Match Report

The chafing irony of Bill Kenwright’s wholly ill-timed and misguided open letter to the #AllTogetherNow movement on the eve of a hugely important Premier League match was not lost watching Everton slog their way to an unsatisfying but not unwelcome point at Crystal Palace.

The Chairman’s missive was self-congratulatory in tone and yet his failings and that of the rest of the hierarchy have been laid bare in recent weeks, as a squad painfully short on depth and quality has picked up just three points from a possible 15 and scored just four goals in five games.

Setting aside the glaring lack of striking reinforcements, perhaps nowhere is that galling lack of quality more evident than in the full-back positions where Sean Dyche deployed yet another awkward and ill-suited centre-half and paid the price for a lack of foresight and action when Mason Holgate was sent off for a second bookable offence with 10 minutes left of the regulation 90 in this lacklustre encounter at Selhurst Park.

With Nathan Patterson deemed either too raw or lacking in sharpness to start, Ben Godfrey struggled at right back in Seamus Coleman’s absence against Fulham last weekend. Holgate was several shades worse this afternoon, putting in the kind of horrendous showing that should have seen him hooked long before he had the chance to clumsily foul Jordan Ayew for a third time on the day and receive his marching orders from referee John Brooks.

Both bookings were soft but Holgate and his Everton team-mates had been doing their best to make Ayew look like a vintage Brazilian rather than the unremarkable Ghanaian he has been throughout his career and the writing had been on the wall for a defender who has been on the Blues’ books for eight years without ever finding any real consistency. Dyche leaving him on as long as he did was a worrying dereliction of duty on the manager’s part.

Even allowing for Patterson's ill-fortune on the injury front, that a 34-year-old Coleman is comfortably the best full-back at the club is a damning indictment of Everton’s recruitment and whether he likes to admit it or not, "Chairman Bill" is partly culpable; that Rafael Benitez was allowed to trade Lucas Digne for the visibly declining Vitalii Mykolenko on the other side of defence just rubs salt into the wounds and has contributed to a plight that will look increasingly desperate unless this team can start scoring enough goals.

In that respect, the return of Dominic Calvert-Lewin was, perhaps, the only pleasing aspect from today apart from the fact that Everton managed to hold out for a point despite playing a quarter of an hour with 10 men. The striker, starting his first match since early February, has been eased back to fitness and lasted 90 minutes before being replaced in stoppage time and he came close to a hero’s comeback with an hour gone but, sadly, just missed the target with his only real chance of the game.

Indeed, with just one corner all afternoon, offering almost no threat from set-pieces and generally struggling to create from open play as Demarai Gray in particular came up short, Everton failed to provide their main goal-poacher with any real service; that will need to change on Thursday when Newcastle come to town for a fixture that has ratcheted up in importance from the Toffees’ standpoint.

With Amadou Onana still out injured and Abdoulaye Doucouré serving the final match of his three-game ban, Dyche continued with James Garner in central midfield and installed Gray wide on the right with Alex Iwobi in the middle behind Calvert-Lewin.

Everton had the first sights of goal when Dwight McNeil dribbled a shot towards Sam Johnstone in the fourth minute and Calvert-Lewin could only get a shoulder to a chipped Iwobi ball into the box early on but it was Palace who assumed the greater control of the contest.

Holgate’s first infringement on Ayew set the converted winger up for a header in the eighth minute but he put the chance over the the crossbar, while Michael Olise fired in a shot that Pickford dealt with comfortably and Tyrick Mitchell volleyed over after Ayew had been allowed by Michael Keane to get a cross in from the by-line.

Everton’s best moment of the first half came from Iwobi after they kept the ball despite a dreadful free-kick from McNeil, with Iwobi rattling a 20-yard volley off Mitchell’s short clearance that was heading for the bottom corner before Johnstone palmed it aside.

Calvert-Lewin’s daisy cutter six minutes before the break was comfortable for the keeper, as was McNeil’s similarly tame effort a couple of minutes later as the two teams went in level at the break.

The Eagles had the ball in the net after, not the for the first time on the day, they had caught the Everton defence flat-footed with a ball over the top but Ebereche Eze was correctly flagged offside.

