James the Maestro Sets the Tone for Handsome Everton Win

The Colombian looked right at home on a frigid Merseyside night against lower-division opposition, putting in an excellent display as the Toffees beat Sheffield Wednesday in the FA Cup Fourth Round

It almost wasn't fair at times. Struggling at the wrong end of the Championship but perhaps taking heart from Rotherham's performance at Goodison Park in the last round, the last thing Sheffield Wednesday needed was James Rodriguez taking control of this FA Cup tie and directing it like the laid-back conductor of an orchestra re-finding its tune.

The Colombian has had a predictably injury-affected season since joining Everton from Real Madrid last summer but this evening he was looking in as fine a fettle as at any point so far in the Royal Blue jersey, something that bodes well for what will be a run of very important games in the coming weeks.

Granted, this was lower-division opposition who, apart from a couple of early sighters that demanded Robin Olsen be on his toes in the Everton goal, never really looked like pulling off a cup shock, but James has played like this before at times already this season and against far better opposition.

For the Owls, he was largely untouchable, dropping deep to pull the strings in midfield alongside a pleasingly effective André Gomes, wriggling out of tight situations, pinging cross-field balls to Richarlison, splitting the defence with sublime passes, pulling off a Rabona pass in the box to set up Gylfi Sigurdsson, and, decisively, putting pin-point corners onto the heads of Richarlison and Yerry Mina to put the result beyond doubt with a little more than an hour gone.

As if anyone needed one more reason to put this awful pandemic behind us, it's that Evertonians might finally get to witness James's genius in the flesh. It can't come soon enough.

Carlo Ancelotti named a strong line-up for this Fourth Round tie, one that featured the returning Dominic Calvert-Lewin who would end his brief goal drought with his first goal in six games.

The striker had missed the previous two matches with a hamstring injury but returned to the lead the line playing off Richarlison to his left and after Adam Reach had forced a parrying save from Robin Olsen at one end with a strong drive, it was the Brazilian who had Everton's first effort on target.

Seamus Coleman swung in a cross from the right flank that Richarlison met with a looping header that Joe Wildsmith tipped over the crossbar in the eighth minute.

Four minutes later, the Toffees thought they had opened the scoring. Rodriguez slid a perfect pass straight through the visitors' defence that Richarlison collected and tucked inside the post but the goal was chalked off for offside. That decision robbed the match of what would have been a brilliant James assist but he would serve up two goals in the second half by more conventional means.

Andre Green then tested Olsen with a shot from just inside the penalty area and James had a promising shot blocked before Everton did break the deadlock just before the half-hour mark thanks to a really well-worked move.

It ended with André Gomes out-witting his marker, driving to the byline and fizzing the ball across goal where Calvert-Lewin slid in at the back post to knock it in. It marked the second occasion on which the Portuguese has found himself wide on left with an opportunity to whip a cross in with his left peg and it, too, is hopefully a sign of more attacking intent from a player who has been curiously unadventurous for much of his Goodison career.

Perhaps understandably, Calvert-Lewin wasn't quite at his sharpest. He had either overlooked or not seen a couple of chances to back-heel the ball into Gylfi Sigurdsson's path in front of goal earlier and might have doubled his tally a few minutes after his goal but failed to make contact with Sigurdsson's tempting cross and the Icelandic midfielder had a chance of his own off James's cheeky lay-up but lashed his shot wide.

With such a slender advantage heading into the second half, it was important that Everton didn't take their foot off the pedal in the manner in which they did against Rotherham in the previous round.

Pleasingly for Ancelotti, they remained on the front foot and went close when Ben Godfrey headed wide at the back post, Calvert-Lewin forced a good near-post save from Wildsmith and Abdoulaye Doucouré sliced past the post following a corner.

Two goals in quick succession around the hour mark made the game safe for the Toffees, both served up by the set-piece talents of Rodriguez. First, the Colombian curled a corner onto the head of Richarlison who steered the ball past the keeper in the 59th minute; then, with an almost carbon-copy delivery, James connected with his compatriot Mina who headed home from just outside the six-yard box.

Having endured long spells of Everton set-piece takers failing to beat the first man or pose much threat from corners over recent years, no Evertonian is taking this brilliant service by James from corners and, by the same token, their consistency shouldn't be under-estimated. They were deliveries just begging to be converted and both Richarlison and Mina were happy to oblige.

Calvert-Lewin had one more chance off James's dinked ball over the top but his attempt to hook the ball past the keeper was cleared away from the goal line by a defender before the striker made way for Bernard.

Josh Windass, a half-time sub for the visitors, saw one shot from a direct free-kick saved and another blocked by Holgate before Ancelotti made four more changes that included senior debuts for Tyler Onyango and Thierry Small who became Everton's youngest ever player at 16 years and 176 days old.

It was a nice moment for two players with very bright futures if the buzz at Finch Farm is any indication and while neither player really had enough time on the field to really make a big impression, the experience is something they will surely remember, even if it was at an empty Goodison.

Apart from a chance for Jonjoe Kenny, himself a second-half introduction for Ben Godfrey, that the defender spooned over after Bernard's shot had been charged down, the last quarter of an hour passed without incident and the Blues saw out the win that ensures a meeting with either Wycombe Wanderers or Tottenham Hotspur back at Goodison on the weekend of 10th February.

Everton have four Premier League matches of potentially hugely importance before that Fifth Round tie, though, starting with Leicester back in L4 on Wednesday evening before flailing Newcastle come to town next Saturday. If all goes well in those two matches, Ancelotti's men could find themselves almost unbelievably well-placed in two competitions heading into February.

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