It wasn’t a prolific performance from Everton, but it was a comfortable one, dispatching League One Mansfield Town at the Hill Dickinson Stadium to advance to the second round of the EFL Cup.
The Blues had 66% possession, 14 shots, and a whopping 604 completed passes, while limiting the opposition to just three shots with none on target. But more importantly, some of Everton’s best players on the night did not start against Brighton at the weekend — a welcome change from the paper-thin squads of recent seasons.
Carlos Alcaraz tested the Mansfield keeper early with a nice effort from outside the box in the 13th minute, and got Everton’s opener from a similar area early in the second half, curling in a beautiful effort from Harrison Armstrong's lay-off.
Armstrong picked up a second assist in the 90th minute, making a smart run into the box after a gorgeous through ball from James Garner, and squaring it to substitute Beto for a tap-in.
Dwight McNeil made some decent runs into the penalty area and finished level with Vitaliy Mykolenko for the most completed crosses in the match.
While captain Seamus Coleman stepped in at right back to deliver a vintage performance, playing the full 90 minutes of a competitive match for the first time since August of 2024. To go along with positive performances from squad players, David Moyes made use of the added quality on the bench.
When Everton crashed out of the League Cup against Southampton last season, the three substitutes Sean Dyche brought on to try and rescue the game were Ashley Young, Jack Harrison, and Tim Iroegbunam.
The rest of the bench on that night consisted of two goalkeepers and four academy players: Jordan Pickford, Asmir Begovic, Bradley Moonan, Luke Butterfield, Martin Sherif, and Owen Barker. That was after already playing young Roman Dixon at right back, and Dwight McNeil as a makeshift left-back.
Fast-forward to today, and David Moyes was able to comfortably bring off Jack Grealish after 60 minutes, replacing him with new signing Tyler Dibling. Dibling, who joined the club just yesterday, showed glimpses of his talent during his time on the pitch.
Moyes also brought on Beto to replace the tiring Barry, as well as Tim Iroegbunam, Iliman Ndiaye, and Jake O’Brien to help see out the game. Each substitute could be viewed as a regular first-team player for Everton. All this while leaving new signing and one of Everton’s better performers from the weekend, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, on the bench.
There’s certainly still room to grow; Moyes will still want more from his strikers, and the right-back situation leaves much to be desired. But the improvement to the overall squad was visible tonight.
Now Moyes is left with a conundrum not faced by an Everton manager for several years: who do you leave out, and who do you start on Sunday?
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