- LISTEN to It’s All Kicking Off! EUROS DAILY: Gareth Southgate has gone a bit rogue… and the mask has slipped
- Pickford saved Manuel Akanji’s first penalty for Switzerland on Saturday night
- England will now face a semi-final clash against the Netherlands on Wednesday
Gary Lineker has pleaded with Jordan Pickford to ditch his water bottle cheat sheet for the rest of the Euro 2024 competition.
The Everton keeper saved Manuel Akanji’s spot kick on Saturday as England advanced to the final four of the competition.
Akanji’s miss proved to be decisive with Alexander-Arnold completing the 5-3 sudden death win that sets up a semi-final clash against the Netherlands.
Pickford in particular was hailed for his penalty heroics, as fans raved about his water bottle which included a list of where each Swiss penalty taker was most likely to hit it.
For Akanji’s penalty, the sheet had ‘dive left’ next to his name, which Pickford did in the moment.
However, former Tottenham and Barcelona striker Lineker has given Pickford a stern piece of advice.
Speaking on the Rest is Football podcast, he said: ‘One player is going to look at that bottle.
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‘If you are listening do it differently, do it on a different piece of paper or do it on the post.’
Following England’s win, Luke Shaw and Bukayo Saka hailed the penalty shoot-out as ‘very calculated’.
Shaw was analysing England’s perfect penalty procession and insisted he never doubted Alexander-Arnold would miss in the high-stakes situation.
‘I was next to him the whole time and I was really confident, he seemed really relaxed, calm, like we said we have our routines anyway and we practice them a lot so everyone knew what they were doing,’ he told the Lions Den.
‘It was very calculated and we all knew what was going to happen so when he stepped up I had full faith in him and I knew he was going to score.
‘Declan was our speaker, he was calming everyone down and telling them to do their breathing techniques and manifest them. It was needed,’ he added.
The Brentford striker showed no sign of nerves as he took his incredible record from 12 yards to the international stage in England’s penalty shoot-out win.
Toney was one of five successful takers for the Three Lions, with his effort including his famed two-step run-up while starring only at the goalkeeper.
Foster, who was unsuccessful in his efforts to thwart Toney from the spot in 2020 as Watford keeper, revealed the issues a penalty from the 28-year-old presents.
‘He makes you look like an absolute fool,’ Foster said on the Football Fill-In podcast. ‘As you stand there and you’re watching him and he’s watching you and he’s sauntering up to the ball.
‘And you’re thinking, “do you know what you’re doing here?” And then he waits so long to the point where you have to make a decision. You have to.
‘But he still waits for you and he’ll just roll it in the far corner. To have the confidence to be able to do that.
‘He took a penalty for England [against Belgium] and you just know he’s going to score it. I had so much faith in him – exactly the same technique and rolls it in the corner.’