Michael Ball tackles the big issues at Hill Dickinson Stadium following Everton's 1-0 win at Manchester United
Newcastle United have got a poor away record this season, but Everton don’t want to be the fall guys. Too often in recent years, if a certain player needs a goal to end a drought or an opposition team requires a result, we come a cropper.
We want Hill Dickinson Stadium to be a fortress and will want to put a marker down. It’s an evening kick-off and the atmosphere will be fantastic.
Winning away to Manchester United will have been a big moment for David Moyes personally with the doubters. He has ticked that off and it’s gone now – and he’s done it with 10 men.
Author avatar
Author avatar
He’ll want to make that count. There have been times in recent seasons when we’ve had fantastic results against big teams but then we’ve dropped off the next game because we didn’t show those same levels again.
The confidence of getting the three points against Manchester United should stand us in good stead that we can fight for each other when the chips are down and find solutions when things go against us. Talking of which, looking forward to our next game at home to Newcastle United, Craig Pawson is referee and Darren England is on VAR and we haven’t had a good record with those two in charge.
You don’t want to be talking about match officials and for them to be dominating the agenda but other people from outside the Everton bubble have commented on it with tight decisions and 50/50s never seeming to go our way. We can’t use that as an excuse, we need to be cute and clever.
For example, there are some aspects of the performance at Old Trafford that need to be ironed out. On three occasions, James Tarkowski gave soft free-kicks away for grappling as the referee had his eyes on him from the start, knowing he could have an impact in that respect, so he needs to cut that out.
He needs to be the dummy now and the ball doesn’t go to him as the referee’s eyes will be upon him, looking for those incidents, and that’s letting the opposition off the hook. We’ve got a big, strong team and set-pieces should be really important and dangerous for us.
While Jordan Pickford had an unbelievable game and made a fantastic Neville Southall-esque save to turn the ball around the post, the eight-second rule seems to have got to him. His kicking at times baffled me, don’t be sticking it down the throats of the opposition.
The were a few wild kicks here and there, as I think he forgets about the eight-second rule and because he holds on to the ball for so long, he then looks to get it out of his hands and rushes to produce a kick that’s not how he wants it to be.
While Thierno Barry didn’t look too happy after the game because of the amount of work he’d had to put in against three central defenders, hopefully he is getting a lot of confidence from the physicality he is now showing by winning 14 aerial duels. Newcastle have got big, strong centre-halves and he knows it’s going to be another physical battle for him, so can we get someone up there to support him a bit more?
Hopefully we can start playing to his strengths to help him kick-off his season. He’s showing the right attitude now and that willingness and understanding of what David Moyes wants from him, so he just needs to get that first goal.