Four minutes later, a booming Pickford ball forward was knocked down by Calvert-Lewin, Iwobi threaded a pass between the centre-halves back to the striker who rolled his man beautifully with a deft touch but hammered a left-foot shot inches the wrong side of the post.

Eze had Palace’s only meaningful effort on goal of the second period with a quarter of an hour to go but Pickford was equal to his curling effort that was searching out the bottom corner, the England keeper turning it behind and Cheick Doucouré lashed well over from a subsequent corner.

Everton’s hopes of sneaking a priceless winner more or less evaporated with Holgate’s second calamity when his lunge in on Ayew earned him his marching orders. Dyche threw Godfrey on instead of Patterson and eventually replaced Calvert-Lewin with Neal Maupay rather than Ellis Simms as the visitors dug in for the point.

Luka Milivojević came off the bench for Palace and saw a goalbound shot deflected behind off Vitalii Mykolenko and Eze fired a dangerous ball across the six-yard box but Pickford held on before Brooks called time on five minutes of stoppage time.

Depending on how this season pans out over the remaining six games, this was either a point that inched Everton to safety or an opportunity passed up to climb away from the bottom three. Much now rests on the home clashes with Newcastle and Bournemouth, the trips to Leicester and Wolves and hope for some kind of miracle against Manchester City and Brighton.

Seven of the 11 who dismantled Patrick Vieira’s Palace last October started at Selhurst Park today but with confidence at a low ebb, there was precious little of the quality shown in that handsome 3-0 win on show in yellow.

Somehow, Dyche needs to restore large measures of the former and coax more of that latter out of his charges against the Magpies where, hopefully, after full-throated and laudibly passionate support from the travelling Blues at Selhurst Park today, a raucous and defiant Goodison crowd will be there under the lights to propel them to what would be a vital victory. The alternative is too heavy to ponder.

Lyndon Lloyd

Matchday Updates

10-man Everton held Crystal Palace at bay for the last 15 minutes of this robust encounter after Mason Holgate was shown a second yellow card, to earn what could be a vital point despite falling into the Bottom 3.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin starts for Everton as manager Sean Dyche makes two changes to his side for Saturday afternoon’s encounter with Crystal Palace. 

Mason Holgate is also recalled to the starting line-up, as Neal Maupay and Ben Godfrey drop to the bench for the Blues’ Selhurst Park clash. No Onana, still out with a groin injury, 

It's goalless at the break. Everton came closest to scoring in the first half when Iwobi's 20-yard volley first-time was palmed away by Johnstone. Dominic Calvert-Lewin also had a pop on goal from distance. 

The Yellows kicked off the second half. Gray was caught accidentally on the heel by Mitchell but Everton could not make anything from the set-piece. In defence, Calvert-Lewin headed a corner clear but Iwobi was very easily robbed of the ball, and Gueye suffered in a challenge from Guehi.

A Palace ball over the top looked to have caught the high Everton back line but at least three Crystal Palace players were all offside, including Ayew who ran on to lob the ball over Pickford. 

Iwobi needed treatment. But Everton were caught napping again with a good pass out from Eze until they regrouped in time to stop any shot. 

An incredible clearance from Pickford was cleared, falling for Iwobi to feed a great pass forward to Calvert-Lewin who got unaccustomed power on his shot that flew inches wide. But he was booked minutes later for "persistent infringements of the laws.

Edouard caught Gray wide right to give away a free-kick that Ganer swung in, and then Iwobi returned but the balls in were cleared. Everton kept up the pressure until Iwobi haplessly put it behind. 

In the next Palace attack, Keane wrestled Edouard a little then Tarkowski's arm touched Eze's face, causing him to lie prone in the area as if poleaxed by a thunderbolt; neither referee nor video assistant were impressed. 

Everton were gifted their first corner after 73 minutes, Keane and Tarkoeski going for the same ball along with the keeper and a defender. Mitchell was adjudged to have fouled Gray, giving McNeil a chance to float a soft one in that was too easily defended. 

Palace went straight up the end and Eze tried to catch out Pickford with a cleverly placed shot that led to a Palace corner. From the next corner, Palace's Doucoure volleyed skywards.

