Patterson cuts it
As Premier League debuts go, Nathan Patterson really lived up to his Everton one. Supporters were forced to wait a long time for it, especially after an injury against West Ham last season denied him the opportunity of starting in that game.
With Seamus Coleman's injury over the summer, the Scotland international was given his chance to impress in pre-season. He really grew into those games as the campaign neared, but you can never really gauge from those preparation matches how well someone might adapt to the top level of English football.
In the first few minutes at Goodison Park on Saturday evening though, those in their seats had their answer. They were treated to Patterson making lung-busting runs down the flank to join the attack and contributing to some nice interchanges as he went.
EVERTON RATINGS: Everton player ratings as Alex Iwobi and Patterson impress but two poor
ANALYSIS: Everton fans will all be asking same desperate question after Chelsea defeat
In the second half that continued and he really should have earned himself an assist midway through that period. He worked very hard to win the ball and drive forwards with it at pace before picking out Dele inside the box, but his teammate dallied in possession and wasn't able to convert the chance - with the ball actually nearly falling back to Patterson at one stage.
It was no doubt a taxing 108 minutes, thanks to stoppages, for the 20-year-old but he didn't seem to show the adverse effects. In fact, it seemed as if he could have continued running for another period of extra time if there was one.
That's what you need when you're potentially taking over that position from someone as influential as Coleman. The club captain will be fit again soon, but whether he's deemed up to starting levels in the near future is yet to be seen - with him turning out for the under-21s on Friday in a bid to up his fitness as much as he can.
This is Patterson's opportunity to prove that his experienced teammate shouldn't come straight back into the set-up. This was a very solid first step on that path.
Set piece comfort?
Everton had a lot of worries about their play last season, that much is a given. But, perhaps one of the prime concerns among those was the club's ability at set pieces.
On far too many occasions across 2021/22, opposition sides were gifted the advantage in matches from silly mistakes being made defensively from dead ball situations. And, to compound the issue, at the other end of the pitch the Blues were not creating enough openings of their own.
Ashley Cole is now the man in charges of organising the side for those scenarios, and again he was regularly out of his seat on the bench and into the technical area to take a closer look at the players whenever those situations occurred. And, in general, he might have been pretty happy with what he saw.
He was up and down from that seat a fair few times, honestly, with Chelsea getting 16 corners across the match - with some free kicks in dangerous crossing positions to add onto that. But Everton didn't really give up any clear cut chances in something which must be seen as a positive.
Mason Holgate in particular defended the near post very well from various corners after his introduction to the game, with the obvious height that the likes of Yerry Mina and James Tarkowski also provided being important as the game went on. The latter actually went close at the other end of the pitch too, seeing a header tipped over the bar by Edouard Mendy in the first half in what was the hosts' few openings.
The real test here is in the consistency, of course. It's no good making sweeping assumptions about Everton's ability in this regard based on one match, it's all about how they take this forward into the rest of the campaign.
But, their performance on Saturday can at least provide some comfort that there is solid work going into this aspect of their game.
New system needed
While there were clear positives to take from the game, there were obvious downsides too. Not least the injuries to two key centre-backs in only the first match of the campaign.
Ben Godfrey looks like he will be out for a number of months, while at the time of writing a prognosis for Mina has not yet come to light. Regardless, Everton's position of strength before the Chelsea game in terms of depth now looks significantly less so.
Lampard has opted in recent weeks to go with five defenders in the build-up to the campaign, explaining that he didn't really have the profile of midfielders to really make a three-man system in that area of the pitch work. But, perhaps the coming days of the transfer window might change that.
Amadou Onana was in the stands at Goodison Park and looks like being imminently confirmed as a new Blues player. Idrissa Gueye has been strongly linked with a switch to the club in recent weeks and could add a further body to that position.
Abdoulaye Doucoure and Alex Iwobi both performed well against Chelsea, while the club are still waiting for Allan's return to fitness. In that sense, maybe things have been turned on their head in terms of Everton's system.
The coming days could see the squad's weakness and strength completely flipped, and that could well lead to a new system against Aston Villa next week.
Otherwise, Everton might run out of centre-backs to play in their five-man defence.
READ NEXT
- Everton player ratings as Alex Iwobi and Patterson impress but two poor
- Everton fans will all be asking same desperate question after Chelsea defeat
- Rate the Everton players after their 1-0 loss against Chelsea
- Amadou Onana is at Goodison Park for Everton's game with Chelsea
- Yerry Mina injured again as Everton lose second centre-back against Chelsea
