England 2-1 Switzerland: 'Jordan Pickford shows why he remains number one'
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Jordan Pickford (right) won his 43rd England cap in the victory over Switzerland
Jordan Pickford's continued presence as England's first-choice goalkeeper is accompanied by regular noise about whether he deserves the loyalty of manager Gareth Southgate.
It is a debate brought into even sharper focus in a World Cup year, when every Southgate selection will come under close scrutiny as we build towards the tournament in Qatar in November and December.
The countdown is well and truly under way as Southgate finalises his plans and conducts experiments in this international break, with friendlies at Wembley against Switzerland, then Ivory Coast on Tuesday.
The emergence of Aaron Ramsdale at Arsenal has placed renewed pressure on Pickford to keep performing, while Burnley's Nick Pope also has his supporters.
The bottom line, however, is Pickford remains Southgate's undisputed pick and deservedly so, even if the Everton keeper's detractors continue to look for faults in his game.
Under the radar, he has been consistent in a desperately mediocre Everton side since the second half of last season, and was one of England's outstanding performers in their run to their agonising Euro 2020 final defeat by Italy.
And here again, as England came from behind to beat Switzerland 2-1, Pickford showed exactly why Southgate is unmoved by questions about his goalkeeper.
Pickford excelled as England struggled to keep the Swiss at bay, producing a fine save from Granit Xhaka and an even better reflex stop to turn Fabian Frei's powerful close-range shot on to the bar - crucial in the context of the game as it prevented the visitors going two up.
He was also calm with ball at his feet and commanding in his area, drawing deserved post-match praise from his manager.
Opta statistics lend weight to Pickford's case, too. He has played 43 times for England, kept 20 clean sheets, and made no errors leading to goals.
Stats can be made to read different things, but these are a fair measure of the contribution he has made to the development of Southgate's side.
Development is what these two England friendlies are about, giving Southgate the chance to hand debuts to starters Kyle Walker-Peters and Marc Guehi, then Tyrick Mitchell as a second-half substitute.
But of the younger brigade, it was Conor Gallagher who made the biggest impression with a lively, confident performance as he carried his fine form at Crystal Palace, where he is on loan from Chelsea, to the international stage.
He was always demanding the ball, played a part in Luke Shaw's equaliser, and almost set up a goal for Harry Kane with a clever pass that saw the England captain's shot stopped by the face of Swiss keeper Jonas Omlin.
Conor Gallagher made his England debut against San Marino in November
Gallagher is competing in a well-populated area of England's squad, but all he can do it force his way into Southgate's thoughts, and he certainly did that before he was replaced by Declan Rice just after the hour.
There is no doubt about Rice's place, as he showed when he came on. The West Ham captain is indispensable, as proved by an unconvincing performance in his absence.
And at the head of it all is captain Kane - now level with Sir Bobby Charlton on 49 England goals, only four behind record holder Wayne Rooney and right on course for his place in the history books. He may even be a record-breaker before the World Cup.
There will always be discussion around the relative merits of Kane's record compared to others as he now edges ahead of Gary Lineker - his tally helped by opponents such as San Marino, where he scored four.
No-one can argue, however, that he is one of Europe's premier strikers, and to score 49 goals in 68 appearances is a truly outstanding body of work against any opposition.
Kane dispatched the match-winning penalty with his usual aplomb, though Switzerland felt harshly treated by the VAR award of handball against Steven Zuber from Guehi's header following a corner.
The Swiss provided a decent test - they are 14th in the Fifa rankings and finished top of their World Cup group ahead of European champions Italy, who slipped into the play-offs and suffered humiliating defeat by North Macedonia.
Murat Yakin's men were the better side for almost the entire first half, but Southgate is simply looking for clues, confirmation and pointers to the future as England drive deep into a World Cup year.
And while the performance was patchy - the crowd even entering the last resort of Mexican waves and paper planes during times of torpor - this win served its purpose.
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