Another tumultuous campaign at Goodison Park has come to an end and members of the ECHO sportsdesk are offering their thoughts on proceedings with a review of Everton’s season.
A two-part special sees Chris Beesley, Matt Jones, Connor O’Neill, Joe Thomas and Paul Wheelock give their conclusions on the Blues’ offerings from 2022/23. Here’s the first instalment…
What was your highpoint of Everton’s season?
CB: In a miserable campaign in which highlights were almost as rare as Farhad Moshiri matchday visits I expect we might have some uniformity over this one but being inside the Amex Stadium for the 5-1 romp against Brighton & Hove Albion – a victory that was as emphatic as it was unexpected – was a scarcely-experienced treat. Travelling Evertonians displayed some wit and humour when not participating in the singing of God Save the King after the coronation of Charles III by belting out Spirit of the Blues instead and within 34 seconds of the kick-off, a team who had won just once on the road all season were ahead.
This was the year that Everton were at their lowest ebb while the Seagulls had never had it so good but this particular 90 minutes proved to be a master-class in counter-attacking football as Sean Dyche did a number on Roberto De Zerbi, the Italian coach who had steered his side to a 4-1 victory at Goodison Park in January, a result after which it should have been Frank Lampard’s cue to go. After previously looking doomed, I wrote at the time that this felt like something big, something potentially pivotal, like the movement of tectonic plates among those involved in this dogfight.
Everton hadn’t just shook things up on what looked like a day of destiny for the Premier League’s strugglers, they’d caused an earthquake. From that moment onwards, it would have been criminal to surrender their top flight status for the first time in 72 years.
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MJ: The final whistle against Bournemouth!
Not because it was something to celebrate, rather that the months of angst, anger and embarrassment had mercilessly ended. And Everton were somehow still a Premier League team.
Sweet relief, for another 12 months at least.
CON: The high point undoubtedly has to be the full-time whistle going against Bournemouth. Staying up is nothing to celebrate, especially when you are a club the size of Everton, but the relief of knowing the Blues would be playing in the Premier League next season was massive. Everton supporters didn’t deserve to be watching their club in the Sky Bet Championship next season.
JT: The win over Brighton was clearly the most significant positive moment of the season but the highpoint was the win over Crystal Palace back in October. After a slow but stubborn start to the season everything just seemed to click into gear. Everton were moving up the table, Dominic Calvert-Lewin was back fit and in the goals and it suggested Frank Lampard had potentially fast-tracked the club’s development and turned them into a mid-table team that could get results in an entertaining fashion. Sadly it was a one-off but for me it was the last time there was a ‘feel good’ factor this season.
PW: The 5-1 win at Brighton. As thrilling as it was unexpected, it was only one of two times this season that Evertonians could relax going into injury-time given it was only one of two times that they won by more than a one-goal margin. If he can keep the majority of the squad together, and if finances allow him to make the additions it so desperately needs, the performance at the AMEX has to be the blueprint for Sean Dyche going forward, especially away from home.
What was your lowpoint?
CB: Over a thousand miles of travelling to Bournemouth and back twice in the space of four days ahead of the World Cup break only to be stuffed by a three-goal margin on both occasions was pretty galling but at least Joe Thomas and I didn’t have to fork out our own hard-earned cash in a cost of living crisis for the privilege unlike those thousands of loyal but long-suffering Evertonians who traipsed the length and breadth of the country following their side through thin and thinner this term. The double defeat was made even worse by Lampard’s ridiculous decision to change the entire starting 11 for the first match, a Carabao Cup tie, which set the tone for both contests and in retrospect probably signalled the beginning of the end for him as Blues boss.
However, in terms of a feeling of hopelessness, the 4-1 home defeat to Newcastle United still tops it. It was the night of a tumultuous Goodison Park welcome and despite the supporters giving everything, it still wasn’t enough and like many Evertonians I left the ground afterwards fearing that the Championship was now beckoning.
MJ: After Southampton in January it did feel like all hope had gone.
The board not turning up, statements being released hours before games, in-ground protests, players' cars being stopped and another loss to the bottom team in the Premier League at home. The essence of Everton felt shattered into a million pieces that day and having greeted the bus with flares beforehand, the fans shuffled away from Goodison utterly bereft.
While Everton did eventually pull themselves out of the mire, the events of that day felt like a line in the sand for the hierarchy. Since then, it's been impossible to see any way back for the board of directors.
CON: The month of January. From the defeats to Brighton, Southampton and West Ham United to Frank Lampard losing his job, and then, of course, the end of the transfer window.
Of course, in between all this, supporters started to make their feelings clear about the running of the club. On and off the pitch, things were a mess and left many, including myself, fearing the worst in terms of relegation.
JT: It’s a fight between the aftermath of the Brighton and Newcastle home collapses. Both were devastating and what gripped me most was the silence in the stands for the final moments of each games. I think Newcastle tops it for me.
After Brighton it seemed Lampard’s reign would have to end and Everton were destined for a relegation fight but there was at least time to turn things around. After Newcastle there felt a fear that Everton were in that position again but having exhausted any new manager bounce and a host of games. I didn’t think Everton were down after Newcastle but I’d lost the ability to muster any hope of a turnaround.
PW: Where to start? The aggregate 7-1 defeat at Bournemouth was bad, and should have brought about the end of Frank Lampard’s tenure. The collapse at home to Brighton was shambolic, as was the one at home to Newcastle, but really, nothing will ‘top’, if that’s the word, the 2-1 loss at home to Southampton and what happened around that game. Just awful.
What was your goal of the season?
CB: Abdoulaye Doucoure’s recent strikes against Brighton (especially the second) and Bournemouth are fresh in the memory and there was also Seamus Coleman’s outrageous Marco van Basten-esque strike from a tight angle against Leeds United that he most definitely meant but in terms of a ‘pick that one out’ moment I’ll go for Michael Keane’s long-range stunner at home to Tottenham Hotspur that secured a battling point late on.
MJ: Demarai Gray at Manchester City and Coleman against Leeds are the obvious choices, but my favourite may have been Doucoure's second at Brighton. A raking pass from Dwight McNeil and a stunning volleyed finish from the midfielder set the counter-attacking blueprint fully in motion after taking an early lead.
CON: Abdoulaye Doucoure’s goal against Bournemouth is one of the biggest and most important in the club’s history, while Demarai Grey’s against Manchester City was quite simply stunning.
However, my goal of the season was Dwight McNeil’s effort to seal a 3-0 win over Crystal Palace at Goodison Park back in October. The football in the build-up was superb, and the back-heel from Alex Iwobi put the icing on the cake.
JT: Seamus Coleman against Leeds. The nature of the goal, the scorer and what it meant at the time, it felt like a bigger moment than it perhaps turned out to be. After that, any one of the five at Brighton!
PW: The goal that kept Everton up – Abdoulaye Doucoure’s wondrous winner against Bournemouth. Just what is it about maligned Everton midfielders and last-day relegation-decider screamers?
Tomorrow we conclude matters with our choices of Everton player of the season, biggest disappointment and verdicts on Sean Dyche.
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