Pienaar shines but Lukaku bullied: Leicester City 2-2 Everton

Some things never change, eh? Everton finally got their Premier League campaign underway at newly promoted Leicester City yesterday, and provided us with a typically contrary performance. The result itself wasn’t, perhaps, much of a surprise – not since the days of Walter Smith have the Toffees won an opening day game away from home – but the manner in which Everton twice squandered their lead will give Roberto Martinez early cause for concern.

There’s an awful lot to try and make sense of from this first game, but with the squad still in a state of flux while the transfer window remains open it’s impossible to draw any concrete conclusions as yet. What we can do is take a look at some of major tactical and performance-related points arising from the game.

Barkley injury heaps responsibility on Naismith.

I’m struggling to think of a more disruptive scenario than the one in which Everton found themselves on Friday evening, just hours before their first game of the season. Though the precise extent of Ross Barkley’s injury is still unknown, the prognosis is not good, and cover will most likely need to brought in to cope with the talismanic midfielder’s absence.

In the meantime though, that responsibility falls squarely on the shoulders of Steven Naismith. The Scot is more naturally suited to a central position than the right wing role that he is often asked to fill – his movement is excellent and there are few players as adept at finding space in the opposition penalty area – but his link play and creativity remain an issue. Naismith’s pass completion was just 70% against Leicester (and even lower in the attacking third), the lowest of Everton’s outfield players. Barkley mitigates his sometimes-inaccurate passing with his drive and ability to beat players, but that isn’t Naismith’s game. He did not attempt a single take-on at the King Power Stadium.

But considering his placement at number 10 the stat that proves most troubling is the number of chances he created: exactly zero. Given a sniff of goal, Naismith can finish as well as anyone in the Everton squad (as his lovely strike yesterday demonstrated), but a creator he is not. If he’s to fill Barkley’s shoes that will have to change.

Barry almost sees red.

Gareth Barry should have been sent off against Leicester. Two similar second half fouls produced just one booking, but there could have been no complaints had the midfielder seen red. With the ball, Barry is composed and assured, his side’s most prolific passer and the base from which Everton’s forward raids are launched, but without possession he is far more erratic, his lack of pace often forcing him into tactical fouls.

No Everton player received more than Barry’s 10 bookings last season, and though Muhamed Besic now provides extra cover in the centre of midfield, it goes without saying that the fewer suspensions the Toffees accrue, the better. With the month ahead packed with important games, Barry would do well to curb his more reckless tendencies.

Wes Morgan bullies Lukaku.

Whether tired from his summer exertions or just lacking in match practice (most likely a combination of the two), Romelu Lukaku had a game to forget on his second Everton ‘debut’. Unable to assert himself against a hardy Leicester back line, he failed to muster an attempt on goal before heading wide in second half stoppage time.

Oddly enough though it was Lukaku’s pace and strength, usually the most devastating aspects of his game, which seemed to let him down against Leicester, where he found himself marshalled expertly by Foxes’ skipper Wes Morgan. He won only 1 of his 7 aerial duels, and was successful with 1 out of 4 take-ons, while losing the ball more than any other Everton player through dispossessions and turnovers, usually to the imposing Morgan. Hopefully these issues stem from a lack of match fitness, but it appears Evertonians may have to wait before they see the best of their £28 million man.

Baines and Pienaar roll back the clock.

Perhaps the biggest positive to come out of a difficult weekend for Everton was the re-emergence of everyone’s favourite telepathic left-wing partnership between Leighton Baines and Steven Pienaar. Hampered by injury last season, the latter has been largely overlooked in the build-up to the new campaign, but his understanding with Baines remains remarkable. The two combined wonderfully in the lead-up to Naismith’s goal, and Pienaar was comfortably the Toffees’ standout player.

Indeed, he should arguably have stayed on the pitch for the full match. Martinez’s decision to use the pace of Kevin Mirallas on the counter as Leicester pressured late on made sense, but substituting Pienaar turned out to be a mistake. Pace has never been a big part of the South African’s game, but he rarely loses the ball, and often draws a foul if caught in possession. Here’s hoping that he’s retained the next time Everton are protecting a lead.

For once, Martinez gets his substitutions wrong.

On more than one occasion last season, Everton were able to turn losing situations into victories thanks to the keen use of substitutions by Roberto Martinez. Against Leicester however, the opposite seemed to occur. The Spaniard is usually proactive when introducing players from the bench to affect the game, but on Saturday he appeared content to wait despite seeing momentum steadily shift away from his side.

Everton didn’t make a change until Kevin Mirallas was brought on for Steven Pienaar with less than 10 minutes remaining – a move that was odd in itself, considering Pienaar’s performance and his aforementioned ball retention skills. But this change was then compounded by the introduction of Seamus Coleman for Aiden McGeady, and the apparent switch to a back 5 for the final few minutes of the match. In the 86^th minute, Mirallas was dispossessed, and with the back line in disarray, the ball eventually fell to Chris Wood who, free of any attention from the confused John Stones and Coleman, was free to stroke home a late equaliser. With Arsenal the opponents next week, Martinez could do with rediscovering his magic touch.