Michael Ball tackles the big issues at Hill Dickinson Stadium following Everton's 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest
The most pleasing part of the whole performance was how Everton were able to beat Nottingham Forest comfortably without Jack Grealish and Iliman Ndiaye firing on all cylinders. Teams have seen that Grealish is our dangerman, so they’ve overloaded one side and Ndiaye’s form has been great, and they’ve done the same on him to try and stop the threat.They’ve shown glimpses at times, but they have been a bit over-exposed in those situations. Now, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall is exploiting that space. We’re not just a one-man team like we were when Romelu Lukaku was here because if he had an off day, we rarely ever won a football match.Nowadays, we’ve got threats out wide and down the middle and it’s great for David Moyes to have those options. I think playing deeper suits him a bit more. With the personnel we’ve got in the squad, he’s been moved further forwards and has been overlooked in certain moments.He’s shown flashes of good play, but for the past month or so, he’s been outstanding. I think he understands the Everton identity.
Yes, you’ve got to show technical qualities, and he’s got that in abundance with his composure on the ball, his passing and his willingness to run with the ball, but he knows he’s got to dig in and do the dirty work as well and he’s up to that challenge. He’s showing the fans that he wants to wear that royal blue jersey and play for David Moyes.The manager seems to have brought that back to the football club. The players have taken his identity and know it’s going to work if they all dig in together as a team. Kiernan has probably been overshadowed a little bit by the early performances of Grealish, while even James Garner’s displays have been widely spoken about and rightly so. But Kiernan has been ticking over, and he’s probably been the signing of the summer so far.It was a disappointing result against Newcastle United, and fans were hoping that was just a one-off. We knew that the squad was down to the bare bones and with Tim Iroegbunam suspended, David Moyes had to change a winning team again.It was another fast start, but fortunately for our side this time around. Getting the early goal settle the crowd and the players down.What I was really pleased about was the togetherness that they showed and that seemed to carry on from the Manchester United performance where they dug in deep. The group of players had shown not only an appetite for technique but also the passion and the hard yards that I always go on about.They’re doing that for their team-mates because they know they’re stretched and they need to be together to get results. But they’re also displaying something that we’ve been lacking and that’s quality in certain areas.I was really pleased with the goal for Thierno Barry, which everyone has been waiting for and hoping was going to come, but also how it came about. We’ve seen many times in the past with this group of players in the past where we’ve tried to counter-attack teams and we’ve messed up the rhythm or the final pass, either being sloppy or a little too eager. Barry’s ability to do a clever run though, going out to the left, and Charly Alcaraz, who looked like the easier pass for Iliman Ndiaye, both did well. Barry showed a lot of composure, made sure he didn’t rush the chance and got his feet right before finding the bottom corner with his shot.Then we saw that huge smile – which you couldn’t take off his face and was brilliant – with the passion of wanting to put the ball in the back of the net. It was a real, team goal though, breaking with quality at key moments and that was pleasing for me.People were saying that Barry needed a run of games in the side and now he’s got that first goal, the burden has been removed off his shoulders. But now he’ll want more and getting into double figures by the end of the season should be his target. Barry has been having to put in a lot of unselfish work up front and it’s probably something that he’s not been used to. He’s had words of encouragement and the arm around the shoulder, but it’s only now that he’ll feel that release. At the end of the day, he’s got to score goals and David Moyes has come out already and said he needs to keep doing it. Strikers are brought in to score at every club, especially Everton, so the pressure is on you to do so.This was also the game that saw Sean Dyche coming back to Everton Football Club. I think he was right when he left, commenting that he felt this squad of players needed a new voice.We’ve got to remember the difficult situation that he had to deal with. There’s not a book on how to run a football club and keep a squad happy when you’re getting points deducted and there’s a mess going on upstairs. Dyche had to deal with a lot of off-the-field stuff and be the face of the club when there was nobody else stepping up, coming out and explaining the situation. It was left on him to try and keep the fans calm while also motivating his players at the same time. The players took it on board and we did enough to stay up, so you’ve got to give him credit for that and it was good to see him getting a decent reception. We were able to enjoy the occasion, the crowd were fantastic and a few Christmas hats were flying about – especially in our area with my son and my nephew. It’s nice to be able to do that and enjoy a fourth win in five matches from a squad that’s very thin.
Big win was karma for horrendous Forest chants
It was great to walk out of Hill Dickinson Stadium and see lots of those Nottingham Forest fans having left very early after some horrendous chants that always seem to happen at this time of the year. It felt like our players sensed it as well, because when they were celebrating at the end, it was like they were giving the Forest fans something back as well.The players seemed to be on to it like it’s Everton Football Club and the city. It’s a difficult time for many people and you don’t want to hear those type of chants, so it was a bit of karma that we steamrollered them with a 3-0 win, sending them packing having picked up the three points in empathic fashion.We know what Everton in the Community do for lots of people, with the sleepout campaigns, helping the homeless to get back on their feet again, and the foodbanks, something that’s not been forgotten about following the move from Goodison Park to Hill Dickinson Stadium.You can have banter at football, we love that, and it’s all part of the rivalry. I’ve met quite a lot of away fans this season at Hill Dickinson Stadium and they’ve been looking forwards to experiencing what it’s all about, supporting their team but there are lines that you don’t want to cross in the world that we’re living in right now and with people struggling to survive with the cost-of-living issues.
Hopefully Chelsea trip has come at a good time
I’m really loving the togetherness of the group of players. We’ve got two difficult games coming up against two of the sides above us in the table – and there aren’t many of those now!It’s going to be a huge test, and David Moyes will be trying to keep everyone level-headed but of course he wants to get Everton into Europe. He knows it’s going to be a tough stint though and the league is very tight and whether you get a couple of wins or losses, you can go from one extreme to another.The levels that we’re showing right now though, I really believe we can give everyone a game and there are a couple of faces to come back on Saturday, so the manager has finally got an issue over who he is going to pick.Having beaten Manchester United away, if Everton could get a positive result at Chelsea, maybe David Moyes might start believing? We know it would be difficult to qualify for Europe with the lack of depth in the squad that we’ve got.Chelsea are full of world-class stars. They seem to be a bit Jekyll and Hyde, they play unbelievable football at times but also fragility on occasions.We need to be switched on and make ourselves difficult to beat and, fingers crossed, the travelling Everton fans will have something to shout about on the way home. This game has hopefully come at a good time for us with us picking up some good results and keeping clean sheets.