How’s the heart rate? Calmed down yet?
Everton, that. Just when you thought they were back, just when they’d drawn you back in, they go and throw it away.
This time, the late sucker-punch cost Everton two points, rather than led to a defeat, but it’s hard not to think of just how important that win could have been. And it would have been richly deserved, too.
Here’s a few things we learned…
Football's A Game Of Two Halves
There was plenty of furore when the line-up was announced, with Merlin Rohl brought in from the cold to play out on the right wing (more on that to come), and by half-time, from some of the reactions online, you’d think Everton were 4-0 down.
Sure, Man City had dominated possession, but they had only created two half-openings before Everton crafted the best opportunity of the first half — Gianluigi Donnarumma denying a certain goal.
Jeremy Doku, who’d come back to break our hearts later on, then provided a moment of magic, but Everton flipped the script in the second half and showed what they can do.
Footy’s a game of two halves, let’s all just take that into account sometimes.
Rohl Shows His Worth
I won’t argue that some of David Moyes’ decisions when it comes to handing players minutes this season has been bizarre, and I won’t say that Rohl at right wing was on my bingo card, either.
But you know what, he played brilliantly. Defensively he teamed up as well as he could with Jake O’Brien and, in the second half, he pushed on and offered the kind of dynamism that has been badly lacking when Dwight McNeil has played there as of late, and frankly, when Tyler Dibling has been given a chance.
He set up Thierno Barry’s second goal and also created that great chance in the first half, just by showing a bit of pace and urgency to run in behind. Long-term, he’s a central player, but this could be an option for the final three games.
Barry Gets His Grove Back
It still might be the case that Barry leaves Everton this summer, but his cameo is exactly what he needed. Not just his goals, but his intensity, his press, his effort!
Do that, and it’s all Evertonians ask for, and the goals will come. Both of his finishes were exceptional. He deserved to be on the winning side.
He was let down by the refereeing, and his defensive team-mates — I don’t think I can really say we “learned” that Michael Keane and James Tarkowski should not be playing together, but their defending for Erling Haaland’s goal was atrocious on so many levels.
The Officials Are Hopeless!
We all know how sorry the state of officiating is not just in this country, but globally.
However, the levels hit new lows here.
Quite how the assistant referee thought Barry should be flagged offside for his equaliser, when Marc Guehi had purposefully played the ball back towards Donnarumma, is baffling. And how the officials missed Bernardo Silva’s blatant foul on Röhl from a corner, which should have resulted in a penalty, really just makes you think what’s the point.
For VAR to have a long look at the latter incident and decide the ball wasn’t in play long enough while the foul occurred to then not be awarded as a penalty is disgusting.
Everton complained to PGMOL last week. They should be on the case again. They are a pathetic bunch and should be called out at every given opportunity.
And let’s not get started on Michael Oliver then adding on over 30 seconds for the final substitution, which occurred in a period where the ball was out of play for less than 30 seconds anyway, and only happened due to an injury.
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Posted 05/05/2026 at 09:17:13
We learned if we want to achieve Europe we should play like we did in the second half, not like the first half.
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