A living nightmare
Thousands of Evertonians face the prospect of sleepless nights as the 2022/23 season enters its final months and when they open their eyes, the nightmare just continues.
Back when the Blues’ Premier League status was first in the balance going into the final day of a season back in 1993/94, the Match of the Day commentary described the reception they received as “a welcome fit for champions from a set of supporters who didn’t know whether they’d come to cheer or see their team buried.” For all their struggles that campaign, that particular Everton team did not lack character and after coming back from 2-0 down to beat Wimbledon that day, they’d go on to lift the FA Cup – still the club’s last major honour – the following year.
The current Blues crop also recovered from the same deficit to secure their own top flight safety last term against south London opposition in the shape of Crystal Palace - but although this was their first Thursday fixture since that night of celebration and relief, some 11 months on there is now a sinking feeling that particular near-miss has only prolonged the agony. Sean Dyche’s side were given their own incredible welcome by the club’s loyal but long-suffering supporters before this game with one of the banners displayed in the packed streets surrounding Goodison Park ahead of the arrival of the team bus proclaiming: “Beware the Dogs of War” but the truth was that after the fireworks that welcomed Everton’s players to the pitch, too many of them reacted like petrified pooches on Bonfire Night, seemingly spooked by the noise.
If that kind of reception cannot rouse you then nothing can. But then the fans have always gone the extra mile and for all their efforts, including written messages draped from the Gwladys Street that included the optimistic: “Together… anything is possible” and the more direct: “Fight for us”, ultimately, as the manager himself admits, the team themselves have to deliver.
VERDICT: Everton fans left alone as cruelest truth of relegation fight exposed against Newcastle
IN PICTURES: Everton fans stage stunning welcome for team bus ahead of Newcastle game
YOUR SHOUT: Rate the players after Everton slip to heavy 4-1 defeat against Newcastle United
Wide open defence brings sinking feeling
While Everton have endured several relegation battles during the Premier League era, they’re currently averaging less than the joint-lowest equivalent points total in the club’s history posted in 2021/22 when enduring last season’s near-miss.
There aren’t many Blues left old enough to remember the last time they went down but it’s not an alien experience for their players. Seven of Everton’s starting line-up against Newcastle United have previously been relegated from the Premier League – James Tarkowski, Dwight McNeil and Michael Keane with Burnley; Idrissa Gueye with Aston Villa; Abdoulaye Doucoure with Watford; Jordan Pickford with Sunderland and Ben Godfrey with Norwich City.
Having such a blot on the copybook of your career CV doesn’t necessarily make you a bad player per se but other than Villa, none of those clubs are comparable in size to Everton and going down with the Blues would represent a far greater abomination. If any member of the home side is able to feel the pain of the supporters in the stands in terms of personal pain it will be captain Pickford who faced his usual personal jibes from the Magpies’ travelling hordes but while discussions over his future are for another day and there are still plenty of points to play for, as much as he is settled here having penned a new deal after Dyche’s arrival with all his 52 caps won as an Everton player, it seems difficult to envisage how an England number one plays for a side in the Championship.
It was a tough night for Pickford but nobody can seriously question his form. Yet the same cannot be said for the Blues’ full-backs, particularly the aforementioned Godfrey who for all his athleticism and physicality, is really struggling right now. Brought to Merseyside from Norfolk as a centre-back, he’s found most of his playing opportunities under four managers now in the wide defensive roles but as much as the likes of Abdoulaye Doucoure and Keane have benefitted from Dyche’s arrival, you’re left wondering just what Nathan Patterson – who started the season as first-choice right-back under Frank Lampard – needs to do to get a recall.
Tight margins
It’s often said there’s “lies, damned lies and statistics” and statistically speaking both Everton and Newcastle United had one goal apiece ruled out by VAR but such bare figures are unable to tell the true story of the game.
Fabian Schar’s long-range screamer looked like it had added further gloss on a handsome away success for the Magpies but while the decision to chalk it off for offside gave the Blues the scant consolation of avoiding their biggest home defeat of the season it its own right, their own ruled out ‘goal’ was of course far more potentially-damaging. It must be pointed out that unlike Newcastle’s potential ‘fifth’, the flag had initially gone up in real time – albeit predictably late as is the modern way – after Calvert-Lewin had delicately stuck the ball into the visitors’ net.
The replay being shown in the Goodison Park press box wasn’t particularly helpful because the angle was far from flush when it came to being side on but while many a side will feel they’ve been hard done by VAR, it seemed typical that such a marginal call did not go Everton’s way. Dyche said afterwards that it was a game of such tight margins, which might sound like a hollow claim given the final scoreline, but who knows, if the Blues had been able to go in at the break level then we might have been treated to a very different second half but we’ll never know.
READ NEXT:
Everton player ratings as seven men abysmal on harrowing night against Newcastle
Everton face disgusting prospect that shames Farhad Moshiri takeover pledge
Everton's last five fixtures compared with relegation rivals after Newcastle nightmare
Everton investment latest as 777 Partners source responds to rumours
Everton warned they may face 'biggest financial jeopardy in world football'
