The England No.1 responded rashly after dropping a ball into the box
Jordan Pickford was extremely fortunate not to concede a penalty and receive a caution after another rash, feet-first challenge in his box.
Just three weeks after the Everton goalkeeper injured Virgil van Dijk with a knee-high challenge (pictured below), during a draw with Liverpool, he was at it again.
United were leading 2-1, after trailing to a Bernard strike, and attempting to add to their tally when a free was curled in to the back post.
Pickford failed to make a clean catch and United defender Harry Maguire was on hand to pounce on the dropped ball. Pickford, in a desperate attempt to put Maguire off, hooked a kick that struck Maguire in the midriff.
Everton defender Michael Keane also crashed into Maguire as his effort looped up and over the bar. Maguire fell to the turf but referee Michael Oliver did not blow his whistle.
There was a VAR check on the incident but they did not intervene with a penalty call or any indication of dangerous play.
Over on BT Sport, commentator Robbie Savage could not believe his eyes while former Premier League referee Peter Walton, back in the BT studio, felt the Pickford and Keane challenge should have seen United awarded a penalty.
“Harry Maguire gets cleaned out again,” said Savage. “That’s a foul!”
Needless to say, the incident sparked lots of opinions, with some pointing out that Maguire had laid an arm on his England teammate before the drop.
Not only was it a penalty on Maguire, but Keane could have also been sent off for kicking Pickford #MUFC
— Jønathan Shrager (@JonathanShrager) November 7, 2020
Jordan Pickford coming to collect a cross pic.twitter.com/VjYycLHYTw
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) November 7, 2020
Pickford has already wrecked van dijk and could easily have wrecked Maguire today … how does he get away with it?!
— Rachael Irwin (@RIrwin08) November 7, 2020
https://twitter.com/AlexGEGarner/status/1325076641324916737
I don’t like Pickford.. but no one seems to be mentioning the fact Maguire pushed him out of play there that caused the ball drop.
No push = no drop = no kick.
— Dave Walker (@Dave_Walker18) November 7, 2020
Down the other end of the pitch, moments after, Maguire was lucky to avoid caution for a sliding tackle in the box when play was called back for an offside call.