Holgate was drawn into a foul trying to stop Ayew and the ref thought it worth a yellow card, his second, and a red, reducing Everton to 10 mien for the last 10 minutes. Gray was sacrificed so Godfrey could come on as right back, with a point still to protect.  

More Palace corners were successfully defended but Everton were now painfully hesitant in possession, not wanting to take any risks. That resulted in more confidence for Palace to attack, Mitchell getting around the flank to shoot at Pickford. 

Milivojevic had a tremendous goalbound shot that was deflected away as the 10 men in yellow rode their luck. Palace smelt blood in the air and attacked repeatedly, Pickford had to be alert to stifle the chances that kept being created.

More Palace pressure but the interceptions from Everton were critical in relieving the pressure. With 90 minutes up, Neal Maupay replaced Calvert-Lewin for the 5 minutes of added time, which Everton played out to take home what could be a very valuable point. 

Crystal Palace:  Johnstone; Ward, Andersen, Guehi, Mitchell [Y:27']; Eze, Doucoure (78' Milivojevic), Schlupp (71' Hughes); Olise, Edouard (71' Mateta), Ayew.

Subs not Used: Tomkins, Sambi Lokonga, Guaita, McArthur, Richards, Riedewald.

Everton: Pickford, Holgate [Y:37'; YR:80'], Tarkowski, Keane, Mykolenko, Gana, Garner, Iwobi, Gray (81' Godfrey), McNeil, Calvert-Lewin [Y:63'] (90+1'Maupay).

Subs not Used: Begovic, Lonergan, Patterson, Mina, Davies, Coady, Simms.

Michael Kenrick

This Week: 11 Years Ago

Manchester Utd 4 - 4 Everton (2012)

I’m starting to wonder if it’s appropriate to continue to do these pieces, given the mess both the team and the club as a whole are in at the moment.

I’ll go ahead with this one as I feel it’s relevant – this lookback ties in to the long-standing culture of complacency at our club that has led to the situation we’re in now.

22 April 2012 was the day I knew we were officially done as a force in the game.

Who am I kidding – we were finished long before this. I guess this was just the moment that brought it home.

I’m talking about the 4-4 draw at Old Trafford. Many will see this as a bizarre choice, especially since the team had the fight and character to come back from 4-2 down.

Honestly, I only switched the game on when the score was 4-2, so I could only react to what I saw. And I could see that Man Utd’s heads were down, their defence was all over the place, and Everton clearly had momentum on their side. I’m convinced that, if we’d carried on attacking, we’d have won there for the first time in 20 years.

Instead, the response was to back off and invite them to attack again. It took a decent save from Tim Howard to keep out an effort from Rio Ferdinand in injury time, and I believe that if the game had carried on for a few more minutes, they’d have found a winner. 

When I revisited the Fiorentina game recently, I went into the pros and cons of continuing to attack after equalising. I won't bore readers with another essay about it now. All I’ll say is, that day at Old Trafford seemed like one of those times when the opponents were on the ropes, an appropriate time to be more aggressive and go for it.

Furthermore, Everton had nothing to play for in the league, and, with just a couple of games remaining before the summer, if they had conceded, any potential adverse impact on morale or team confidence would have been minimal.

I found the lack of ambition in not going for the victory disappointing, but it was the reaction to the result that alarmed me, both at the final whistle and beyond.

For years afterwards, maybe to this day, those comeback goals were shown on the big screen at Goodison as part of the pre-match montage, as though it were a key moment in the club’s history. Well, for me it was, but for all the wrong reasons.

The points Man Utd dropped that day proved costly as they were pipped to the title on goal difference. Now, I’m aware of the Liverpool – Manchester rivalry, and I live outside the city, in a small town in the north-west, and, like most towns in the area (maybe even in the country), 90% of the fans are evenly split between Liverpool and Manchester United. So I know how satisfying it is to stick it to them and put one over on them (even if we did take more points from eventual champions Manchester City that season). 

It shouldn’t be a cause for celebration or seen as some kind of achievement by the club though. West Ham got a couple of results to de-rail Man Utd’s title bids in the early- and mid-90s and many of their fans still take pride in that. Why? With their history and tradition, West Ham should be better than that. And we certainly should be.

