Gary Lineker has surprisingly urged Jordan Pickford to ditch his water bottle cheat sheet should England face another penalty shootout at Euro 2024.
Pickford was England’s hero on Saturday, making a crucial penalty save as Gareth Southgate’s side edged past Switzerland to book their place in the semi-finals.
The Everton goalkeeper denied Manuel Akanji’s spot kick with a super stop down to his left side as England calmy dispatched all five penalties after the game finished 1-1.
It emerged after the shootout that Pickford had somewhat of a helping hand, with photographs capturing a cheat sheet stuck on his water bottle that indicated where each Swiss player was likely to shoot.
Next to Akanji’s name was the instruction ‘dive left’, which ultimately led to Pickford’s vital stop.
However, as England prepare for their crunch semi-final clash against the Netherlands on Wednesday, Lineker has urged Pickford to get rid of his water bottle to avoid being caught out by the opposition.
‘One player is going to look at that bottle,’ the former England striker said on the Rest is Football podcast.
‘If you are listening do it differently, do it on a different piece of paper or do it on the post.’
Along with Pickford and the five successful England penalty takers, Declan Rice and Kyle Walker were singled out for praise for helping guide the team through the nervy shootout.
‘Dec was our speaker who was keeping everyone calm, calming everyone down, telling everyone to do their breathing techniques and manifest it,’ Manchester United full-back Luke Shaw later recalled.
‘I think Walker helped him [Pickford] a little bit also. I could see Walks was pointing to his left. Walks was pointing to that side and it gave him extra help.
‘I think he was already going that way, but it gave him some extra help to know where to go.’
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