Easy pickings for the Cherries
A seasoned Everton watcher at the Vitality Stadium observed that it was like the visiting line-up were playing like strangers but it was hardly surprising given that manager Frank Lampard changed his entire team and formation and nowhere was the lack of coherence more evident than the visitors’ shambolic defence who were ripped to shreds by Bournemouth. It’s not like it was even the Cherries’ main men either with the hosts of course making nine switches in personnel themselves but in the end this romp in the first of back-to-back fixtures between the sides proved to be embarrassingly easy for the hosts.
Having deployed a flat back four since the end of August, Lampard reverted to a central defensive trio here but rather than press their claims for a more prolonged recall, Mason Holgate, Michael Keane and Yerry Mina instead just displayed why they all have major question marks hanging over their heads concerning their Everton futures. Holgate, who’d already had James Garner flapping his arms at him in exasperation after allowing a square pass in the first half to roll out of play, suffered a personal calamity when he collapsed in a heap, slipping on the wet turf when goalkeeper Asmir Begovic tapped what should have been a routine pass to him and the howler resulted in Bournemouth’s second goal with the Yorkshireman subsequently hauled off just moments later.
