Michael Ball tackles the big issues at Hill Dickinson Stadium ahead of Everton's Carabao Cup tie against Wolverhampton Wanderers
Jack Grealish made his second substitute appearance since returning to Everton at Tottenham Hotspur
Jack Grealish made his second substitute appearance since returning to Everton at Tottenham Hotspur
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It should be payback time for Everton against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night.
The players involved at this stage last season will remember how bad it felt coming back from Molineux having been dumped out of the cup.
If Jordan Pickford has got an injury, I think the club needs to come out and explain that. Everton need to protect him, but they also need to put the fanbase in the picture if he does miss the game and show that they’re still taking this competition seriously like both the owners and the supporters want.
Wolves are doing well and will feel confident because they’re getting good results in the Championship and there are probably a lot of smiles on faces because they’re winning football games again, but we’ve got to remind them that we’re in the Premier League and they’re not.
Fingers crossed we can put in a top performance at Hill Dickinson Stadium to keep the crowd going to maintain this unbeaten run for as long as possible.
We’re concerned about the size of our squad now, but I believe those who we have got are of a higher quality than 12 months ago when we also played Wolves at the same stage of the competition. We made seven changes and they made nine, but it was the mentality of how we went about the game.
David Moyes has got to take accountability for making so many changes, but I felt that the players at the time also let him down. They didn’t step up and show their manager or the supporters why they hadn’t been playing.
These are the opportunities for the fringe players to demonstrate that they want to play in the Premier League and prove that with a top performance. They might argue that it’s difficult to come in from the cold, but you only get so many chances as a footballer and when they come your way, you have to grab them.
It was a bad night for the football club all-round. It killed the season from early on in many ways because the fanbase wanted a cup run and they threw it away after what we thought was a favourable draw.
This time around, Jack Grealish needs game-time so he’ll probably get a run-out and I’d imagine Hayden Hackney will get his opportunity, but will the likes of Tyler Dibling get an opportunity to come and shine? I thought he’d had a fantastic pre-season, so he’s probably frustrated not to have been given a chance yet.
Then, on Saturday, Ipswich Town are a dangerous opponent because, unlike Coventry City who romped to the Championship under Frank Lampard last season, they’ve started well in the Premier League. These are the kind of games that Everton have sometimes thought they could just coast through but have ended up being dragged down to their opponents’ level. It doesn’t matter what the badge is on the shirt, you’ve got to put in the hard yards.
Ipswich’s full-backs like to bomb on and we saw last season what happens when we come up against full-backs who really push on and go for you. We’ve got to be switched on but also play our own game and try to control proceedings, you don’t want to be dictated to by teams like Ipswich in your own stadium.