Everton manager Frank Lampard praised captain Jordan Pickford after his heroics earned the Toffees a point in the Merseyside derby against Liverpool.
In the 0-0 draw at Goodison Park, both Pickford and Alisson made some outstanding saves to keep their respective teams in the game. This makes the Toffees’ winless Premier League start now stand at six games.
“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 are a great team and we are at the beginning of the process, we’re working hard, spirit, hard work and quality and we’re playing better, we will get better.
Everton’s game plan, according to Lampard, was to press Liverpool hard when they lost possession of the ball. Lampard expressed his belief that if Everton plays this way going forward, good things will happen for them.
He added: “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 chances 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 an amazing 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.”
