Everton analysis after the 1-1 draw with Sunderland in the Premier League
The Everton players were left frustrated at full time (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)
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This was a very different environment for Jordan Pickford compared to most Premier League away days, given that rather than the usual baiting, the Everton goalkeeper was given a generous round of applause from Sunderland’s supporters before kick-off. To be fair, even Millwall’s notorious fans did that for Tim Cahill when he first returned to the Den for an FA Cup tie in 2006 with the Blues, but then they proceeded to boo the Australian’s every touch once the game was underway.
The same kind of animosity was not present here with Pickford’s son walking out on the pitch wearing a half-and-half Everton/Sunderland shirt but such is the way that the 31-year-old plays the game – even his old PE teacher couldn’t help but chuckle when asked by this correspondent for an article previewing this game whether he’d always been a wind-up merchant – within a few minutes, many among the Black Cats faithful were getting increasingly frustrated by what they saw as a leisurely approach from him when it came to restarting play from goal kicks.
If they were annoyed, then imagine how Pickford must have felt when the hosts drew level before he’d even made a save of note. There had been a few scares just before the interval but within seconds of the restart, Sunderland were level with a deflected effort.
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Credit to the England number one then that he spared the Blues then going behind just moments later when, having been sent the wrong way by another deflection, he was on hand when it mattered to claw the shot clear. Pickford had to leave his beloved Sunderland because they couldn’t offer him Premier League football anymore, but it was this class in recent years that ensured Everton are still there.
Luk how things have changed
So, Everton got off the hook from what was the very real possibility of conceding twice to Sunderland in a matter of moments, but while they could have been 3-0 up here before Regis Le Bris’ men fought back, that’s exactly what they did on their last visit to the Stadium of Light when they actually had a prolific marksman leading their line. Talk about ‘You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone,’ that could be how the Blues have repeatedly tried – and failed – to replace Romelu Lukaku in the eight years since he departed Goodison Park in the same summer that Pickford and Moyes left Sunderland.
Moyes – who broke Everton’s transfer record three times during his first spell in charge in his search for the holy grail of finding a prolific goalscorer – was unable to get James Beattie or Andrew Johnson to replicate their Southampton or Crystal Palace form respectively while Aiyegbeni Yakubu managed it for a season before a long-term injury left him a shadow of his former self. It must have been frustrating then after 11 years in charge to see successor Roberto Martinez land Lukaku during his first transfer window and after a trio of swashbuckling seasons for the Catalan, the Belgian international then served Ronald Koeman for a year before departing to Manchester United.
Kicking off on the hour mark, Lukaku put Moyes’ Sunderland to the sword with an 11-minute hat-trick in another Monday night fixture on September 12, 2016, three of his 87 goals in 166 matches for the club. If only he’d have signed that contract extension that agent Mino Raiola said was “99.9999%” done, he’d have become the first Everton player of the Premier League era to net a century of goals for the club and Farhad Moshiri’s ambitious but failed tenure might have panned out very differently.
In contrast, the Blues are now at the start of a bright, new dawn, but rapid improvements are not going to come easy while Thierno Barry and Beto keep taking it in turns not only to lead the line, but to miss sitters.
Proven Premier League quality
Although he’s still a teenager, one of the plus points Everton saw in their most expensive signing of the summer Tyler Dibling was that despite his tender years, the Southampton wonder kid – unlike Barry – at least possessed some Premier League experience. While exciting times hopefully still lie ahead for Dibling, his current position came into sharp focus when Moyes instead turned to Dwight McNeil rather than his big money buy when Iliman Ndiaye pulled up injured in the second half.
Moyes was left lamenting the number of players who, despite the carrot of Hill Dickinson Stadium and deep pockets of The Friedkin Group, turned their noses up at potential moves to Everton this summer. Before landing Merlin Rohl on transfer deadline day, at various points, the Blues were linked with proven Premier League performers in the engine room, including West Ham United’s Tomas Soucek – who arrived in east London on the Glaswegian gaffer’s watch – and claimed his old boss came calling for him again, and Aston Villa’s John McGinn.
Only this week, when speaking in an interview that primarily focused on the increasing deployment of dead ball situations, Moyes claimed he felt on-field leaders were “as much in fashion at the moment as set-pieces are,” so, what about former Arsenal captain Granit Xhaka who has returned for a second coming in the Premier League after two seasons back in the Bundesliga with Bayer Leverkusen?
A £13million fee for a 33-year-old might seem rather more than nominal, even with today’s inflated figures, but the Swiss international now boasts more than 300 games of experience in English football and he’ll more than repay that price tag many times if he can keep Sunderland in the division. Life might get harder for the Black Cats as the campaign goes on, but they’ve got off to a smashing start and you just wonder whether the Blues could have benefited from such a player and personality within the dressing room.