As the dust has finally settled a week on from the end of another tulmultous season for Everton, let’s look back in detail at a campaign that once again so nearly ended in disaster.
At the start of the 2022-23 season Toffees supporters were desperately hoping that there would be no repeat of the dreadful campaign the club had just gone though, when relegation was only avoided with a game to spare.
Everton had started the previous 2021-22 season with Rafa Benitez in charge after Carlo Ancelotti’s sudden summer departure for Real Madrid.
It was always likely to be an ill-fated decision (one that was pushed hard by Farhad Moshiri) and it was met with a great deal of unhappiness and some outright hostility as well, by some sections of the Blues supporters.
For this appointment to work, absolutely everything had to go exactly right or it would turn toxic very quickly. And, of course this being Everton it all went to pot.
After a decent start to his rein over the first month or so, results nosedived as injuries hit and Benitez reverted to his default defensive tactics.
Anger at what seemed an inevitable outcome, turned towards the board.
At last, after Director of Football Marcel Brands had been offered up as a sacrificial lamb to try and appease fans, finally following an innominious home defeat to Norwich City, Benitez was sacked.
By the time he left in mid-January a popular player, Lucas Digne, had been sold after falling out with the manager and the team was in a tailspin that looked potentially fatal.
Frank Lampard eventually succeeded the Spaniard and got a bit of a bounce before results declined again.
However, although he had some bad days at the office, Lampard did ultimately manage to keep the club up on that crazy night against Crystal Palace.
There was hope for a good summer transfer window and the new season to come.
The transfer window proved to be a real mixed bag though.
Certain signings like James Tarkowski on a free and the return of Idrissa Gueye, seemed astute.
But others (Dwight McNeil for example, although he would come good) baffled many supporters and raised questions about Lampard and Director of Football Kevin Thelwell’s thinking.
The most urgent prioirty by the late summer, was obvious: bringing in forwards who could score goals.
Time ticked on though and the club failed to make any striker signings, despite a plethera of names being linked with a move to Merseyside.
Meanwhile, Everton added another two further midfielders to the squad as youngsters Amadou Onana and James Garner joined.
Then finally, just before the end of the window, a forward was bought; Neal Maupay from Brighton.
He was hardly a headline grabbing addition and if he was deemed to be surplus to requirements at Brighton – not a team awash with goalscorers – that wasn’t exactly a great reference to take with him!
The Season begins
Anyway, after all that, the new campaign kicked off in stifling August heat at Goodison Park against Chelsea.
Just hours before however, it had been revealed that Dominic Calvert-Lewin had picked up an injury in training and would miss the opener.
Then, as if the football gods were determined to do their worst, both centre-backs Ben Godfrey and Yerry Mina, key players in Lampard’s three-man central defence, picked up injuries in that defeat to Chelsea. Once again, you couldn’t make it up!
After that dreadful start, the Toffees staggered through the first seven Premier League matches of the season, unable to win a game until finally beating West Ham 1-0 in mid-September, courtesy of Maupay’s only league goal of the campaign.
They weren’t conceding many goals it was true and played well in patches (particularly in the Goodison derby against Liverpool) but it was a very poor first month or so points-wise, leaving Everton already struggling for any positive momentum.
The side had a new-look defence and a mish-mash of lone strikers as Lampard tried desperately to find a formula to overcome the failures of the transfer window and the terrible luck with injuries that had afflicted him, as it did so many of his predeccessors.
Everton usually it seemed couldn’t for love or money find a way to score goals, the team was labouring badly and the football offered up at times was truly dreadful to watch. Away from home, performances were simply embarassing.
Then after an unexpected 2-1 win at Southampton, immediately following the West Ham result, the Blues went on a three-game losing streak that undermined any apparent progress, putting the team back in the relegation pack.
Perversely, that streak was then ended with a dynamic 3-0 win over Crystal Palace at Goodison, which coincided with Calvert-Lewin’s recent return to the team and seemed to offer hope at last of a formula to drag the Blues away from danger.
In retrospect that was the high watermark of Lampard’s tenure, alongside the Palace win of course.
