Rayan Ait-Nouri struck in stoppage time to hand Wolvehampton Wanderers their first Premier League win under Julen Lopetegui against Everton at Goodison Park.
The result yesterday was a disastrous one for Frank Lampard’s side, who had initially taken the lead inside the opening 10 minutes. Yerry Mina shrugged aside the 20-year-old Wolves left back Hugo Bueno and headed past Jose Sa in the Wolves goal.
But Wolves, to their credit, responded well and drew themselves level with their first attack of the game. After Everton failed to clear a corner, Joao Moutinho played the ball back into the box and Daniel Podence was on hand to finish past Jordan Pickford in the Everton goal.
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Both sides struggled to carve out any real openings in the second-half, but Wolves won it in stoppage time when they hit Everton on the break. Matheus Nunes fed Adama Traore down the left before the winger picked out Ait-Nouri with his pull-back, and he made no mistake from close-range. And below is how the national media viewed the game at Goodison Park.
'Everton have lacked firepower since being forced to sell Richarlison'
Paul Joyce of The Times wrote: “The game had moved deep into stoppage time when Everton finally succumbed to temptation and followed the bellowed pleas of the home gallery to launch the ball forward in search of victory. Seconds later a goal duly arrived but it spoke volumes that the new Wolverhampton Wanderers head coach, Julen Lopetegui, was being engulfed by his delirious backroom staff while, a few yards away, Frank Lampard looked crestfallen.
“After a spell of tippy-tappy by the halfway line, James Tarkowski’s long punt brought a ricochet from Anthony Gordon that allowed Wolves to launch a rapier counterattack. Matheus Nunes released Adama Traoré and, although a heavy touch threatened to derail the move, he delivered a cross that Rayan Ait-Nouri skilfully dispatched from close range past Jordan Pickford in the Everton goal.”
Before he added: “Everton departed to catcalls with their attacking deficiencies having been laid bare. This has always felt like a key period for Lampard and he will be aware that this outcome, and the manner of the defeat, will increase the scrutiny on him as Everton manager.
“Yet, in many respects, that is unfair. Everton have lacked firepower since being forced to sell Richarlison last summer to adhere to Premier League profit and sustainability rules and the transfer excesses of Lampard’s predecessors mean that attempts to remedy such an obvious shortcoming next month will be far from straightforward.”
'Lampard looked physically ill'
Andy Hunter of the Guardian wrote: “Lampard looked physically ill when Aït-Nouri turned Traoré’s cross beyond Jordan Pickford at the back post. With good reason. Everton have lost six of their last eight league games and continue to suffer from a chronic lack of quality, creativity and precision in the final third. With Dominic Calvert-Lewin still recovering from injury Lampard started with Dwight McNeil, Neal Maupay and Anthony Gordon in attack. It was a frontline befitting a relegation-threatened team. With few alternatives on the bench, reinforcements through the January transfer window cannot come quickly enough.”
Before he added: “While the ending was torturous for Lampard, the start could not have gone any better for an Everton team needing to atone for a pre-World Cup collapse. Yerry Mina was handed a first Premier League start since the opening day of the season with Conor Coady ineligible to face his parent club. From McNeil’s floated corner, the injury-prone defender brushed aside the weak resistance of Hugo Bueno to steer a glancing header inside the far corner of José Sá’s goal. Mina hobbled off with his obligatory injury late on. Cramp, Lampard hopes.”
'There were boos from the home crowd'
Joe Bernstein of the Daily Mail wrote: “Everton could be in the bottom three by the time they play Manchester City on New Year's Eve. Their naivety in pushing for a late winner and being sucker-punched so late will raise further questions as will their recent run of results - just one victory in nine matches.”
Before he added: “Everton rued missed chances nearing the interval. First Neal Maupay took a bad touch as he closed in on goal with only Sa to beat, and then the Wolves goalkeeper got his fingertips to Gordon's finish from inside the box.
“There were boos from the home crowd at half-time and the anxious mood didn't do their players any favours. They saved their cheers for the introduction of teenage striker Thomas Cannon from the bench after 83 minutes but when he failed to connect properly with a Nathan Patterson cross, Wolves sensed they could nick the points.”
'The next month is vital'
Joe Thomas of the Liverpool ECHO wrote: “Where the fear lies for many Everton supporters is that, unlike Lampard, Wolves had a bench their new manager felt he could exploit to its maximum. They already have their first new addition ready for January too - the forward, Matheus Cunha, who Everton were interested in but who was secured in a deal the scale of which Lampard said was beyond Everton's "parameters". Lampard now enters January with the scarring impact of those defeats at Bournemouth still in his mind, with a defeat to one of the few sides that endured a worse start to the season than Everton, and with the knowledge that side has already demonstrated its greater financial firepower. With a £45m obligation to buy, the Cunha deal represents the type of costly risk that got Everton to the point where Lampard has had to fight with one hand tied behind his back, not the kind of gamble they need to make sustainable progress.
“And the noises from the club suggest they know they need to strengthen in January and there is the ability to do business. Defeat to Wolves should not be a wake up call, because one should not be needed. But it is a brutal reminder of the danger Everton are hurtling towards. Survival cannot be taken for granted. Nor can the fans. The next month is vital and everything must be done to strengthen.”
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