Jordan Pickford says there is onus on every player to help England rediscover their defensive steel at this summer’s European Championship - and not just a much scrutinised backline.
England conceded only two goals in the entirety of their last Euros campaign three years ago - and none until the semi-final stage - while at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar they kept clean sheets in three of their first four matches before coming unstuck against France.
More recently, though, a once reliable backline has become a weak point and the only clean sheets Gareth Southgate’s side have registered in their last ten matches have come against Malta, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Australia.
“We’ve played some top opponents but clean sheets are key in tournaments,” Pickford said. “To get to a final and win a tournament, you have to have a good clean sheet record - or as the ‘keeper coach says, zeroes and ones get you so far.
“For us it’s about getting as many clean sheets as we can because everyone in the room knows the ability we’ve got up-front.”
While England do possess a glut of attacking talent, there is concern over the defensive stocks at Euro 2024, particularly with first-choice centre-back Harry Maguire out injured and Luke Shaw, the only specialist left-back in the squad, not expected to return until the second group game against Denmark at the earliest.
The rejig will likely see Kieran Trippier shift to the left and Marc Guéhi replace Maguire, but Pickford insists responsibility for England’s defensive record cannot be put on a new-look back four alone.
“You say defence, it starts from the centre-forward all the way back,” he said. “We need to work as a unit. I would say that is the key factor, working as a unit, instead of talking about the back four and the keeper.”
Pickford is heading into his fourth major tournament as England’s No1 and has been one of Southgate’s most reliable performers at each of the previous three.
His ability in penalty shootouts has twice come to the fore, with crucial saves in the win over Colombia in the quarter-finals of the 2018 World Cup and keeping out two Italian spot-kicks in Euro 2020’s gut-wrenching final defeat.
The 30-year-old also memorably scored from the spot in a shootout win over Switzerland during the finals of the augural Uefa Nations League in 2019 and says he would have no hesitation stepping up again if required.
“If called upon, I’m confident enough that I will take one,” he said. “I would step up for my country. If you look throughout the squad I think I’d be down the pecking order.”
Asked whether England have already begun practicing for penalties, he added: “We haven’t gone into that detail yet, from a goalkeeping point of view. The lads who take penalties naturally for their club, they might be doing their own thing.
"I’ll be doing my homework tomorrow on the Serbia game. But the knockout stages, that will come later, because we have three big games ahead of us before we get to that.”