He was chopping and changing his formations and tactics as he sought to find some consistency in the team. It was though creating a sense of confusion and it also felt like he was overthinking the situation.
The Toffees then reverted to type and lost eight of his final ten games in charge, including humiliating back-to-back 4-1 and 3-0 defeats to Bournemouth, as well as damaging home losses to Wolves, Brighton and Southampton.
Those defeats to the Cherries would, with any other club, have seen Lampard dismissed having won only three Premier League games all season. And he certainly should have gone after the losses to fellow strugglers Wolves, and the Saints.
Lampard limped on though, with the owner and board unable or unwilling to make the decision and pull the trigger on yet another failed managerial appointment.
Fans were getting increasingly angry and frustrated as the team’s form and confidence was in free-fall and the club was headed yet again for another nail-biting battle to avoid the drop.
Finally, after a thirteenth defeat just halfway through the season at West Ham, they acted and Lampard was gone. Manager number six sacked by Moshiri since he took over the club in 2016.
So, who was going to be offered the poisoned chalice next?
Could Sean Dyche save Everton?
After flirting with hiring former Leeds manager Marcel Bielsa, the former Burnley boss Dyche replaced Lampard just 24 hours before the January transfer window shut.
On the surface he seemed a decent fit in the short-term and he certainly had plenty of experience battling for points at the wrong end of the league.
Once more though Everton were leaving it all too late. Would the new manager have enough time to bring in the playing reinforcements, especially forwards, that were so much needed?
The answer to that question was emphatically, no.
Supporters endured a truly farcical final deadline day as the Toffees sought in vain to add new signings with players turning them down left, right and centre.
With the hours ticking by, at one point it seemed as though almost every striker in Europe was being linked with the Blues! Some ludicrous names were floating around by the end of the day.
Despite frantic last-ditch efforts, by the 11 pm cut-off no one had come through the door.
Everton ended up in the digraceful scenario of being the only club in the Premier League who failed to add any signings in January, despite the owners’ reassurances they would do so.
So, Dyche began his tenure without a single new player to add to the obviously inadequate squad he had inherited.
In particular, he had no new strikers to replace the now seemingly permanently crocked Calvert-Lewin, leaving him with Maupay who had proved a total flop and a young, still raw Ellis Simms.
As with his predeccessor then, the starkest problem he faced was where on earth would the goals come from that were needed to get the Blues out of the dire straights they were in.
And, as if the start to his rein couldn’t get any more challenging, the new manager then faced league leaders Arsenal in his first game in charge before a trip to Anfield for the derby.
The Toffees produced probably their best performance of the season so far against the Gunners, as they harried and outworked their more skillful opponents and grabbed a classic set-peice goal from James Tarkowski to give Dyche a winning start.
Of course, we had seen this sort of ‘new manager bounce’ many times before and this time it didn’t last the mile or so bus ride to their neighbours, as the Blues were soundly beaten 2-0 by Liverpool.
Everton then hosted fellow relegation threatened Leeds United in a massive match at Goodison. Seamus Coleman’s superb strike (or was it a cross?!) decided a tight encounter. Another 1-0 win for the new boss at home.
Could they make it three on the bounce at the Grand Old Lady? No was the answer as Aston Villa came and got a classic smash and grab, winning 2-0 to end Dyche’s 100% record at Goodison.
With Calvert-Lewin still undergoing apparently endless rehab and Dyche detemined not to rush him back prematurely, goals were at an absolute premium.
After experimenting with Maupay and then Simms for the one match at Liverpool, the manager had settled on Demarai Gray as his main first-choice alternative. It was far from ideal and Gray was failing to make any consistent impact.
However, one player who had initially struggled to find his feet, was beginning to step up now.
Dwight McNeil, after not getting much playing time under Lampard the man who had brought him to the club, was florishing again under his former boss at Turf Moor.
He would end up as the team’s top scorer and got several important goals such as the winner against Brentford.
One of the biggest problems (of so many) with the Toffees team over the last few years, has been the chronic inability of the side to win away from home.
Everton had only managed one win in their travels all season at Southampton and had added just five more points on the road under Lampard.
