Fight like your fans
“Fight like your fans” – a short but sharp message to Everton’s players from those same supporters who back them through thin and thinner up and down the country and displayed on a banner in the away end at Selhurst Park.
Despite winning just once on their travels in the Premier League this term and having just three victories away from Goodison Park since coronavirus restrictions were fully lifted on crowds at the start of 2021/22, less than half the figure of the next-worst teams to have competed in the competition over both seasons, Everton continue to fill out allocations up and down the country with their loyal but long-suffering fans offering a level of support far greater than their lowly position in the table.
Again they turned out in great numbers here for a fixture in the most far-flung corner of London with – as outlined by the Everton Fans Forum in response to the chairman’s statement on Friday – “up at the crack of dawn to go again.”
JOE THOMAS: It took just a split second to see Everton's best chance of Premier League survival
CHRIS BEESLEY: Sean Dyche may have to turn to Everton man not yet a 'bona fide' Premier League player
Many a weekend has been ruined at great expense in a cost of living crisis in recent months by their team’s continued travel sickness but still beleaguered Blues turn out in force. What they don’t deserve is for a sour taste to be left in the mouth before a ball has even been kicked.
Regardless of whether Everton stay up or not – and a first relegation in 72 years remains a distinct possibility – they remain on course for a lower total than last term when they survived by the skin of their teeth despite recording the joint-worst equivalent points haul in the club’s history.
It is disgusting that the Blues are in this mess given the fortune that has been in a large part squandered on squad recruitment. Even owner Farhad Moshiri admitted “we have not always spent significant amounts of money wisely,” so therefore the finger of blame for such troubles must fall firmly at the door of those both at the top and on the pitch, but as Sean Dyche points out, never the fans, so in many ways (as the Fans Forum stated) “the tone, content and timing” of Bill Kenwright’s words felt like an unnecessary chastisement from one of their own.
Midfield matters
It would be Everton sacrilege to compare any of their current players to ‘The Holy Trinity’ of Colin Harvey, Howard Kendall and Alan Ball, the club’s most-celebrated midfield combination. But the Blues looked a far more solid unit again with a trio in the engine room at Selhurst Park having found themselves outnumbered and overrun in that department when lining up 4-4-2 against both Manchester United and Fulham.
Just as Dyche has had to be creative in finding alternatives in the goalscoring department throughout Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s injury absence, the Everton manager has found it difficult to readjust his men in the middle throughout Abdoulaye Doucoure’s three-game enforced absence. That period now comes to a close – it’s to be hoped that Mason Holgate’s suspension will prove far less costly – but given that the Blues boss’ experiment of reviving the formation that was his bread and butter at Burnley for almost a decade had proven a failure, a different approach was required against Crystal Palace.
Idrissa Gueye’s second coming at Everton certainly cannot be considered an unqualified success by any stretch of the imagination but for better or for worse, he knows the role expected of him. In contrast, alongside him James Garner was making only his second Premier League start after his full debut in the competition against Fulham seven days earlier, so given the circumstances of the assignment, there were signs of progress from the youngster who adds a greater passing range to the side.
That level of distribution is not always Alex Iwobi’s strongest suit but moved back into the middle here, the Nigerian was one of the team’s more-dynamic performers in what was generally a war of attrition, forcing Sam Johnstone into a save at full stretch and picking out Calvert-Lewin for his best chance. Regardless of the personnel, Everton continuing with a trio in this area of the pitch seems a necessity going forward.
Here comes the cavalry
From his first day at Everton, Dyche has insisted that the only league table that matters is the final one and while this result ensured they have just one win from their last nine days, there have to be hopes that there are potentially better times ahead as they head into the final month of the season.
Those first green shoots of recovery came by just having Calvert-Lewin on the pitch at all for the first time since Dyche’s inaugural match in charge against Arsenal back on February 1. For all his injury-plagued frustrations of the past couple of seasons, a fit and firing Calvert-Lewin is the most potent goal threat in a squad chronically lacking in that department having netted fewer times than anyone else in the English football pyramid.
The England international gave the Blues a genuine focal point to their attack, even if it didn’t always stick. His last two goals came against Palace – the 3-2 winner in last season’s dramatic 3-2 comeback victory to secure Premier League survival and then his only strike of this term in the 3-0 home romp – but while he couldn’t get a ‘hat-trick’ here there were signs the 26-year-old was shaking off the rust.
He fashioned an enticing opportunity when spinning between the Eagles’ centre-backs but poked the shot just wide. With Doucoure back from suspension against Newcastle United and the prospect of the likes of Amadou Onana and Seamus Coleman being fit again, Everton potentially look stronger for the run-in… they need to be.
READ NEXT:
Sean Dyche reveals what Dominic Calvert-Lewin said to him after Everton comeback
Sean Dyche explains Mason Holgate Everton selection and delivers red card verdict
- Sean Dyche may have to turn to Everton man not yet a 'bona fide' Premier League player
- James Tarkowski sends blunt warning to Everton forwards after Crystal Palace stalemate
- Rate the Everton players for the 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace
