grind, another trenches game, but that's what it's all about," said Jordan Pickford after England's penalty shootout win over Switzerland in their Euro 2024 quarter-final. English football's obsession with trench warfare has long felt outdated and cringeworthy, but if there was one player in the current squad who would potentially thrive in such an environment, it would be Pickford.
The Everton goalkeeper is not one for suppressing his emotions on the pitch. Instead, he lets them explode. It has been a feature of his career and, on occasion, he has been encouraged to tone it down and concentrate more on the game in front of him. Let's be honest: that was never going to work.
And now England must be grateful that Pickford has maintained his natural character and continued to wear his heart on his sleeve, the same sleeve which repelled Manuel Akanji's penalty and laid the platform for Trent Alexander-Arnold and Co. to book England's place in the semi-final against the Netherlands.
So often a figure of ridicule, Pickford is finally getting the respect he deserves for being one of England's most consistent performers of the last decade.
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