As a former full-back myself I can tell you that a lot of players would like to line-up alongside Dwight McNeil because he puts in a lot of work to protect the midfield and his defender behind him, a lot of which probably goes unnoticed but we were lacking in creativity and that’s what he’s been brought to the club to do.
I feel this goal at Southampton, to get him off the mark for Everton, will give him huge confidence and kick-start his season but hopefully when Dominic Calvert-Lewin gets back into the team, we’ll see more of McNeil as he can get his half a yard to create opportunities and crosses for strikers.
His stats from last season didn’t really show what he could bring. You have to remember at Burnley he was playing for a team who were playing very defensively and struggling in the league so he wouldn’t have had many opportunities.
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Frank Lampard has pushed Anthony Gordon to increase his numbers but Alex Iwobi is doing that too. He’s now one of the first names on the team sheet in central midfield and helped himself to another assist at Southampton.
With Gordon being given a rest and starting among the substitutes after his illness, McNeil offered a potentially more defensive-minded option in that position but he ended up breaking his duck for his new club with a fantastically-taken goal. It was also great to have Anthony available off the bench as we haven’t had these kind of options who can change the game.
Like Gordon, he’s only a young player who is still developing and hopefully Frank's man-management can keep them both hungry along with the others in their positions. Nobody likes sitting on the bench but modern day football is a squad game and when Dwight got his opportunity, he took it and that gives Frank a huge headache for the next game against Manchester United.
As a full-back, you’ll always question the guy in front of you or having to second guess what their actions will be. You want them to be honest enough and track and you don’t want to have to be talking with your team-mate all the way through the game and forcing him to do things that he doesn’t want to do.
You want them to just naturally do it and then be able to say ‘go away, I’m happy – you get up the pitch.’ These relationships take time to develop but the defence has been fantastic and it shows that Conor Coady can play in a back four, despite any fears that the now sacked Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Bruno Lage might have had.
Coady – who also got his first goal for Everton at Southampton – is another leader we have in the squad now, along with the likes of Jordan Pickford and Seamus Coleman who came back in. Many of those outside of Everton seem to question Pickford, perhaps because they don’t get to see him enough, but we all know he’s England’s number one.
He’s been erratic at times in the past but he’s produced consistently good form for many months now and wearing the captain’s armband this season also seems to have calmed him down a bit while he’s taken on the responsibilities of that role in the right way and is asking more of his team-mates in certain moments. Obviously with club captain Seamus Coleman coming back in, he’s put the armband back on but Pickford bounced straight back into the side and those same levels, pulling off some fantastic saves when called upon.
Starting to feel like the Moyes era again
It was a fantastic win away from home for Everton that was much-needed for us. I think that Lampard set up his team in the correct manner and it shows how far we’ve come as a football club under his leadership.
We looked the more dominant side in the first half and Southampton were there for the taking but how many times have we said that about Everton only for them not to have taken advantage when they could smell blood with the opposition? We had a couple of chances that we didn’t put away and when we went into half-time level, I was wondering ‘is this not going to be our day again?’
A bit of sloppy play ensured we found ourselves a goal down – you get punished if you do that in the Premier League as Idrissa Gueye found out – and I didn’t think Southampton deserved to be ahead but that seemed to wake the beast from within us and the leaders within the team came to the fore. The response from Everton’s players was great to see as we came away with a well-deserved three points.
It’s still a new-look team who are trying to gel and it’s far from perfect we wouldn’t have taken advantage of those kind of situations a year ago, indeed we’ve now taken five points from the last three away games having picked up just one from the equivalent fixtures last season.
You’ve got to show those fans who have travelled in great numbers across the country to support you again despite the train strike that you’re willing to put in the hard yards to get back into the game by making things as difficult as you can for the opposition. Unfortunately such traits have been lacking among many at our club for several years but it now seems to be there in abundance with this squad.
That could be coming from Coady and James Tarkowski or even though he made the mistake that led to the goal, Gueye’s willingness to put out fires all over the pitch. They also stood firm when defending set-pieces which have been very nervy moments for us in the recent past.
There was a great clip on social media that the club put out showing Vitalii Mykolenko, Tarkowski and Coleman all putting blocks in and Pickford diving all over the place in the background. The lads are putting their bodies on the line for the cause like they should be doing and they’re really proud, doing everything they can to protect their goal.
We’ve got the best defensive record in the Premier League now and while we’re not killing teams off, winning by two or three goals, we’re keeping it tight and it’s beginning to remind me a bit of the David Moyes era.
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