Marco Silva has told Jordan Pickford to play with more ’emotional balance’.
The former Sunderland stopper endured a difficult return to his native North East last weekend with a series of blunders in Everton’s 3-2 defeat to Newcastle.
Pickford’s follow-up season at Goodison Park has been littered with errors in the wake of an impressive display with England at last summer’s World Cup.
Ahead of Sunday’s visit of Chelsea, Silva insisted that the 25-year-old retains his backing but also warned of a need to keep a calm head during games.
He said: “We knew before the match, he knew also when he played there at Newcastle, that the atmosphere is always not the same to him.
“I remember when he played here at home against Newcastle what the fans of Newcastle tried to do with him and he answered well.
“I understand what people are saying about Jordan. He has all my confidence, like Maarten [Stekelenburg] and Joao Virginia, as our goalkeepers.
“He also has the confidence of his national team coach, which is really important.
“We are here to keep working with him to give him all the conditions to keep growing as a goalkeeper, to keep growing his emotional balance in matches and to get better each day.
“He has to understand that in a career in some moments everyone is happy with you and in other moments people speak not good things about you.
“But they are the same people who eight, nine, ten months ago are celebrating the good performances of Jordan [at the World Cup]. That is part of football.
“What I want in Jordan is to keep working in the same way, with the same desire to improve, with more emotional balance in some moments if he can do that.
“That is our way.”
The Everton manager also urged Yerry Mina to show more consistency if the defender is determined to stake a fresh claim in his first-team plans.
Mine has made 13 appearances since a £27.2 million switch from Barcelona last August but is yet to leave a lasting impression for his current employers.
His first-team prospects at Goodison Park have also been limited by the prominence of Chelsea loanee Kurt Zoma as Michael Keane’s defensive partner.
But with Zouma unable to feature against his current employers on Sunday game between the sides, the 24-year-old is expected to earn a recall.
“First what I have to see from him is more consistency, daily at Finch Farm,” insisted Silva.
“Okay, he was unlucky in some moments with what was a small injury.
“Every time it breaks his normal progress, growing as a player. In some important moments in the season, he had to stop.
“The first thing I hope is to see Yerry Mina working every day until the end of the season. If this happens, I’m 100 per cent sure if this happens, he will be more able to play at this level.
“He can be a really important player for us as a club. We believe in him & spent the money we spent on him because we believe he will be a very good solution for us.
“But he has to be more consistent here [at Finch Farm].”