Iwobi winning the long game
There was a sliding doors moment for Alex Iwobi on the final day of the summer transfer window in 2019 when he joined Everton instead of Wilfried Zaha but while Blues have long considered the Crystal Palace talisman to be ‘one that got away’, their alternative signing – born again under Frank Lampard – might finally be seen to be winning the long game.
It’s understood that owner Farhad Moshiri personally led the chase to try and tempt Zaha to Goodison Park but an eye-watering offer of £70million plus James McCarthy and Cenk Tosun which would have smashed the club record fee of £45million paid for Gylfi Sigurdsson two years earlier, still wasn’t enough to prise the Eagles star away from south London, with Selhurst Park chiefs demanding £100million.
Not to be undone, Everton made an alternative raid on the capital for Arsenal man Iwobi, who was over 3,000 miles away at the time, on board a boat in Dubai, but in truth the bulk of his first three years on Merseyside have been choppy waters rather than a pleasure cruise. Marco Silva, Carlo Ancelotti and Rafael Benitez all struggled to get the best out of a player who Arsene Wenger rated highly but since Frank Lampard’s arrival, Iwobi, operating in a different role, has enjoyed a major revival.
READ MORE: Three touches just provided Frank Lampard with the perfect restart to his Everton project
READ MORE: Everton player ratings as Alex Iwobi and six others brilliant against Crystal Palace
The Nigerian international has been the Blues’ most-creative force this season but after seeing his opportunities to get forward severely restricted at Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United, this was a spectacular return to form as, on a day when Zaha was kept under wraps, Iwobi flourished with a couple of big assists to book-end the victory. He got things up and running with a slick pass to Dominic Calvert-Lewin for the opener just 11 minutes in before completing a sublime one-two with Dwight McNeil for the third goal on 84 minutes, teeing up the substitute with a cheeky back-heel that epitomised his newly-found confidence.
Coleman leads by example
Evertonians will of course never forget Crystal Palace’s previous visit to Goodison Park back on May 19 but two months prior to that the Blues were mauled by the Eagles 4-0 in an FA Cup quarter-final at Selhurst Park when manager Frank Lampard questioned whether some of his players had the b******* for the fight ahead.
Captain Seamus Coleman – along with goalkeeper Jordan Pickford and Anthony Gordon – was one of just three survivors in the starting line-up from that fateful day but it’s probably fair to say that none of that trio were among those who were being doubted.
Everton’s skipper has already been hailed by Lampard as being “the best man I’ve met in my life” after the club secured their Premier League status with their dramatic 3-2 comeback win in the final home game of last term but while nobody would ever question the Irish international’s credentials as a model pro, having turned 34 earlier this month, there might have been concerns with how he would handle three Premier League matches in the space of a week. Any such doubts were dispelled with ease here as, having already come through testing assignments at Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United, Coleman saved the best until last.
Referee Simon Hooper risked losing control of this fiery contest at times and frustrations threatened to boil over when he allowed two balls to remain on the pitch for a prolonged passage of play but one man who kept a grip on proceedings throughout was Coleman with his expert shackling of Palace's danger man, the aforementioned Zaha.
While he kept the Ivory Coast international in his back pocket for 90 minutes, without being crude, the front of his shorts contained a pair to match the official’s oversight and will ensure that as much as Nathan Patterson’s potential return to fitness next weekend provides the Blues with a substantial boost, the young pretender to Coleman’s throne still faces a tough task to displace him straight away.
Three and easy up front
All Evertonians could see the improvements that Lampard had made to their team this season, even if the results so far had not necessarily shown it but after over two months of largely closely-fought contests, this was a day in which the Blues cut loose. Everton’s defeat at Tottenham Hotspur a week earlier had been the only match so far this campaign which had been settled by more than a single-goal margin while the previous away day at Southampton was the solitary occasion in which the side had scored more than once.
The difference here was having a fit and firing Dominic Calvert-Lewin, with two forward-thinking wide men either side of him who were also back on form. Back in the ‘lockdown’ season of 2020/21, Everton’s number nine netted 21 goals in all competitions but despite registering on the opening day of last term when supporters returned en masse, 2021/22 was largely a period of frustration for him before the fairy tale finish when Crystal Palace last came to Goodison.
The Sheffield-born striker shown his willingness to get back in the thick of things on his first start of the season at St James’ Park on Wednesday night by picking up an early booking but this was more like the Calvert-Lewin that Evertonians know and love. Almost as encouraging as his calmly-taken goal itself will be the robust manner in which he conducted himself as he looked to move beyond the wrapped in cotton wool treatment in which his return has been carefully managed so far.
The goal came from an Iwobi through-ball down the middle but a supply line from the flanks will also be required to get the best out of Calvert-Lewin so much-improved displays from Demarai Gray and Anthony Gordon were perfectly-timed. The latter will obviously be boosted by his first Goodison Park goal of the season while Everton also showed they had plenty in reserve as Dwight McNeil came off the bench to break his home duck in a competitive match and ensure that Blues are looking up once more rather than over their shoulders.
READ NEXT:
- Frank Lampard explains why fans have just witnessed a real 'Everton performance'
- Frank Lampard explains new Everton 'strategy' that has just been unlocked
- Everton deliver as VAR and fisticuffs cannot hide clear Crystal Palace truth
- Frank Lampard has done what Ronald Koeman never could at Everton
- What happened to Ronald Koeman's final Everton XI
