A round-up of how the national media reported on Everton's dramatic 2-1 comeback win over Crystal Palace in stoppage time
Everton came from behind to enjoy a last-gasp 2-1 win over Crystal Palace at Hill Dickinson Stadium. Here is a round-up of how the national media reported on the action.
Hill Dickinson Stadium roof almost came off as Everton ensure Palace run is history
Oliver Glasner felt the pain of defeat for the first time since 16 April. Channelled the right way and Crystal Palace will become a better team, claimed a manager with much to be positive about. But that pain, laced with disbelief at losing their 19-game unbeaten run against Everton, will sting for some time yet.
Glasner has worked wonders at Palace but improving his club’s miserable record against Everton proved a step too far. The visitors should have been celebrating a first win at Everton since 2014 but a lack of ruthlessness, a rare defensive lapse and a stirring finish from David Moyes’ side combined to shatter that aspiration.
Palace were hugely impressive in the first half, Everton a distant second best until the interval introductions of Carlos Alcaraz and Beto began to turn the tide. Even then Jean-Philippe Mateta should have put the game beyond the hosts.
It was a question of when, not if, the visitors would take the lead and they did so with a goal that showcased Palace’s individual quality and the collective intelligence of a team that know precisely what their manager wants. Sarr rolled a perfectly weighted pass into the overlapping Muñoz who, with Pickford rushing across goal, converted his second goal in two games with ease. “We’re gonna win the league,” sang the jubilant Palace hordes. Palace’s first-half superiority tried the patience of the home support almost as much as Everton’s performance. Moyes’ team were slow and sloppy, with the summer signings Thierno Barry and Tyler Dibling toiling badly. Both were unceremoniously hooked after 45 minutes.
It was the third time in four games that Moyes has switched his two main strikers at half-time. The changes paid off. Everton were handed a route back into the game when Maxence Lacroix misread Vitalii Mykolenko’s pass towards Beto and collided with Tim Iroegbunam as the substitute advanced on his blind side. It was a clear penalty and Ndiaye coolly sent Henderson the wrong way from the spot. Suddenly, having been in almost total control, Palace were on the back foot. In stoppage time Alcaraz released the goalscorer on the right. Ndiaye floated a beautiful cross into the six-yard box that Beto, in the words of his manager, “should have buried”. Henderson somehow saved at point-blank range but was beaten when Grealish read Muñoz’s attempted clearance and diverted the ball into the roof of the net.
The roof of Hill Dickinson Stadium almost came off. Palace’s luck was out and their proud unbeaten run was history.
Moyes' sermon struck a chord with Grealish
The Times’ Paul Joyce commented:
David Moyes had taken Jack Grealish to one side recently and told him that in order for his luck to change in front of goal he needed to shoot more often and spend more time in the penalty area. Clearly, the sermon struck a chord.
Crystal Palace’s long unbeaten run ran aground at 19 matches and judging by manager Oliver Glasner’s demeanour at the final whistle he will know they played a leading role in defeating themselves. The visitors should have been out of sight around the hour mark, but allowed Everton to equalise and then, in the closing stages, succumbed to a sucker punch.
Iliman Ndiaye’s cross teed up Beto whose point-blank header was brilliantly saved by Dean Henderson. However, in attempting to clear his lines, Daniel Muñoz crashed the ball into the left boot of Grealish and the rebound sent the net billowing.
Grealish celebrated as if he had scored from 30 yards, not three, but his reaction could be excused. It was his first goal since April 2 against Leicester City when he was a Manchester City player.
For long periods Hill Dickinson Stadium had sounded as if it was on the verge of mutiny so ragged had the home team been. Now the shimmering new ground has its moment, the noise thunderous at the final whistle, and Everton will be better for it regardless of how it came.
Of course, Palace have benefited from time together and have a clear style of play.
Everton, in contrast, are trying to build a team that fits their grand surroundings; that is always going to take time. Even so, the boos at half-time provided evidence that patience is not limitless and nor should it be.
The paucity of Everton’s attacking options is laid bare by the fact Moyes has now replaced either Barry or Beto with the other at half-time in three of the club’s last four matches. There is little either could complain about other than a rather unique job share is hardly conducive to building confidence.
There was an improvement after the break, Beto and Alcaraz running in behind, but Everton only remained in with a puncher’s chance after two poor misses from Mateta in four minutes after the hour mark. Everton would have considered themselves fortunate to grab a point, all three after Grealish was in the right place at the right time will feel like a bonus.
