Everton lost 2-0 at home to Newcastle United.
On the evidence of today’s performance, Everton’s Champions League dreams seem far distant from turning into a reality. Newcastle United came to Goodison Park finding their first win since December 12. A lacklustre display from Everton meant that Steve Bruce’s men were served the win on a silver platter. Callum Wilson‘s double in the second half saw the visitors walk away with a 2-0 win, raising serious doubts over Everton’s ambitions for this season.
Forget Champions League, such an underwhelming performance casts doubts on whether Everton are even top six contendors. Technically, we are only at the halfway point of the season so the Blues from Merseyside have time to turn it around but it is games like these where Everton are expected to win without any hassle, especially when they are contendors for Europe.
Ancelotti reverted back to the preferred 4-2-3-1, to allow more central exposure to James Rodriguez. Carlo Ancelotti tweaked with the team, resting Tom Davies, Mason Holgate, Ben Godfrey and Andre Gomes. Gylfi Sigurdsson, Seamus Coleman and Alex Iwobi made a comeback to the lineup.
Unsurprisingly, Abdoulaye Doucoure also returned after serving a one match suspension. The surprising choice was Sigurdsson alongside the Frenchman in the central midfield. The Iceman hasn’t been very comfortable in such a role which was evident as he found difficulties in nagivating through the Newcastle press.
Richarlison and Dominic Cakvert-Lewin struggled to break past the Newcastle defence.
On a cold and windy afternoon in Merseyside, Everton had a vibrant start to the game as Yerry Mina was in the mood to test the Toons keeper Karl Darlow. The tactical switch to a back four by Newcastle somewhat caught Everton off guard as the Toffees were finding it difficult to break the press and produce something decisive in the final third.
Earlier in the game, Lucas Digne was a comfortable outlet for the Toffees, as Newcastle’s concise diamond midfield allowed the left back acres of space to exploit and produce something significant. Digne, often applauded for his delicious balls in the box and darting runs forward, didn’t achieve success this time around in finding the heads of Everton forwards, who were often surrounded by a horde of Newcastle players.
Wilson produced the first real chance for the visitors but his shot took a deflection and went over. However, the best opportunity for Newcastle in the opening half came in the 29th minute, when an unmarked Wilson hit a bullet header that was JUST fingertipped away by Jordan Pickford, perhaps, justifying why he needed to be trusted despite the gaffe last game.
A Dominic Calvert-Lewin backheel released Rodriguez who pulled the trigger to only find Darlow’s body and deny him a goal. Then came another well co-ordinated attack from Everton where Doucoure rounded the ball to Richarlison on the edge of the box but the Brazilian’s shot went wide. Oddly, this was one of the best attacking spells for the hosts in the entire game. Both the teams went into the halftime with a 0-0 scoreline.
Callum Wilson’s brace broke Everton.
The second half saw Everton try to find rhythm and were successful for the initial few minutes but Bruce’s men first soaked the Everton pressure and then pushed the Toffees back into the shell.
There was a brief moment in the second half that proved to be the tipping point where Everton completely lost the momentum they had gained in the second half, when in a flash Newcastle turned defence into an attack. Defending a corner one moment and in the blink of an eye Miguel Almiron launched a counter attacking releasing Ryan Fraser who in turn found a free Wilson but his shot went wide.
In the 73rd minute, Jonjo Shelvey crossed a wicked ball from a corner and rose Wilson who was looking dangerous the whole afternoon. Unchecked, the former Bournemouth striker headed into the far post with speed and power to give the Toons the lead. Being 1-0 down, the Royal Blues were throwing men forward with the likes of Doucoure and Andre Gomes getting the license to surge forward.
It was becoming a long frustrating afternoon for Everton as the players were failing to produce anything significant in the final third. With minimal cover in the rearguard in the final moments of the game, a poor Doucoure effort to cross the ball meant that Allan Saint-Maximin would release Jamaal Lewis on a counter.
Lewis crossed the ball to Wilson outside the Everton goal area who was unmarked and had ample time to recover from a first bad touch, organize himself for the shot and drill it in past Pickford to close the tie. This was Wilson’s 100th goal in his career and his sixth in last four games against Everton.
Everton need to dig deep to find answers to certain problems that still persist. The Toffees cannot afford a knockback at this point if they are serious about getting to Europe. With the Leeds United game next on the calendar, Ancelotti has four days to regroup his team and provide definitive solutions.