Our Everton fans' jury reflect on Monday's thrilling but ultimately sickening 3-3 draw with Premier League title chasers Manchester City
liverpoolecho
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - MAY 4: Everton's Thierno Barry celebrates scoring his side's first goal with Manchester City's Gianluigi Donnarumma close by during the Premier League match between Everton and Manchester City at Hill Dickinson Stadium on May 4, 2026 in Liverpool, United Kingdom. (Photo by Lee Parker - CameraSport via Getty Images)
Thierno Barry celebrates after drawing Everton level against Manchester City(Image: Lee Parker - CameraSport via Getty Images)
View Image
It's still hard to take, isn't it? For while Everton were superb in Monday's 3-3 draw with title-chasing Manchester City at Hill Dickinson Stadium, it still feels like two points dropped.
That said, it was still one point gained on other teams still fighting it out for a place in Europe going into the final three rounds of the Premier League.
And if the performance against City raised spirits, if not necessarily how the match ended, victory at Crystal Palace on Sunday would certainly elevate them further and keep the dream alive.
And ahead of the trip to to Selhurst Park, we get the thoughts of our Everton fans' jury...
Mark McParlan
It was heartbreaking, and gutting to concede at the death for the third match in a row. We were on the verge of a famous night at Bramley-Moore Dock, with the eyes of the world on us. But it won’t have shattered the spirits of our players, and it shouldn’t for us fans either, painful as it is. The Erling Haaland goal was the most stupid one from our perspective.
We certainly can’t blame the referee for adding another minute when we made three substitutes in injury time. These things do come in cycles. We snatched a last-minute point away at Brentford when we probably didn’t deserve it. We scored late winners at Newcastle and Fulham. We scored in the 97th minute to equalise at Brighton.
I still came out of that match feeling 10 times better about our team than I did going into it. We can create chances against top sides. That was the game, and those were the goals which will win back complete support for Thierno Barry from the Everton faithful (even if I’d question where that substitute performance was in the derby).
Like many I was impressed by the performance of Merlin Rohl, who still clearly had the energy, despite 80 minutes of hard work, to run onto Jake O’Brien’s ball, breeze past two defenders, and set up Barry’s second of the evening. Similarly, Tim Iroegbunam’s relentless challenges and harassment of City in the middle of the park helped set the tone for us in that second half.
We have earned a point where I thought we would have none. Two wins and a draw from our final three would give us a mighty chance of snatching top eight. It’s perhaps unlikely that we achieve those seven points, but not impossible if our general play resembles that which we produced in the second half against Manchester City.
Crystal Palace away is not an easy first test, but their form is patchy, Selhurst Park is a ground we usually get something at, and they have the Conference League to distract their focus. I saw enough on Monday night to get myself sucked in again – perhaps the dream is still just about alive!
Paul McParlan
Regardless of what happened in the final seconds of extended stoppage time, this was the best second-half performance that I have seen this season from Everton.
For the first 45 minutes, the Blues struggled to get a foothold in the game and struggled to keep possession for any sustained spell. Fortunately , City only managed to score one goal which kept our flickers of hope alive. Few Toffees in the crowd, me included, could have anticipated the transformation in our play when the second half started.
Instead of tamely letting City stroke the ball around, Everton closed them down, with some strong challenges, which forced their players into making errors. Tim Iroegbunam and Merlin Rohl started to win the midfield battle and their drive and determination lifted the crowd and their team-mates.
We began to use long balls to good effect with Iliman Ndiaye failing to find the net with only the keeper to beat. The arrival of the much-maligned Thierno Barry on 62 minutes added a new dimension to our attacks. He was alert when the ball unexpectedly came his way and took his chances calmly to score two goals and earn redemption in the eyes of fans.
In between, a brilliant near-post header from Jake O’Brien almost lifted the roof off Hill Dickinson Stadium - the noise was deafening and the stadium was bouncing. It was the loudest it has been. Not many visiting teams have found the new stadium to be a brutal bearpit, but suddenly it was.
We were cruising at 3-1 with eight minutes of normal time remaining. We just needed to kill the game and rejoice in raucous revelry that reverberated around the stadium. Except, Everton never make things easy, do they? Straight after our third goal, a pass found Erland Haaland, who simply strolled through the centre of our defence to chip the ball over Jordan Pickford to make it 3-2. Cue anxiety instead of celebration
In this situation the top teams know how to hang on to their lead. They waste time, they fall down and feign injury, they disrupt the flow of the game and they take the ball into the corners. They are not too concerned about scoring another goal. We should have done exactly this.
Charly Alcaraz, received the ball in the final minute. Instead of keeping possession and wasting time, he tried an ambitious header, which went straight to Rayan Cherki who ran forward and earned the corner from which Jeremy Doku equalised in the final seconds of the game to make it 3-3.
We should have won that match. Instead, we have now collected two points out of a possible 12 and have conceded nine goals in our last four outings, three of them in stoppage time. This winless run is crushing our European hopes.
If we fail to win at Crystal Palace on Sunday, we can put away our passports for another year. It’s always the hope that kills you!
James Kellett
Everton’s 3-3 draw against Manchester City ultimately ended in vain, and just as it looked like the Blues were about to achieve their first win against Pep Guardiola’s side since 2017, they handed their opponents a late point.
In their recent match, there were shades of the Toffees' horrendous 3-2 defeat against Bournemouth last season, as although the men in royal blue collapsed in the latter stages, it was in fact an impressive performance.
While it is gutting to see David Moyes’ side collapse once again in stoppage time, there were good performances from players who have not had the opportunity for consistent minutes in the starting XI.
Tim Iroegbunam was named player of the match, Thierno Barry added two to his goal tally, but Merlin Rohl was the man who shone.
Playing in an unfamiliar position on the right wing, he played his role to perfection by helping Everton up the pitch with darting runs, and he proved to be handy support in defence too.
It was encouraging to see a player, who has not had an easy first season on Merseyside, take a game by the scruff of its neck, and put in a determined performance against one of the best sides in the world.
Moyes had recently shown his full support for Rohl, but the German made the most out of a rare opportunity.
The 23-year-old midfielder is still raw in areas and has much development to come, yet seeing a player willing to fight for the royal blue shirt regardless of opponent or position on the field, was a satisfying sight.
Everton are in full swing with their transition, and having Rohl enter their ranks as another utility man certainly helps for future seasons.