It started with a water bottle and a list of Leicester City players. Next to James Maddison’s name was a graphic showing he placed 60 per cent of his penalties down the middle.
Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford’s mind was made up. As Maddison struck his penalty, Pickford stayed still, parrying the shot. Later, that save and the notes stuck on the side of that bottle would be the subject of intense focus.
Instructions of that ilk are fairly common in the modern game, but this moment was season-defining.
Had Maddison scored, Leicester would have been 3-1 up at half-time and nearly out of sight, their path to survival in the 2022-23 Premier League season clearer than ever with four games to go. Instead, Everton escaped the King Power Stadium with a 2-2 draw and four weeks later they stayed up at Leicester’s expense, by two points.
Everton safe, Leicester down.
It’s got us thinking back to this Jordan Pickford save from a James Maddison penalty 👀 pic.twitter.com/yyhB976bXk
— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) May 28, 2023
Being a goalkeeper can be a thankless task but there are moments like that one when it all comes together and all the hard work pays off for the players and their support staff.
Alan Kelly was a goalkeeping coach at Everton between 2017 and this August. There are few better placed than him to give an insight into both what is required to make it as a top ’keeper and long-time England No 1 Pickford’s processes.
“It all comes down to preparation,” says Kelly, a 35-cap Republic of Ireland international goalkeeper in the 1990s and 2000s who played for Sheffield United and Blackburn in the Premier League. “We analysed penalties, free kicks, shooting profiles. Preparation is key, and if you do that, then you’re more settled.
“With the Maddison penalty, we’d arrived at the hotel around lunch (it was a Monday night game) and gone through it all. We looked at the video and stats and had an image of every penalty he (Maddison) had taken. You’re looking for a pattern.
“Jordan was saying what he saw from England duty. Then you add in what’s in front of you: when Jordan is stood there in front of Maddison — what’s the look in his eye? What’s he sensing with his body movements? When it all comes together and it results in a penalty save, it’s brilliant.”
Kelly, who won 35 caps, playing for Ireland in 2000 (Michael Cooper /Allsport)
Kelly, 56, first encountered Pickford during the latter’s loan spell at Preston North End in the Championship in 2015-16.
In his remit as Preston’s goalkeeping coach, he had pushed to bring the then-21-year-old to Deepdale from Sunderland, ironically after seeing him make an error for Carlisle United, where he was on loan in 2014, against Preston in a 6-1 defeat. “He was coming for crosses but there was one that didn’t go well for him and he put his hand up straight away,” Kelly says. “I said to (Preston manager) Simon Grayson, ‘That’s who we’re getting next’.
“He was outstanding. He had the fearlessness of youth and took everything on in an exuberant, decisive way.”
Pickford stood out at Preston as “the best ball-striker” Kelly “had ever seen” but has worked hard to improve his game, both on the training ground and in the analysis room.
“I’ve always done the stats for him and every other goalkeeper, analysing every touch of the ball,” Kelly says. “It’s allowed him to see what his game looks like. He’s taken that on board. He likes his stats pack. He’ll ask about his save percentage or pass completion. That’s key because we can analyse and look at how to improve.”
Pickford playing for Carlisle on loan in 2014 (Jordan Mansfield/Getty Images)
Kelly, speaking before England’s Nations League games this month, sees value in constructing a goalkeeping group of complementary skill sets, citing former Netherlands No 1 Maarten Stekelenburg, who was at Everton from 2016-20, and the club’s 37-year-old current No 3 Asmir Begovic as key influences behind the scenes with their experience. Dynamic, talented and ambitious players such as Pickford’s backup Joao Virginia add competition.
Goalkeeping departments are “circles of trust”, according to Kelly. Feedback goes both ways and players are encouraged to share their struggles and come up with solutions.
Pickford has developed into a key figure, both among Everton’s ’keepers and in the Goodison dressing room at large.
“I might be biased, but I’ve always seen him as a leader on performances,” Kelly says. “Off the pitch, he’s one of the lads, but never shouting. He’s probably watched Seamus (Coleman, the club captain) and seen how to operate. Jordan wouldn’t be the one to go into training and say, ‘I’m taking the first shot or catch’. He’d let the young lads go first. Everyone is equal, but to have someone like England’s No 1 saying that, it probably puts 10 per cent on their performance.
“He’s always had the ability to do what’s right for the team. It might be a word about playing out from the back or a tactical situation. He always puts his hand up. That’s why Everton fans love him so much because he steps up and you know he’s invested.”
There have been many big moments for Pickford in his career.
Two European Championship finals and a World Cup semi-final with England, as well as three relegation battles on the spin with Everton. Still, though, there is a sense in some quarters he has not entirely proved his point, something that rankles with Kelly, considering he has played 71 times for England over the past seven years.
“I don’t think he gets the credit he’s due,” he says. “It’s a lazy narrative. People ask if he shouts too much, but that can be misconstrued. A lot of the time, he’s actually directing and trying to get a message across. He’s so tactically aware and always knows the game plan.
“It (his England place) shouldn’t really be a question, given the part he’s played. He’ll cut through the noise and say, ‘I’ll keep doing what I’m doing’.
Pickford is undoubtedly England’s No 1, according to Kelly (Marvin Ibo Guengoer – GES Sportfoto/Getty Images)
“There are added pressures at the top now — media, sponsors. The demands are infinitely greater — but I don’t think people give him enough credit for the way he deals with pressure. As a No 1, you’re a bad bounce away from looking foolish. Scrutiny is everywhere.
