Michael Ball tackles the big issues at Hill Dickinson Stadium after Everton's 2-0 win over Fulham
There’s been a lot of frustration with Everton, but I feel that has gone now. Fulham have been struggling away from home, but we made sure they weren’t going to have an easy afternoon and you notice at Hill Dickinson Stadium when we do the high press and force issues, the crowd are up for it.
I think everyone was wondering what David Moyes would do and whether he’d show he isn’t predictable in his team selection and he can change his personnel and tactics. When you look at the fixtures that are on the horizon, this looked like a pretty big game.
This last block of fixtures since the previous international break has not gone well for us. We’ve played well in parts and produced some decent football, but haven’t picked up the points we’d have wanted and we could have found ourselves in a poor situation if didn’t return to winning ways.
Thankfully, the manager made a change that a lot of fans have spoken about possibly happening, putting James Garner at right-back. Going forward, he is a lot more composed and his deliveries into the box and down the line to Thierno Barry are sharper and faster, but you can see, he’s not a right-back.
It worked and he did well, but I had to remind a lot of fans who have been pushing for this that James had never played at right-back in senior football until he came to Everton. You can see in one-v-one situations, he’s not a typical right-back.
James Garner is a fantastic footballer and he’s one of these players that you could put in any position, and he’d put a good shift in for you. I think long-term though, and for the club’s point of view, trying to get a right-back in has to be a priority.
That should have been one of the first summer signings, but we failed to do that. I think moving forward, it will probably be an area that David Moyes decides to pick and choose in.
I think it was the right decision to try it at Hill Dickinson Stadium against Fulham, but going away to Manchester United next time up, might not be the answer. Kevin is a tricky winger and James got caught out one-v-one a couple of times, but there are better quality wide men out there and as a full-back your job is to stop crosses, and he hasn’t got that natural defensive-minded positioning.
Jake O’Brien has done that against some top wingers since he’s been playing and for someone who is 6ft 6in playing right-back, he’s put in some great performances against some really tricky wide men. Garner remains an option, but I think David Moyes would like to bring a natural right-back into the football club and I wouldn’t be surprised to see O’Brien back in there, especially away from home.
I thought the whole team put a good shift in and dug deep. Jordan Pickford had a very quiet afternoon but still had to pull off two great saves that he made look pretty easy while his distribution was fantastic at times and awful at others, being called upon to get us up the pitch with a couple of wonder kicks to Jack Grealish and Iliman Ndiaye.
The nature of the Premier League table at the moment is such that Everton find themselves five points off third place and five points above the relegation zone. Imagine where we’d be now if they won the Aston Villa game or the matches with West Ham United and Sunderland where they’d gone ahead and looked good for a time?
We’ve been a bit underwhelmed with recent results, so you didn’t want that negativity from creeping in or it would have felt like a long 16 days.
Strong display for Barry can kick-start his season
I thought Thierno Barry handled himself really well. We all know that strikers would deep down rather play badly and score goals, but I thought he produced a really strong performance for the team, trying to take players on, battling and doing lots of good flicks to the likes of Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.
He was unfortunate not to get his first goal but if he keeps putting in those kind of displays and showing that energy, showing a positive reaction when he does lose the ball, the Evertonians will be fully behind him and we can’t wait for him to get on the scoresheet.
Barry is far from being the first player to come into the Premier League and take a while to get up to pace. There are strikers who cost a lot more than him who are still waiting for their first Premier League goal with their new club.
At his previous club he also always had a striking partner to play off so there are fewer options for him and there are lots of things for him to adapt to. But now he’s shown that he can be physical and show a bit of strength, he did that in abundance against Fulham and held his own against some strong guys, which was good to see.
You get the free-kicks for the little niggles and pushes in the other leagues but the Premier League is tougher and stronger and I think that performance will give him a huge amount of confidence. Hopefully he can now have a nice run of games up front now to get his rhythm and up to speed.