Does Saints win indicate mentality change for Everton

Despite going a goal down in a tight and tense game at Southampton yesterday afternoon, Everton fought back to win 2-1 and make it back-to-back victories in the Premier League.

St Mary’s hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for Everton in recent years and in fact their away form generally has been very poor for far too long.

It’s a problem that has been a feature of most of the past five or six years regardless of the manager or how much had been spent on players.

So yesterday, when the Toffees’ having controlled the first half, went one goal down early in the second period, many supporters would have been rightly worried.

There have been strong indications of a different mentality and attitude from this side from past Blues’ teams in their solid and consistent start to the season and a much needed first win last time out against West Ham.

The team has a new-found defensive resiliance and a much-improved and far more dynamic and athletic midfield with the summer additions of Amadou Onana, Idrissa Gueye and James Garner, together with Alex Iwobi’s superb form.

Yesterday however was a new test. Previously, even when they had been playing well at home, past Everton teams would almost always have folded once they went one down away from fortress Goodison Park.

There was a lacklustre fragility and an absence of mental strength and robustness to those past sides and a sense that many of the players weren’t really that committed to the cause.

This meant that when they went behind they would often fold and lose sometimes by several more goals in an often embarassing style.

Unlike in the past though, yesterday heads didn’t go down and there wasn’t an inevitable sense of doom following Southampton’s goal.

Instead, the Toffees’ responded immediately and showed the grit and determination to turn the game around.

Importantly too, they were ticking to their gameplan and not panicking or going into their shell. This led to them scoring two quick goals in the space of two minutes, which turned around the outcome of the match.

Summer signings Conor Coady and then Dwight McNeil netted and despite some wobbles late as Saints pressed for an equaliser, Everton held onto their lead to claim the three points.

We’ve seen what has since proved to be ultimately false dawns for this club in the recent past under previous managers.

One such occasion was perhaps the later part of the 2017-18 season under another young manager Marco Silva. Then, the Blues’ finished the season strongly and on an unbeaten run with excellent perfomances and wins against Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal.

There were hopes that maybe, just maybe, the team had turned a corner. Of course, it didn’t happen and six months later Silva was gone.

While it is still relatively early days in the Lampard era, certainly now he has more of the players he wants there are clear indications of a change in mentality.

And there’s much work to be done especially to improve the goal threat, there were clear signs yesterday that perhaps that win will represent another milestone in the positive development of this team.