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Thierno Barry celebrates the goal that sealed Everton's win over Crystal Palace, but while it was a fine start to the season, Joe Thomas believes David Moyes must be backed with more signings
Thierno Barry celebrates the goal that sealed Everton's win over Crystal Palace, but while it was a fine start to the season, Joe Thomas believes David Moyes must be backed with more signings
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Everton can take heart from their win over Crystal Palace but must not let a welcome three points distract the club from the need to strengthen.
The Blues produced a competent display in which [David Moyes](http://David Moyes) was bolstered by his younger players stepping up and his senior figures providing the two moments of real quality as his side earned a first opening day win since 2021.
Yet Place also exposed weaknesses in Everton that, while unpunished, should still serve as a sign that work needs to be done for the club to challenge for the progress called for this week by chief executive Angus Kinnear.
The Blues should have conceded at least once in the opening exchanges, with Jean-Philippe Mateta flicking over from close range in the first half before hitting the post, either side of a wonderful Jordan Pickford save from Eddie Nketiah.
While Everton rode their luck it would be wrong to claim they should have been out of the game by the break. Pickford’s save was extraordinary but heroic feats are a benefit of having an exceptional goalkeeper, while the Blues posed problems too and Iliman Ndiaye could have finished a sweeping move but shot too close to Dean Henderson after a pull-back from Merlin Rohl.
Rohl, chosen over Jake O’Brien in the battle to take on the job of makeshift right-back, was a game competitor who fought for the ball and, when he had the chance, was able to use his pace over distance to cause defender Tyrick Mitchell real problems.
Yet Everton need to move beyond relying on people to have good games in the context of playing out of position. Moyes spoke highly of Rohl at the final whistle and rightly so, the 24-year-old has built on a strong finish to last season with a good summer and deserves opportunities in the first team.
This performance was both evidence of his ability as a player but also of his limitations as a full-back, though. Of the three big chances Palace created, both of Mateta’s came from Nketiah crosses from the left. The first stemmed from a James Tarkowski misjudgement but Nketiah’s opportunity came from Adam Wharton chipping the ball over Rohl’s head to find the run of his man.
Moyes was right after the match to point to the need for a recruit to be better than the options he has and, in fairness to Rohl, he had a better game than the natural right-back on the other side of the pitch - Daniel Munoz is on the list of Everton targets and spoke to Moyes after the match but he was made to struggle by Tyrique George.
But there needs to be acceptance that a specialist would provide an improvement, particularly in judging those stick or twist scenarios when O’Brien’s instinct is to defend, Rohl’s to attack, and a capable midfielder like Adam Wharton can use the uncertainty to cause a problem.
In fairness to Moyes and Kinnear, both say they want to sign a right-back - the manager clarifying his stance after Palace having hinted he had faith in the squad options available to him before the game.
It remains hard to envisage the club not following through on a player in that position - one that even players in the squad believe needs addressing - and that will both make the first team more coherent and allow O’Brien and Rohl to supplement Moyes’ options at centre-back and centre-midfield respectively, where both can make a strong case to say they warrant the chance for genuine opportunities.
But the failure to have found a solution at right-back thus far is not ideal, particularly given the need to address that position pre-dates both the return of Moyes and the takeover of the Friedkin Group (TFG).
Opportunities to build on the current squad beyond right-back also need to be looked into. Everton will be improved by the return of James Garner and introduction of Christian Norgaard, and with one of those on the pitch may have been able to stymie the early creativity of Wharton and Daichi Kamada, but will remain reliant on a number of players having breakout campaigns if they truly want to push for the top half of the table and potentially Europe.
To have a serious chance of doing so with the current squad,Jarrad Branthwaite would need to stay fit (though O’Brien is a capable back-up), Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Garner match the feats they achieved last season, Thierno Barry become a regular goalscorer and at least one of George and Tyler Dibling have a breakout season to put pressure on Ndiaye and [Brennan Johnson](http://Brennan Johnson).
There were promising signs on several of these fronts on Saturday. George was very good in only his second start in Royal Blue, Barry found the back of the net and Branthwaite impressed and survived the match, despite several scares. Like Pickford, Dewsbury-Hall seized his role as a senior talisman and produced match-changing magic with his superb opening strike. Hayden Hackney was good on his debut and Harrison Armstrong was exceptional.
The Blues clearly have a solid team when it is at full strength and they have the nucleus of a side that could be really exciting in a year or two - so many of the players aged 24 and below could hit their stride at a similar time. With the right strategy and intent, there is a squad that can build towards something genuinely enticing.
The challenge is to avoid undermining that growth in its early stages by putting too much pressure on too few players - on the young ones to deliver consistently, immediately, and on the likes of Ndiaye, Garner, Dewsbury-Hall and Pickford to continue to provide game-changing moments.
The squad, as it is, is compromised too severely if, say, neither Barry nor Beto finds a ruthless streak, if Vitalii Mykolenko - who played well on Saturday - shows the signs of defensive uncertainty he displayed at the end of last season, if Moyes does not believe he can turn to Adam Aznou if he needs an offensive threat from left-back, or if the team becomes over-reliant on Ndiaye for creativity and Dewsbury-Hall for goals.
Everton will not be able to solve all of those issues but I would be surprised if, beyond a right-back, there are not serious efforts to improve elsewhere before the deadline, though success will be partly dependent on the lottery of the final days of the transfer window. Some of what is possible will also be impacted by outgoings, with decisions to be made on the likes of Tim Iroegbunam and Beto, and whether Nathan Patterson can find the new opportunity all parties must believe is needed.
But a good win over Palace and the promise it contained - and reminders of the self-sabotaging capabilities of Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur this weekend - should not be taken for granted if TFG truly want the Blues to compete for Europe and the cups now, as suggested by Kinnear.
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