Everton manager Frank Lampard was delighted with the performance of captain Jordan Pickford after his heroics earned the Toffees a point in the Merseyside derby draw with Liverpool.
Pickford made some superb saves, as did Alisson in the Liverpool goal, during the 0-0 stalemate at Goodison Park, which extends the Toffees’ winless start in the Premier League to six games.
But there were plenty of positives for Lampard to take from a display that showed real, spirit and togetherness from his side, who frustrated and stifled Liverpool for much of the afternoon and could easily have won the game themselves.
“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.
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Lampard explained that Everton’s game plan was to aggressively press Liverpool when out of possession, and revealed his confidence that positive results will follow for Everton if they continue to play in the same manner.
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.”