Michael Ball tackles the big issues at Hill Dickinson Stadium after Everton's 1-1 draw with Sunderland
The easiest element of David Moyes’ job as Everton manager must be that nobody is coming into him at Finch Farm, knocking on his door and saying: “That’s why I should be playing.”There have been a few times now this season, like the Carabao Cup defeat at Wolves, where he’s tried to give minutes to these players, but when they’ve been given the opportunity, they’ve let themselves down. We’ve got to be realistic over where we’ve been as a football club but look at where Sunderland have been and how they’re now getting good results with a bit of hard work and determination. Because I’ve seen us play some good football, I was confident we’d get something out of the game and we started excellently.We could have been three nil up after half an hour and it was great to see how we were playing, but then the warning signs crept back in. After Thierno Barry’s miss, we seemed to go into survival mode where we haven’t got the confidence to get the ball forward, everyone backs off and the midfield doesn’t win any second balls.Sunderland were showing their physicality and fitness levels, which I was hoping were going to drop and we might get a way back in, but we just totally lost control of the game and were dominated. I heard some really disturbing stats about the rest of the game, like we didn’t get the ball into their box until the 90th minute.
Vitalii Mylolenko was under a lot of pressure and he kept giving away soft throw-ins. He didn’t seem to have enough confidence in his ability to kick the ball up the pitch to find one of his team-mates. Jordan Pickford was just kicking the ball to nobody. Three times in the last 10 minutes he gave up possession, twice kicking it to their goalkeeper and once out of play.Surrendering possession like that is horrendous. You’re not going to dominate for 90 minutes, we’re not at that level at all – even top teams have 10-minute spells in which they’ve got to survive – but having to resort to last-ditch challenges isn’t good enough. We’ve got away with so much because we play so deep. Jordan has got to trust his team-mates to find a pass but we’re so disjoined when we’re under pressure, nobody seems to be taking responsibility which must be very concerning for the manager.This was Sunderland, not a top European side we weren’t playing Real Madrid or Barcelona. With the quality on the pitch, they shouldn’t be dictating us and bullying us in the way that they did for the last hour of that match.It’s been the story of our season in many ways. In one respect, you’re thinking: “I can’t believe we’re only going to come out of this with a draw,” but then in many ways we were actually lucky to do so.The way the knock downs were falling, we had bodies there and just had to clear it. Sunderland’s goal though, again we had loads of bodies in there, but nobody took responsibility.Nobody was trying to tackle or press the ball, everyone was standing or watching, so what’s the point being there? They may as well be another 10 or 15 yards up the pitch.We started great, Iliman Ndiaye scored a fantastic goal, Jack Grealish hit the post and there was Thierno Barry’s miss, but why does our confidence drop when we don’t take advantage? It’s happened a few times now where we’ve been on top of teams, we’ve huffed and puffed but haven’t killed the game by having that ruthless streak to put the ball in the net.I thought Barry did okay and he was causing problems, but then he has that really bad miss and there’s a stupid reaction as he picks up an unnecessary yellow card and it leaves Moyes no option but to take him off in the second half. There was a moment where there were several Sunderland players around him, but he could have held the ball up pretty easily, but he gave up possession rather softly and there was no reaction, like his head had gone after his miss.Everyone makes mistakes in football, but then you have to react. If you lose the ball, run to get it back.The manager was left with no choice but to go back to Beto and it’s been the same all season, swapping between those two. However, what I was really frustrated and scratching my head about was the other substitutions and while I wasn’t at the game, I’ve been told by those who were there that the reaction was a bit toxic. Dwight McNeil comes on to play on his weak side. He didn’t seem physically and mentally ready for me, perhaps he was surprised to get the nod?He lost the ball with his first three touches and then got pushed down very softly. His body language looked very poor.Like Barry, yes, you’re struggling, but if things go wrong, you can’t sulk.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall wants to get on the ball and he tried to do a couple of Kevin De Bruyne ‘Hollywood’ passes when he didn’t need to. Just play the odds, he had massive spaces either side to do a through-ball, rather than being naive and surrendering possession when it’s unnecessary.
The fans keep on going on about Charly Alcaraz, saying he needs to be in the starting 11, he could play in the 10 or even up front, but he came on towards the end and showed why he’s not starting. He kicked a simple 10-yard ball out of play, and then there was a two-versus-one situation to win us the match – supposedly his bread and butter – he couldn’t make that opportunity more difficult if he tried. It was a straightforward control and pass. It could have been a nice one-two back to him and goal – for what would have been an undeserved winner – but his head was down, and he wasn’t aware of his surroundings and did stepovers and everything that Sunderland wanted him to do.
Okay, it’s difficult to play catch-up but it’s a dog-eat-dog world and I was having to play catch-up when I was out of favour at Everton under Walter Smith. As soon as you’re given that shirt you’ve got to put a performance in to say: “You’re not dropping me again.”
I remember it happened to me when I came on during a game against Southampton and I scored my first goal in front of the Gwladys Street from the penalty spot. I proved a point with the message: “I’m here to stay and I want to fight for my place.”