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Everton star shines in England win

By Matt Townsend

England's striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin scores their third goal from the penalty spot during the international friendly football match between England and Republic of Ireland at Wembley stadium in north London on November 12, 2020. (Photo by MIKE EGERTON / POOL / AFP) / NOT FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING USE / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE (Photo by MIKE EGERTON/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
England's striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin scores their third goal from the penalty spot during the international friendly football match between England and Republic of Ireland at Wembley stadium in north London on November 12, 2020. (Photo by MIKE EGERTON / POOL / AFP) / NOT FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING USE / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE (Photo by MIKE EGERTON/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) /
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In his latest international outing Everton striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored his second goal for England as the Three Lions comfortably beat Republic of Ireland 3-0 on Thursday night at Wembley.

It’s good to see Calvert-Lewin continuing the outstanding form in front of goal for his country that he has shown for his club Everton during this campaign.

Personally though I didn’t really see the point of this friendly, with a round of Nations League matches over the weekend and given that Premier League clubs are facing a very compressed and relentless set of fixtures this season.

It would have been better that the players got a week off and there had been no international match until the weekend’s game against Belgium.

A number of Blues players are struggling to regain full fitness after suffering injuries earlier and then having to come back a little too quickly.

Those players include the Toffees star Colombian forward James Rodriguez as well as Everton’s Irish right-back Seamus Coleman.

And Coleman had to withdraw from the Ireland team as he has aggravated his recent hamstring injury during training for the national team.

This is very irritating news for Evertonians and will mean the 31-year-old might not be ready to return the the Blues side when this latest international break is over and the Toffees face Fulham in their next crucial Premier League game.

Even if he is technically fit it certainly seems that the constant treadmill of football is possibly making it that bit harder for players to recover enough to be at peak fitness in the ensuing game.

While there’s no guarantee ever about players getting hurt, there does seem to be an unusual number of serious injuries occurring this season.

Fortunately Calvert-Lewin came though this friendly without injury and as well as netting his second goal in England colours, had a fine all-round match.

He was busy, energetic and a constant nuisance to the Irish defenders and but for a last-ditch tackle and a slight deflection off a defenders head, might have scored more.

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It was a now classic Calvert-Lewin performance, in which he combined excellent work rate off the ball and great movement in the area. The Toffees’ forward now looks very much at home playing at the highest level including international football.

Another Blues player also turned out for England in Thursday’s game and that was central defender Micheal Keane.

Keane lined up in a back three alongside Harry Maguire and Tyrone Mings. The Everton man looked comfortable enough in that three man defence and had a solid game, although the Republic’s young team didn’t offer much of a threat.

This is potentially interesting as I think that moving to a back three might actually be an option as manager Carlo Ancelotti strives to shore up a leaky Blues backline.

At least the Toffees’ players didn’t pick up an injury and when Calvert-Lewin was replaced it was purely about a rotation in players and not for anything more serious. With another game on Sunday let’s hope that if they play, both come though that one unhurt.