Yesterday Everton produced a coruscating performance at Goodison Park as they dominated Leeds United and won comfortably and deservedly 3-0.
Saturday’s win was a huge boost in confidence for an Everton side that has been in terrible form over the last few months.
This victory provides a good blueprint for how the Blues should be playing as they seek to move away from the relegation zone over the course of the rest of this campaign.
And, assuming relegation is avoided, it also gives a strong hint of the way the Toffees must look to continue to play over the next few seasons as the club seeks to rebuild it’s competitiveness.
One of the things I have been advocating, like a broken record for a while now, is the need for Everton to start shifting away from the largely negative, defensive and counter-attacking football they have been playing in recent years towards a more up-to-date, high-intensity, pressing game.
This is the way most competitive and successful teams play these days and it’s clear that Frank Lampard is very much on board with this approach and wants a progressive, pressing game and a physically committed style from his players.
We saw plenty of glimpses of this is the win last weekend over Brentford in the FA Cup, Lampard’s first match in charge of the team.
Then, on Tuesday night at Newcastle the Blues reverted back to the worst sort of football and performance that we have seen all too often in the past.
They were jittery, hesitant, lacking fight and commitment and unable to do the basics or even pass to one another accurately.
So, the match with Leeds yesterday was a real test of which Everton would turn up. Fortunately, it was the former, and the Toffees produced a superb effort totally dominating their opponents.
In particular, the Blues physically intimidated the visitors and set the tone right from the off with ferocious tacking and a very energetic and focused performance.
Crucially too, Everton scored early and in less than half an hour, after getting a second, they were fully in control and cruising.
Such a fast-paced, physically dominating approach and scoring early goals are things this Everton team have very rarely done recently, in fact for years.
But, doing so means that the Blues can quickly wrap up a match and secure the points without having to battle all game to try and recover from a losing position as they were forced to do so often in the past, especially after conceding first.
Getting on top from the start, scoring quick goals and effectively winning games in a single half, while not always possible, does give you a great foundation for success as it’s rare for teams to come back from being two or three goals down in half an hour.
And, it means you can continue playing this demanding high-tempo sort of football without too much potential burn-out among the players.
Well, that’s the theory anyway. Now, the real challenge is can this team maintain that sort of intensity and go and perform like this away from the comforting environment of Goodison Park? A trip to Southampton in their next fixture is the perfect place to start.