Everton unrecognisable after Freaky Friday moment
In the Daily Mail, Nathan Salt wrote:
For 45 minutes this was looking like one of the easiest games of football Crystal Palace would play all season. 1-0 up through Daniel Munoz, Everton offering nothing in attack with an Expected Goals of 0.04 and both Tyler Dibling and Thierno Barry were hooked at half-time by an unimpressed David Moyes. Would Palace ever lose again? That was the running joke on the way to the ground for many. Here they showed they are human after all. This has always been a nightmare trip for Palace, whether at Goodison Park or now here at the Hill Dickinson Stadium. Palace are now winless in their last 11 Premier League away games at Everton (D4 L7). Not since the days of Neil Warnock in September 2014 when they won 3-2 have they left the blue side of Merseyside with a win. This was as much about Palace shooting themselves in the foot as it was Everton having something of a Freaky Friday moment at half-time. In the second 45 they were unrecognisable. Jack Grealish, his first goal since scoring against Leicester in April, was the hero but it was Iliman Ndiaye who dragged Everton back into this, not least through his equalising penalty but also with his doggedness in and out of possession. This is the kind of performance that must become a benchmark for Everton if they are to trouble the top half of the table this season. They have problems, not least up top, but they've done what their bitter rivals Liverpool couldn't do and that's beat this well-oiled Palace machine which saw many filtering out with an enormous smile on their face.
There is something to be said for a player rediscovering their love for football in real time and that's what it feels like with Grealish. Not just scoring the match-winning goal but everything about Everton for Grealish makes sense. He turned up here with a big smile on his face and spoke to broadcasters beforehand about how he already feels at home since joining on loan from Manchester City. By the end he was smiling for the medlam he caused in the stands for all the right reasons with his 93rd minute winner. Only Erling Haaland and Antoine Semenyo have more goal contributions (9) than Jack Grealish (5) this season in the Premier League. Not bad company to keep.
Goodison roar transported
Richard Jolly of the Independent declared:
The Croydon Invincibles are no more. Crystal Palace’s unbeaten run had spanned seasons, taken them to Norway and Poland, incorporated five competitions from the Community Shield to the Europa Conference League, but finally it is over. The scourge of Liverpool encountered their bogey team on Merseyside.
Threatened with the loss of their own undefeated status, at their new stadium, Everton mounted a comeback. For the first time since April, Palace lost. For the first since April, Jack Grealish scored. And Oliver Glasner’s army finally fell to defeat, when they could have sealed a victory that was theirs for the taking. Perhaps this was an illustration of the difficulties of competing in Europe: Palace had beaten Dynamo Kyiv near the Ukrainian border on Thursday. On the banks of the Mersey, Glasner said: “I have seen 60-70 minutes of fantastic performance.” And instead, they allowed Everton to join them in the top eight on what became a landmark occasion for them. Their maiden injury-time winner at the new Hill Dickinson Stadium meant the Goodison roar was transported two miles to a new home.
Everton get stadium lift-off moment as Crystal Palace star's refusal punished
And the ECHO's Chris Beesley stated:
Before this game, Everton manager David Moyes revealed that he’d told Jack Grealish he wanted him to shoot more but surely even the Blues boss wasn’t expecting a moment like this.
The on-loan star netted a stoppage time winner to complete a dramatic comeback for his side and stop Crystal Palace extending their unbeaten run to 20 matches.
It was a simple instruction but in truth this game hinged just as much on a second half sliding doors flashpoint which exemplified another Moyes request and could go down in Everton folklore alongside Phil Neville’s bone-crunching challenge on Cristiano Ronaldo in front of the Bullens Road Stand during the Glaswegian gaffer’s first spell in charge.
When Everton moved from their home for the past 133 years, to Hill Dickinson Stadium this summer, Moyes said he wanted them to bring “the soul” of Goodison Park with them and while their previous ground was affectionately known by fans as “The Grand Old Lady,” she was more belligerent battleaxe that sweet grandmother and hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
Blues fans are often galvanised into life when a decision angers them and the momentum in this game turned when Palace’s Yeremy Pino refused to withdraw when the hosts had a free-kick by the centre circle.
Both James Garner – who shoved the Palace man – and manager Moyes, got a yellow card for their troubles but Everton got their cue for a comeback.