Analysis as Everton succumbed to a 3-1 defeat to Sunderland at Hill Dickinson Stadium
Iliman Ndiaye has struggled in recent weeks
Iliman Ndiaye has struggled in recent weeks(Image: Ben Roberts/Every Second Media/Shutterstock)
View Image
One day shy of a year earlier, Iliman Ndiaye was the saviour as – after 133 years at the country’s first purpose-built football ground and venue for the most English top flight matches – Everton waved an emotional goodbye to Goodison Park.
The Senegal international netted both of the Blues’ goals as they signed off with a 2-0 win over Southampton and then last August he made history again by registering the first strike in a competitive match at their new Hill Dickinson Stadium home.
Less than a month ago it looked like Ndiaye had completed a hat-trick of landmark efforts when he fired Everton ahead against Liverpool in the inaugural Merseyside Derby by the banks of the Mersey.
While it was cruel on the 26-year-old and the home supporters who for a few glorious moments thought their side were ahead, to rule out the goal, the offside verdict against Jake O’Brien in the build-up, picked up by VAR, was correct.
Author avatar
Author avatar
Since then, the £15million acquisition from Olympique Marseille has been a shadow of his former self and the fan favourite who has made a glad habit of getting spectators up out of their seats through his twinkling toes, appears to have lost his mojo.
In the reverse fixture against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light, Ndiaye showed his rare gifts with a spectacular solo strike but here he was blunt at both ends of the pitch.
Ahead of the Blues’ trip to Brentford last month when they resumed action following the 3-0 romp against Chelsea – which remains their last win – David Moyes was asked about the potential of rich rivals casting admiring glances at Ndiaye and he remarked: “He is the last person I would consider selling.”
Quite right, but that same star who you would back over all his team-mates in one-on-one situations against Manchester City, Crystal Palace and now Sunderland has found his usual cool finishing missing in the most crucial part of campaign.
Coleman departs with no successor in place
Along with the Everton team-mates he led with such distinction, Seamus Coleman has had to battle just to keep the Blues afloat in the Premier League in recent years. While there was thankfully no relegation fight this season, the departing club captain deserved much better than this for his final farewell in front of home fans.
The truth is though as the man who played more Premier League games for Everton, and who, through his late cameo, now pushes both former team-mate Leon Osman and all-time leading scorer Dixie Dean – who like Coleman also played for Sligo Rovers – out of the Blues’ top-10 for appearances, brings the curtain down on his time as a player for the club, they still don’t have a successor in place for him.
Rafael Benitez splashed out £11million on Rangers’ Nathan Patterson in January 2022 – 12 days before he was sacked – in the hope he could fill the void, but the Scotland international, who is now deemed surplus to requirements by fellow Glaswegian Moyes, has found himself overlooked by team-mates who would naturally play in the heart of defence.
Having seen Sean Dyche pick Ben Godfrey ahead of him, Patterson has played second fiddle to Jake O’Brien in the role since Moyes’ return. While the 6ft 6in defender has always been game in the role and has been affectionately dubbed ‘The Cork Cafu’ by this correspondent for his efforts, this troubled display against Sunderland was not his finest hour and once more reiterated why ahead of the winter window closing, his manager felt compelled to admit Everton had been actively searching for a new right-back.
The current situation – with a limited Vitalii Mykolenko (another costly Bentiez buy from his final month in charge at £17million after the former Kop Idol fell out with Lucas Digne, who is set to go into next month’s World Cup finals as France’s first-choice left-back) on the other side of defence is in stark contrast to Moyes’ options in the latter years of his first spell with the Blues. Back then, not only did he have Coleman in his pomp, but Leighton Baines, Everton’s two best full-backs of the Premier League era.
Free Rohl
Everton’s David Moyes – the oldest and most experienced current Premier League manager – is an unabashed fan of German football. If the 63-year-old hadn’t dipped his toes in overseas coaching with Real Sociedad after his Manchester United disappointment, he might have been tempted to have chanced his arm in the Bundesliga.
Goodison Park’s greatest night came as – in a reversal of the scoreline against Sunderland – the Blues came from behind to beat Germany’s most-successful club Bayern Munich 3-1, but the club have only ever had four German players, and they’ve all been signed on Moyes’ watch.
After understudy goalkeeper Stefan Wessels, Shkodran Mustafi (who was only given 15 minutes of action off the bench in a European dead rubber but progressed to become a World Cup winner) and Thomas Hitzlsperger, capped 52 times yet turning out on just nine occasions for Everton at the end of his career, Rohl became the first of his compatriots to score for the club.
Signed on loan from Aston Villa’s Europa League final opponents Freiburg on deadline day of last summer’s transfer window with an obligation to buy, the 23-year-old will now join the Blues on a permanent transfer.
Having switched from central midfield to the right wing in recent weeks after a prolonged absence from the side after an impressive display in the engine room in the 1-0 win at Aston Villa in January, it’s still unclear what his best position is but on a day of huge disappointment, his efforts offered some crumbs of comfort going forward.