“Look at some of the stops he’s made. We’re talking relegation-avoiding saves. How many people can put themselves in that position and perform like that over a long time?”
The answer, of course, is very few. But Kelly has played a role in that success, too. And in keeping Everton’s head just about above water at the foot of the Premier League.
The focus of our conversation with Kelly turns to a different relegation battle, in the 2021-22 season, and the Everton dressing room at half-time of another must-win game.
With a trip to Champions League-chasing Arsenal to come three days later on the season’s final weekend, manager Frank Lampard’s side need victory over Crystal Palace at Goodison to avoid a nervy finale. But, 2-0 down at the break, they are staring down the barrel at the club’s first relegation since the 1950s.
Then captain Coleman speaks.
“Seamus reminded them how much this club means to people,” Kelly says. “Bringing the reality of what losing means to the club, the fans and people who worked there long-term. It was, ‘Do you want to look in the eyes of someone in the ground and know you’ve let them down?’.
“It was powerful to put it on everyone as individuals. He made each player look at themselves and take responsibility. I was sat with the coaches, and we left them (to it). We were two down but Frank knew how important it would be. That shows the respect people have (for Coleman) and what his voice does.”
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Remarkably, there was a strong belief in the dressing room that Everton could turn around the 2-0 deficit.
“I vividly remember thinking, ‘We are not out of this’, and going to Jordan with that mindset,” Kelly says. “I’d been there before with Everton and we understood we needed an early goal. The fans did the rest.“
Everton went on to win 3-2, sparking jubilant celebrations and “sheer relief” — “It was a rollercoaster of emotions,” Kelly says. “We slumped in the manager’s room afterwards.”
The win over Palace sparked wild scenes in May 2022 (Tony McArdle/Everton FC via Getty Images)
It mattered hugely to Kelly because his connections to Everton run deep — his father, also named Alan, was a goalkeeping coach for the club in the 1980s.
There is an admission that three successive relegation battles can take a toll on staff and players. But moments like that night against Palace will stay with Kelly forever.
“I know a lot of people say you shouldn’t be celebrating things like the Crystal Palace moment but when you are 2-0 down at half-time, you feel the release (at the end),” he says. “But the biggest standout was walking out just before kick-off when the siren went off, and the noise from the crowd, especially in critical times. The hairs on the back of your neck stood up. You felt the sheer wave of emotion and every fan willing the team to win.
“It was one of those moments where you look around and go, ‘How lucky am I?’.”
The Gwladys Street effect™️@CalvertLewin14 🦋 pic.twitter.com/aPYdwTSySs
— Everton (@Everton) May 19, 2022
After seven years at Goodison, Kelly left over the summer, with manager Sean Dyche’s former goalkeeping coach at previous club Burnley, Billy Mercer, taking his place. Mercer had initially stepped in for Kelly on an interim basis at the start of last season after he had knee surgery.
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“It wasn’t my decision to leave,” Kelly says. “I had my operation and Sean brought Billy in, who he’d worked with at Burnley, and that was that. I was really looking forward to going back and worked in the academy from January until the end of last season, still doing all the stats for Jordan.
“There’s no animosity because we both know what football is about. I wish them the very best and have nothing bad to say about my time working for the club.”
Kelly still follows his former club’s fortunes and keeps in touch with players including Pickford. From what was a privileged position on the inside of the operation, he is well-placed to offer his take on what’s gone wrong at Goodison in recent seasons.
Carlo Ancelotti, right, and assistant-coach son Davide brought ‘hope’ to Everton, says Kelly (Simon Stacpoole/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)
“Carlo (Ancelotti) leaving had a massive effect on everyone because we had this incredible manager and there was hope,” he says of the Italian, who quit as manager after 17 months in the summer of 2021 to rejoin Real Madrid for a second spell in charge.
“An exceptional man, as well as one of the best managers ever. The way he came in, put people at ease and allowed them to do their jobs was incredible, backed up by (his son) Davide, who had tactical nous and understanding of football. He had a willingness to be receptive and that brings everyone in.
“When he left, the demons came back. You went from here (points high) to here (points low).”
There is regret too at how the popular Lampard’s year-long tenure unravelled in the middle of the 2022-23 season. “I got on well with Frank and his team, thought he was an exceptional man,” Kelly says. “The way he described the game plan to the players was as good as I’ve seen.
“We were missing Dominic (Calvert-Lewin, their England striker, through injury) for long periods and he was one of the key ingredients in the team. He made such a difference and we couldn’t find a solution.”
It is clear that the cycle of managerial churn, which also included a half-season under Rafa Benitez, has been destabilising. Since owner Farhad Moshiri’s arrival in 2016, Everton have had eight permanent managers.
“Every time there is a change, you’ve got to work out what a new management team’s working practises are, what they and don’t like, what they want tactically,” Kelly says. “There’s always a complete change, because each manager wants to put their stamp on the club. You have to navigate through that.
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“A lot of the time, changing manager means you’re firefighting and in pressurised situations. It does have an effect because you’ve got lots of backroom staff whose lives are impacted. It’s like a hamster wheel.”
For now, that is no longer Kelly’s problem. He is keen to get back into football and spends his weekends covering Preston games as a summariser for local radio. He continues to analyse games across Europe in his spare time.
“I’ve been in football 40 years and have been blessed,” he says. “I feel great physically, so you’ve just got to wait and see in football.”
(Top photo: Pickford worked closely with Kelly; Andrew Matthews/PA Images via Getty Images)
