Prince Rupert's Tower
Fansided

New look Everton face first real test against Magpies

By Matt Townsend

NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 01: Ryan Fraser of Newcastle United is put under pressure by Yerry Mina of Everton during the Premier League match between Newcastle United and Everton at St. James Park on November 01, 2020 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Sporting stadiums around the UK remain under strict restrictions due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in games being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images)
NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 01: Ryan Fraser of Newcastle United is put under pressure by Yerry Mina of Everton during the Premier League match between Newcastle United and Everton at St. James Park on November 01, 2020 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Sporting stadiums around the UK remain under strict restrictions due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in games being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

After a superb FA Cup fourth round victory over Brentford to start his reign, Frank Lampard’s Everton face a crunch game at Newcastle United tomorrow night.

Lampard takes his new-look Everton team to Tyneside on Tuesday for a huge match in the Premier League.

The 4-1 win over Brentford was a great afternoon for Toffees fans and got the new manager off to a near-perfect start to his era, bar Ben Godfrey’s injury of course.

There was much to be pleased about in that game with the Blues playing energetic, progressive attacking football, which produced arguably the best quality performance seen by an Everton team in several years.

But, of course, this was one game and to some extent it was a sort of free hit for Lampard and the team. Obviously, all Evertonians wanted to win the game and it was important for the new man to get his reign off to positive start, but say a one nil win or even a draw wouldn’t have been the end of the world.

Tomorrow’s game is a massive test though and one that you feel this side has to pass if we are to believe that the green shoots of a more effective and competitive team we saw on Saturday are genuinely solidly founded and potentially sustainable.

As everyone knows only too well, the Toffees are on the edge of the relegation zone and their recent league form is the worst of any side in the competition.

While Everton had a very busy January bringing in a new manager and six players while losing one, Newcastle have also had a season of huge change and upheveal.

The controversial takeover earlier in the campaign was eventually followed, as everyone expected, with a change in manager and then some big spending in the transfer window.

After a tough first half to the season, the Magpies also found a bit of form just as the window opened, which means they now have a glimmer of hope that they will escape the drop, before they then spent considerably on strengthening the squad.

This is of course a very inconvenient but predictable reality, that the Blues’ rivals Newcastle and Norwich City have found some good form at exactly the time that Everton’s has been so bad as to bring them into contact with the strugglers at the bottom of the table. That horrible momentum has to be turned around very quickly.

With all the good things that we saw at the weekend, in truth the Toffees were not under much pressure and their defence didn’t face a tough examination from a poor Brentford side.

However, there were still moments in which the same old problems at the back were evident. In particular individual errors again occured with an under-hit backpass in the first half being one example which could have led to a goal. The Blues must find ways to cut out these sorts of unforced mistakes from their defending.

One defensive positive was the impact of Paul Clement who seemed to have made an immediate difference in the set-piece play at both ends with Everton scoring two goals from such situations.

The big question as far as team selection is concerned is will Lampard bring in his two midfield signings Donny van de Beek and Dele Alli?

In a way you could argue that after last Saturday’s performance he should perhaps leave a winning team intact.

I suspect though he might want to give one or other of his new boys a chance and given their relative situations I think the choice would probably be van de Beek.

Having said that and assuming he goes with a similar formation, after Andre Gomes performance on Saturday will he be able to drop the Portuguese, the obvious choice to make way?

The other major issue is whether Dominic Calvert-Lewin will be fit enough to play. Lampard suggested he might in his pre-match press conference but even if that’s the case I wouldn’t change the front three, which I think worked really well against Brentford and offers a dynamic, versatile and fluid attack, just what a modern team needs.

Tuesday’s game is a very tough one to call and the Blues really need all three points. I have to say despite the good vibes from Saturday, we’ve seen this happen before with this group of players winning well one week and then following it up with a really poor effort in the next match.

So, although they showed they can play a modern, progressive brand of winning football and while I don’t want to sound too pessimistic, I’m not sure Everton will play that well again away from home tomorrow or that that someone won’t still make critical errors at the back, which costs them this time. I hope my worries prove to be misplaced!