Newcastle Utd 0 - 1 Everton
A fine win at Newcastle brings to an end another season — this one obviously historic as the final one at Goodison Park… but we did all that last week.
Winning the last three games of the season is not something Everton can usually manage to pull off. And especially considering the extenuating circumstanaces of recent seasons which have seen too many prolonged relegation battles going down to the wire, it was something of a relief to reputedly have "nothing to play for…" that is, nothing except pride in the Royal Blue shirt of Everton Football Club.
For this was a game where the priveleged few who were there, way up high in the stands, would have gained so much pleasure from that very special moment when Vitalii Mykolenko picked out Charly Alcaraz with a peach of a corss, the Argentinian rising like a transatlantic Salmon to connect perfectly with it and power his header past a static and staionary Nick Pope in the Newcastle goal.
This was on the back of yet more resolute defending, despite the absence of centre-backs James Tarkowski and Jarrad Branthwaite, with two other aging exponennts of the defensive game in Ashley Young and Idrissa Gana Gueye putting in massive performances despite their advancing years.
All the more impressive from Young, who has been derided by many fans simply becuase of his age, and the conviction before so many games this season that he would be torn asunder by younger nimbler faster feet — like those of former Blue Anthony Gordon, who didn't even make it into the second half against his former team with Young pretty effective on that flank.
And in goal, it was another fine perfromace by Jordanm Pickford, who had is own special reason to clebrate the promotion of his home club Sunderland, by pulling out all the stops with some fine saves to prevent crucial goal attempts that could have seen an entirely different scoreline.
Three fine wins to take us to the new Hill Dickinson Stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock, and a new era under new management. David Moyes has set himself a high standard to maintain when the new season starts. He described today's win over Newcastle United as "as good as we've had this season", while insisting the monumental effort of his players was a sign of the standards that should be expected moving forward.
“I think it said more about the players who are playing for Everton today, in terms of what they put in and the character they've got.
“Since I've come in, I can only tell you that the players have been brilliant – their effort, their commitment, their drive.
“Today, we tried to work out how we could make it difficult for Newcastle, because they're coming to qualify for the Champions League today but I thought the players’ mentality was so good.
“If they keep that up, then it will give us every chance. I've said many times we might lack a bit of quality, but it's not the heart, it's not the commitment.
“Some of the players today were immense, they really were. There's quite a few players there who may not be here next season and they didn't flinch once, which is a credit to their professionalism.
“I think that’s a little bit of what this club does to you. You can't give in, you will not give up on it. It's not accepted.
“So what I want them to do now is I want us to take this absolutely into the new stadium.
“I want us to bring good atmosphere in. I mean I have to say the atmosphere inside St James' Park today was incredible, it really was. I hope that it's us who in the future, we're the ones who are challenging for Champions League and we can show them exactly what we've got.
“The away support was brilliant again and we’re thankful we've been able to give them something. We’ve won a few away games and they can travel home today and have a few drinks and enjoy it.
“The support has been magnificent, I've got to say, whether it be at Goodison or away from home, I think it's been great. So now we need to all come together and make sure this is going to happen at the new stadium because we're going to need it.”
But before then is the small matter of half the squad on the point of leaving this summer — we already have four confirmed departures in Young, Doucoure, Begovic and Virginia, with decisions on the remaining players expected as early as Monday.
And the first part of the new transfer window, which opens in less than a week, with Everton's new owners strongly expected to show some key decsion-making when it comes to rebuilding the first-team squad with an eye to having them perform in the upper half of the Premier League next season.
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