Alex Iwobi and Jordan Pickford were outstanding for Everton as they shared spoils with Liverpool in their dreaded Merseyside derby today at Goodison Park, Edwin Emeanua writes for Sports Joust.
The Nigeria international midfielder continues to blossom under Frank Lampard’s limitless opportunities which have seen the former Everton cast-away become the cornerstone for the team’s relentless relegation survival push this season.
In a pulsating scoreless encounter against Liverpool, last season’s runners-up, whenever Everton was in peril to concede, Iwobi was there huffing to stave off the sporadic tempestuous moments for his struggling side.
Then, when the seesaw moves to the opposing end, or whenever Everton seems to be pushing for the upper hand, Iwobi is somehow also there puffing to make that happen for his team.
Pickford on his part, stood tallest between the sticks for Everton against Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool attackers in commanding goalkeeping fashion like a Trojan horse.
At the end of the pulsating and highly entertaining derby, Lampard hailed the ‘incredible’ performance of his goalkeeper.
“An amazing game – very intense, good quality, lots of chances for both teams and incredible performances from both goalkeepers,” Lampard told BBC’s Match of the Day.
“It’s my first experience of a derby day at Goodison and the atmosphere was brilliant and the spirit and work of our players. Liverpool is a great team and we are at the beginning of the process, we’re working hard, with spirit, hard work and quality and we’re playing better, we will get better.
“We wanted to be more aggressive in our approach off the ball, we didn’t want to succumb to their pressure and I thought we did that well but they will always pin you back at times. But we stuck to the game plan, the desire to stay in the game and create our own chances. I’m happy with a point because of the events they had but I’m very happy with the team and how we’re going.
“Jordan [Pickford] gets fingertips on a few bits today which a lot of keepers don’t get and Allison the same, two top-class keepers. I’ve relied on Jordan a lot he’s a fantastic keeper and we’re fortunate to have a player of this level.
“I think we can want more because of the performances, they have deserved more, there’s no point harping on about things though the positive side is the way we’re going and the new players – we’re going to get better. You can’t always affect the result because of certain situations but you can affect your performance.”
Please follow and like us:
