Blues right to call out this latest act of Dixon desperation

PICKFORD PROVES HE'S ENGLAND'S NO.1 YET AGAIN - BUT SOME STILL HAVE TO FIND A WAY TO DIMINISH BOTH THE KEEPER AND HIS CLUB

- By CHRIS BEESLEY

FOR years the Jordan Pickford baiters and haters have been peddling their tripe about how he is supposedly not good enough to be England number one.

But now that the Everton hero has helped the Three Lions to become the first European nation to qualify for the 2026 World Cup on the back of a record-breaking run of clean sheets, they're forced to change their skewed narrative.

The Blues ace eclipsed Gordon Banks' 59-year-old record set en route to lifting the Jules Rimet Trophy in 1966 when he kept an eighth consecutive clean sheet for England in the 3-0 friendly win over Wales at Wembley last Thursday.

Having followed that up with another one as he won his 80th cap in Riga, helping his country to a 5-0 win over Latvia to clinch their place in next summer's finals, even the most dyed-in-the-wool Pickford bashers ran out of their spurious ammunition.

So, with a change of tack required, because few beyond the turnstiles of Hill Dickinson Stadium can seemingly be satisfied for a moment with the thought of the keeper enjoying his football with both Everton and England, and at a time when the player himself is on the cusp of announcing a new contract to effectively commit himself to the Blues for the rest of his career, Lee Dixon felt compelled to express his surprise that Pickford has not moved to a "bigger club".

Playing for 'little old Everton' hasn't held him back so far.

All 80 of those international appearances twice as many as Phil Jagielka, the club's previously most-capped England player while with them have come during his time with the Blues, whether they were competing in Europe, like Thomas Tuchel makes such an issue of saying he'd prefer his players to be, or not.

Were people saying the same about Banks in 1966 because he was 'only' playing for Leicester City given that they only had a solitary League Cup on their honours board at the time?