Holgate shows strikers how it’s done
Mason Holgate wasn’t even supposed to be playing in this game but after a late call-up – out of position – when Donny van de Beek was injured in the pre-match warm-up he scored Everton's first goal against Premier League opposition within the regulation 90 minutes for more than 10 hours, showing goal shy frontmen Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison how it’s done. Other than Alex Iwobi’s winner against Newcastle United a full nine minutes into stoppage time, the Blues had drawn a blank ever since Anthony Gordon’s hairline deflection went in off a Richarlison shot to seal a 3-0 win over Leeds United back on February 12.
Given that Frank Lampard had started with a 4-1 romp against Brentford in the FA Cup to enjoy the biggest-ever margin of victory for an Everton manager in his first game in charge and followed that up with the aforementioned success against the West Yorkshire side, it’s looked increasingly concerning with how his side have gone from feast to famine in the scoring stakes. Such toothlessness up front can’t have helped the Blues in deflating defeats in recent weeks when heads have dropped as soon as encouraging starts to matches have been undone with what almost seems a ‘first goal wins’ scenario.
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Such woes continued here as Richarlison – fresh from bagging three goals in two outings for Brazil – wasted two good opportunities to score while Calvert-Lewin, without a goal in 2022 since returning from a four-month lay-off with a quadriceps injury, struggled to fashion chances and was off target with his only real opening of note.
If you don’t buy a ticket you can’t win the lottery though and Holgate at least benefitted from a fortunate deflection to find the net with a sweetly-struck volley which drew Everton level. With the stakes getting higher with every passing fixture, the Blues misfiring frontmen need to adopt a shoot on sight policy to try and get their side out of trouble.
Keeping your head up
With a crucial relegation six-pointer at Burnley on the horizon there is no time for sulking in the Everton camp. The Blues simply have to dust themselves down from yet another defeat and be ready to try and turn things around at Turf Moor for what is quite simply a ‘must not lose’ fixture.
After the wretched capitulations on their last two trips to the capital over the past month (5-0 at Tottenham Hotspur and 4-0 at Crystal Palace), Lampard’s side desperately needed to show their manager and browbeaten support – who yet again turned out in great numbers to cheer them on here – that they cared about their plight and were prepared to try and do something about it.
Like Jonjoe Kenny, Alex Iwobi is one of the previously marginalised players to have benefitted from being given a fresh start under Lampard and having been the match-winner in dramatic circumstances against Newcastle United, could consider himself unfortunate to have been dropped to the bench at Selhurst Park. Here, as one of five changes to the starting line-up, he was recalled and in the most-part produced the kind of display that could provide his manager with hope if not any tangible reward.
Suspended for the recent World Cup qualification double-header that saw his nation pipped on away goals for a place in Qatar by Ghana, the Nigerian international initially looked fresh and was encouraging with a hard-pressing display which was creative too, picking out both Richarlison and Calvert-Lewin for their best chances of the game. However, with the game delicately poised after Everton’s equaliser and the visitors’ tails finally up, it was Iwobi’s failure to control a pass from Michael Keane that prompted the devastating counter-attack from which West Ham fashioned their winning goal.
In this respect, the former Arsenal man must take the rough with the smooth after receiving the plaudits when securing a crucial three points against the Magpies. Sometimes you just have to hold your hand up and move on and Iwobi and his team-mates have no alternatives in these circumstances.
Muddle in the middle
Once upon a time, scorned former Hammer Frank Lampard who left his boyhood club in acrimonious circumstances after his Uncle Harry Redknapp and father Frank senior were relieved of their duties, was something of a nemesis when up against his boyhood club in the blue shirt of Chelsea. Despite now being 43-years-old, perhaps the Premier League’s all-time leading goalscorer among non-strikers might have been tempted to lace up his boots once more such are his dearth of options in his old position of central midfield.
Without Allan through suspension and both Andre Gomes and Fabian Delph, who perennially seems to be on the road to recovery, through injury, Everton’s options in the engine room were already severely limited before on-loan Donny van de Beek broke down in the pre-match warm-up. Given that the Brazilian still has another game of his ban to serve, all of them could now be out for Wednesday night’s trip to Turf Moor while even auxiliary replacement in the centre of the park, Holgate could be required to reprise defensive duties after Keane’s red card.
All this leaves a potential gaping hole at Turf Moor and it’s a head-scratcher to work out how Lampard might fill the void.
Everton must save themselves
The time for relying upon others for favours is over, if Everton’s players really do believe they’re worthy of a place in the Premier League next season then they must save themselves. On numerous occasions in recent weeks they’ve lived a charmed life with Burnley blowing opportunities to put them into the bottom three but while the last-gasp victory against Newcastle United did put daylight between the sides, you dread to think what might lie await for this Blues side if they were to suffer defeat at Turf Moor.
One thing they know they’ll get from Sean Dyche’s side is commitment and in this respect Lampard’s men need to show they’re a match for their hosts when it comes for being up for the fight. That was at least one element they possessed here in greater abundance than in recent weeks – although considering the very low base they were coming from, that’s not particularly difficult.
As much as it hurts Evertonians, as a team 17th in the table going to a side who are just three points off a Champions League spot, this was a result that went with the form book against their former manager David Moyes’ well-drilled Hammers outfit who will contest a Europa League quarter-final later this week. In contrast the Blues now go to a Burnley team without a goal or a point from their last four outings although it’s imperative that they make their quality count given the way they slipped up against a struggling Norwich City in similar circumstances that called time on Rafa Benitez’s reign.
Since then, Lampard has been left picking up the pieces but as the former Derby County and Chelsea manager declared on his arrival, there were plenty of games left for Everton to get out of trouble. Their destiny remains in their own hands but they must now seize such a chance themselves in order to avoid a first relegation in 71 years.
