Frida Fagerlund on Robin Olsen’s move to Everton

Published: October 06, 2020 at 00.27
Updated: October 06, 2020 at 01.03

The most popular club in England at the moment is neither Liverpool nor Manchester City.

Carlo Ancelotti, James Rodríguez, Allan and Dominic Calvert-Lewin are ready to take Everton to heights that have been out of their reach in recent years.

Putting a Swedish janitor in that company really tickles.

After all, it is a weak point in Carlo Ancelotti’s solid build, the position between the posts.

One morning in September, the Everton fans woke up to a completely new and frankly unlikely midfield, well known. On paper, James Rodríguez, Allan and Abdoulaye Doucouré seemed too good to be true (and, above all, too cheap). On the field, they have lived up to everyone’s high expectations. This at the same time that other players like Dominic Calvert-Lewin have reached a level that many did not believe possible.

The current first goalkeeper, Jordan Pickford, had been hired for big money three years earlier. £ 30 million (roughly SEK 345 million) was a hefty sum in 2017, and with the result in hand, it probably wasn’t worth it. Pickford, 26, is a modern goalkeeper and has great confidence and mandate with national team captain Gareth Southgate. He’s also erratic and all too often makes a mistake or two.

Photo: JOEL MARKLUND / BILDBYRÅN

Neither United nor Spurs wanted to help

That’s why Robin Olsen can enter the Finch Farm dressing room knowing that Premier League football is not a pure utopia. When Everton decided to look for a worthy competitor for the position, they first headed to Manchester and London. Neither United nor Tottenham were more eager to loan Sergio Romero and Paulo Gazzaniga respectively, another indication that Everton is now seen as a true rival. So it was easier to send a signal to Roma.

It has been two years and two months since the clock was set to 03.58 on a late summer day in August. The reason was that Robin Olsen would make his debut with Roma, a few weeks after the incomprehensible tournament in Russia, from the Swedish point of view. Now, Skånepågen was there in a purple suit ready to face Barcelona in a training match on American soil. The preface to the following chronicle read: “Wow! No paintings, idiotic equipment, or other cerebral communications. Robin Olsen’s debut in the Roma shirt has been completed. It may not have been completely perfect, but it certainly feels promising. ”

Very different from each other

It can be said that it did not turn out as expected. In Olsen’s defense, it must be said that his time in the Italian capital has been partly marked by the sports director who took him there. Monchi can be respected in Seville but in Rome by no means all the decisions were correct. The Swede’s promising start in the US landed him on loan to Cagliari and now another to the Premier League.

Robin Olsen and Jordan Pickford are in many ways opposites. The former’s primary weapon is its size and ability to use every inch to appear even bigger. Pickford, on the other hand, is an extremely skilled ball dealer. That said, English’s form has been weakened lately, something that became clear last weekend during the Brighton encounter.

Everton can’t make a move from Chelsea and immediately put the usual luxurious goalie on the bench for the newcomer. Robin Olsen, on the other hand, can volunteer his time and wait for the opportunity that eventually arises. Given the comfortable seat Carlo Ancelotti and his friends now sit in, it would be too careless to fall for poor goalkeeping.

Of: Frida fagerlund

Published: October 06, 2020 at 00.27

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