The blue smoke. The chants. The fireworks. The siren. The wall of noise that started in the Gwladys Street and reverberated around the ground for the first half an hour, an assault on the senses that rivalled anything seen by The Grand Old Lady amid the painful despair of Everton’s lowest moments last season.
The hopes. The dreams. The passion. The desire. All of a fanbase desperate for better. None of it was enough.
Everton’s twelfth man will do everything possible to pull this great club from catastrophe. But its fate rests in the hands of a squad that lacks belief, quality and resilience. This second half capitulation at home to Newcastle United was so embarrassingly dreadful that it rivalled some of the collapses already seen by this group of players during this wretched season. It might be the most damaging.
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For the first 30 minutes Everton had provided a glimpse of the talent and fight that will be needed to save the club’s top flight status. Rejuvenated by the return of Abdoulaye Doucoure from suspension and Amadou Onana from injury, they started well. There was an authority and a composure that has been missing through recent games.
Against a side riding the crest of a Champions League-chasing wave that looks set to carry them into the world of Europe’s elite, Everton were initially quicker, stronger and slicker. Michael Keane carried the ball out of the defence, Idrissa Gueye snuffed out trouble in the middle and Onana spun into space before finding a progressive pass on several occasions.
But this Everton squad can only do so much. That much is clear. It has been for months. Promising 30 minute bursts do not make a team worthy of staying in the Premier League. And what dominance that was enjoyed between the boxes amounted to little more than tame efforts from long range from Dwight McNeil and Gueye and a few crosses that evaded Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
Twice the Goodison Park crowd rose from its seats but on both occasions it returned in disappointment. First, Doucoure surged forward and fed Calvert-Lewin, whose clever turn did not quite take him past Fabian Schar. Then, on the brink of half-time, those standing lingered on their feet a little longer after McNeil played Calvert-Lewin through and the 26-year-old dinked a delightful chip over Nick Pope. The flag went up and the celebrations were muted. The lines were drawn and Everton’s season took another bodyblow by virtue of the smallest of margins.
The offside decision was so crucial because, between that chance and the promise of the first 30 minutes, Newcastle United had taken the lead. It was a gut punch against the run of play. Joelinton had endured a torrid start to the game, subdued by those around him and looking in contention to be withdrawn before the conclusion of the first half. But he was given time to find some composure as Bruno Guimaraes went down cheaply and stayed on the ground for long enough for Everton’s latest surge of momentum to run out of steam.
As Everton regrouped for another push, the away side struck and it was Joelinton, revived by the short break inspired by his teammate, who turned creator, cutting in from the Everton right and bending a shot that Jordan Pickford pushed away from goal. Callum Wilson responded quickest and fired in. The worst attack in the Premier League was left needing to break down the best defence in the division. With two of Everton’s top three goalscorers in the league this season on the bench for most of this match, Demarai Gray on one side and Anthony Gordon on the other after his January move north east, the script went as predictably as might have been expected.
Everton showed rare sparks of ingenuity, the most impressive when Calvert-Lewin hammered at Pope after a lung-busting drive from Iwobi. But Newcastle always looked more likely to grab the second - a vital block from James Tarkowski seconds into the second half and then a superb save by Pickford both denying Joe Willock.
The save came 70 minutes in and should have offered a second lifeline to Everton. Instead the respite lasted seconds. Joelinton headed in the second for Newcastle after Willock wrought havoc. Just like the first goal, the second came from Newcastle targeting Everton’s right side of defence. Crystal Palace had used the same tactic with ruthless success on Saturday and while they did not find a winner, Jordan Ayew tormented Mason Holgate into an early bath. Ben Godfrey replaced him and struggled on Thursday night. Dyche will face questions why he has persisted with such a tactic when Nathan Patterson, who started the season on Everton’s right, watched again from the bench but both matches have only served to highlight the severity of the loss of Seamus Coleman to injury.
Neither Godfrey nor Pickford could stop Newcastle’s third, a stunning Wilson effort from the edge of the area. When Dwight McNeil scored straight from a corner with 10 minutes to go not even the most hopeful supporter would have believed Everton could mount a comeback. Less than 60 seconds later any hope the scoreline could reach a level of respectability was extinguished. Alexander Isak danced through defenders to leave Jacob Murphy at the back post with the goal gaping. You can guess which side Isak exploited.
There was time for one last torment: Newcastle were so comfortable that manager Eddie Howe even had the opportunity to make the incendiary move to bring on Gordon.
This was a collapse to rival those against Brighton and Hove Albion and Fulham, both sobering home defeats on the road to Everton’s slump into the bottom three. What will worry Dyche most, perhaps, is that it came with, apart from Coleman, the side that almost certainly makes up his Plan A. Recent weeks have suggested there is no effective Plan B.
Should Everton go down this could be the last Premier League game under the lights at Goodison. That it ended with the away fans in full voice shows the depths sunk to by a struggling side barely befitting of its grand surroundings.
There are five games to go. Everton are not relegated yet. But the fans cannot do this alone.
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