Dyche had to improve that poor record and he managed to do it, at least to some degree.
The Blues came away with a draw at Nottingham Forest (although they were winning so that was more like two points dropped) and fought back well at Chelsea to grab a point in another 2-2 draw.
At this stage who knew how vital these points might prove to be in the end. However results at home would still surely be the key to survival.
Either side of those draws away, the Toffees managed another of Dyche’s now trademark 1-0 wins at Goodison, over Brentford, with McNeil’s first-minute goal proving enough.
One home match that was seen as important came when Everton hosted Tottenham on a Monday night, needing a win to keep themselves afloat and out of the drop zone.
Up to that point Dyche had been using a 4-5-1 formation with Abdoulaye Doucoure – rehabilitated after falling out of favour with Lampard – proving an effective link between midfield and the lone striker.
Using Doucoure this way was something I had felt could be a useful weapon to improve the team’s anemic attack. And, the Mali international had popped up with two goals, one in each of those away draws.
He and a few other players though had been prone to getting into incidents with other teams particularly on the sidelines and after matches.
Againt Spurs, Everton were already one goal down when Docuoure got involved in a touchline altercation with Harry Kane. The England captain’s Oscar-winning calibre of acting then resulted in Doucoure being sent off.
It was a major setback for the Blues and the game looked gone before Micheal Keane strode forward and fired in a rasping long-range shot that salvaged another point.
Keane’s return to the team under his former Burnley manager, had been controversial with supporters for sure.
The centre-back’s tendancy to make unforced and often hugely costly errors, had made him far from the first choice for most fans. That goal though could have been critical in the end.
Now, Dyche has lost a key part of his tactical approach with Docoure’s suspension for three matches. He was forced to reshuffle his pack as a result.
And it showed as the Blues slumped to a defeat at Manchester United and then heavy losses to Fulham and Newcastle as they conceded a combined seven goals at home.
The Run In
It didn’t look good then with the final run-in to the end of the season round the corner. Everton had just five fixtures left to save themselves.
With Docoure back and Calvert-Lewin finally fit again, the Blues travelled to Leicester for a cruch clash against another team in serious relegation trouble, the proverbial ‘six-pointer’.
It was a tight, tense game understandably, and despite scoring, the Toffees were behind before Jordan Pickford produced a fine stop from a penalty to prevent Leicester going 3-1 up. Another potentially season-defining moment.
The Blues managed to equalise and had another 2-2 draw. At full-time it felt like a point gained of course, and the home side were deflated by the draw.
Next, Everton were again away from home going all the way down to the South Coast to face a Brighton team enjoying a superb season.
The Seagulls had thumped the Toffees 4-1 earlier in the campaign and nobody expected anything but a comfortable home win.
I thought it was a sort of free hit and that it was just possible we might see another of those occasional and unlikely wins we have from time to time seen from this team.
Remarkably and totally unexpectedly, the Blues produced a barnstorming performance as they turned the tables on their opponents, even going one better with a resounding 5-1 win at the Amex Stadium.
The pace, movement and clinical nature of their attacking play and finishing (with Docucoure adding another goal, a brilliantly taken volley) was a joy to watch and matched almost anything seen in the Premier League all season long.
Afterwards, the question everyone was asking is, where had this team been hiding all these months and years?!
Not only was the three points priceless but Everton improved the goal-difference on their rivals, especially Leeds.
Now, there were three games to go, starting with champions Mancester City.
After the high of the Brighton win, the home team came back to earth with a bump as they were comfortably beaten 3-0.
The next fixture was a trip to Molinuex, which if they won it would virtually guarantee safety.
Wolves though were leading in a poor game and the Blues looked destined for a disasterous defeat when Yerry Mina, who had taken Keane’s place in the side, poked the ball home in the 99th minute. Yet another massive point gained away from home.
So, it would all come down to the final day against Bournemouth. We all know what happened, of course. Somehow, by the skin of their teeth, Everton were safe again.
It has all been said before, but that must be the last time Evertonians have to go through a campaign of such dreadful failure and frustration, which so nearly ended in catastrophy.