The goal just never came. Fulham were full of speed and invention but lacked the finishing touch to get past a busy but commanding Jordan Pickford. Everton, with Conor Coady organising, often handing out NFL-style congratulations to colleagues after clearances and blocks, doggedly held their line. They are such sterner opposition under Frank Lampard, their goals against record belonging in the top echelon. Scoring is more problematic; Dominic Calvert-Lewin was ever more in isolation as his 90 minutes dragged on.
Marco Silva spent 18 forgettable months at Everton, and despite reasonable grounds to consider himself a victim of a club in permanent flux, was forced to rebuild his reputation at Fulham. His Everton were rarely so enterprising. A similar reinvention process goes for Lampard at Everton. He has bought into being an Evertonian in a manner his Portuguese predecessor never managed. At full time the away contingent appeared happy enough with the latest demonstration of “dogs of war” values as Lampard hailed a “work, resilience and mindset we really didn’t have last year”.
