Much has been made of the current state of Everton's fullback situation, and, to be blunt, it is dire at the moment. But one way to lessen the load of the defense is to score more goals, something Everton haven't been doing a whole lot of during this preseason and into the first match of the Premier League campaign.
Everton brought in Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall in hopes that the former Chelsea man's creativity would help unlock some goals, ideally setting up players like Iliman Ndiaye, Beto, and, eventually, Thierno Barry, to worry about knocking in the goals.
KDH's debut for the Toffees was up and down, although once he was allowed to drop back into a deeper lying role in the second half, it was clear that he gained more confidence and felt better about his abiliy to drive the ball forward.
The more advanced playmaker role didn't seem to suit him. Maybe it was because he was asked to press more, or maybe he just never got comfortable playing behind Beto, but for whatever reason, he was better in the second half, as was the rest of the Everton side.
And while we don't know what David Moyes will ask of the 26-year-old midfielder for Sunday's game against Brighton, there's no doubt that Dewsbury-Hall's creativity will be key for Everton to get forward and attempt to score some goals in front of the home supporters at the new stadium.
He won't be able to do it alone, and so he'll lean on Ndiaye, Beto, Jack Grealish, and others, to get the job done, but Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall will need to show more of what he's good at if Everton are to get off to a good start at Hill Dickinson this weekend.