At the end of another frenetic away day game, Everton were denied a desperately needed first win of the campaign by a second half Leeds equaliser at Elland Road.
This was a frustrating draw to take as Everton really did need to come away with all three points.
Late on it seemed like they might, but for the second game in a row, after being given a slender lead by Anthony Gordon in the first half, the Blues’ couldn’t add to it or hold on at the end.
Before the match we heard the latest bit of bad news as it emerged that new forward signing Neal Maupay hadn’t been registered in time to play in this game!
How was it possible for this to be the case? Apparently, Premier League rules dictate that a player has to be registered by midday on the ‘previous working day’ to be cleared for the next match.
As Monday was a holiday here in the UK, that technically wasn’t the case and so according to the strict interpretation of the rules, the French forward had to sit out tonight’s game.
Now, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that if this was the case with Liverpool, Manchester United or Chelsea signings, somehow I suspect the League would have found a way around it!
Surely, there were Premier League people working yesterday, especially as the transfer window is obviously open? This kind of officious nonsense really gets me.
Having said all that, let’s be honest the Toffees’ could and should have got this deal over the line sooner so that there wouldn’t have been any scope for these beauracratic shenanigans. Again, it could only happen to this football club.
All this farcical nonsense meant that Frank Lampard again started with his front three of Anthony Gordon, Demarai Gray and Dwight McNeil with Gray playing centrally this time.
That front three actually began reasonably well and while Leeds had their moments in the opening forty-five minutes, the away team were competing well and again looked pretty compact and solid overall.
And, once more Gordon produced a strong performance and a fine finish to give the Blues’ the lead after a superb ball from the again excellent Alex Iwobi with McNeil also involved in the move.
In another example of deja-vu from Saturday’s game, Gray later had a chance to add a second and after fluffing it at Brentford, he did find the back of the net this evening. But, unsurprisingly the officials came to Leeds rescue and ruled it out for a highly dubious offside.
After edging the first half and probably deserving the lead, Leeds came out fired up for the second half while Everton were dropping deeper as they do so often in these games.
Given the intensity of their play, you felt it was inevitable the home side would get something sooner or later and that’s exactly what they did with Luis Sinisterra scoring the equaliser.
Over the last few seasons one Leeds’ South American forward, Raphina, had became a bit of a thorn in the Blues’ side, scoring several times against Everton. I hope this Colombian won’t prove to be the same.
Anyway, the Toffees’ still had opportunites to win it with Nathan Patterson (who also had a strong game overall) missing the best one.
And, looking for other positives, Amadou Onana had an excellent match alongside Iwobi and although it’s early days he is looking a real midfield player.
As the game went on Lampard didn’t change anything, which is a worrying sign that perhaps the manager doesn’t feel confident in his bench. Squad depth has been a problem for a while and it seems to still be one.
There is not much time to get new signings over the line (and hopefully registered in time!) before the window shuts.
I would think looking at this evening’s game, the pressing need for more attacking threat and how many tough matches are coming up, Everton will be active.
And so, we move on to the small matter of this season’s first Merseyside derby at the Grand Old Lady on Saturday lunchtime.