Back to the end of that game, and the way the players reacted, you’d think the point gained had clinched the title for Everton. I said it at the time and I maintain it now, the sight of our players heading for the tunnel with big grins on their faces – high-fiving each other because they’d drawn – was embarrassing. 

Maybe I’m being overly cynical in my criticism of them. Maybe they were showing some professional pride. For full context, 8 days earlier, they’d lost the FA Cup semi-final to an out-of-sorts Liverpool, after taking the lead and with the Reds having to rely on their 3^rd choice goalkeeper. So perhaps, after feeling like they’d let everyone down the week before, they felt some relief at getting a result and especially in coming back in the manner that they did.

In isolation, I could come round to that idea. Unfortunately, it was the latest in a series of incidents throughout that season that just demonstrated the dampened expectations of both the club and, it seemed, the majority of the more vocal supporters. In my opinion, 2011-12 was the tipping point for the ambition and status of the club.

Bill Kenwright’s image on the big screen being mostly applauded in September, the minority who did try to protest at the time being largely dismissed and ridiculed by their fellow supporters, the manager stating in January that “the bank wanted the money” after making a public statement about how he made the decision to sell Mikel Arteta for footballing reasons just 4 months earlier… This along with David Moyes's 10th anniversary as the manager being treated as if it were a major trophy (didn’t the club even bring out a DVD commemorating the occasion?!), and now this.

The way the draw was celebrated sent a message to fans of other clubs that this was the biggest result of our season. I had people in work the next day saying that it must have compensated for losing the semi-final and that finishing above Liverpool would also make up for it. “I’d rather have won the semi-final” was my only response…

Ah yes, finishing above Liverpool. For me, that should only be celebrated if Liverpool finish 2nd (or maybe 18th! – but that’s just as unlikely as us ever winning the league again).

Coming so soon after that semi-final defeat, for me it symbolised that we’d become a team of spoilers and a club of haters. We had no aspirations to win anything ourselves so would take pride in throwing a spanner into someone else’s bid to win something. We’d basically become Wimbledon (but without an FA Cup to show for our efforts).

And the small-time happy clapping didn’t end there. After “celebrating” finishing 7th because Liverpool had finished 8th, we had the end-of-season awards, in which Phil Neville was given Goal of the Season for an effort in the League Cup which, if the ToffeeWeb threads at the time are anything to go by, no-one could even remember! 

Many comments did speculate, though, that this award was the club hierarchy’s way of showing their appreciation for his continuing public support for and defence of the board and chairman. 

While our players were patting themselves on the back and giving each other awards for drawing and finishing 7th, Liverpool were looking into possible replacements for Kenny Dalglish. Finishing 8th winning a trophy and reaching 2 finals wasn’t good enough for them, and no sentiment was shown to Dalglish’s history or standing within the club.   

They hired Brendan Rogers, and 2 years later they would be in with a shout of winning the title on the last day of the season. Less than 18 months after this, Rogers was replaced and we all know the rest.

Going back to Everton, and the reality of what we’d become just continued to grip. I used to take pride in the fact that some of the top teams, Arsenal and Man City in particular, had a hard time coming to Goodison Park. It started to dawn on me though that it was for the wrong reasons.

While the fervent atmosphere generated by our supporters helped us and intimidated them, they still didn’t dread their visits to Goodison in the way teams used to crumble when going to Anfield or Old Trafford, facing an already great opponent who now had home advantage. No, they hated it the way we used to hate going to Plough Lane. [Two Wimbledon analogies in one article. It’s that bad.]

In the months that followed, there was just a sad inevitability about things:

Inevitably, Jelavic’s goals dried up the following season.

Inevitably, yet another talented youngster, this time Jack Rodwell, was sold. 

The only difference this season was that money had been spent before this sale, and spent wisely, making Steven Pienaar’s loan return permanent and also bringing in Kevin Mirallas and Steven Naismith, who were settled before the season began and so, to my surprise, Everton started the season brightly for the first time in 5 years.

But still, the lack of ambition and small-time mentality kept coming. Inevitably, after making noises about wanting to win silverware, they fielded the reserves in the League Cup at Leeds and lost in a tepid display.

Inevitably, the first string saved their worst performance of the season for the biggest game, the FA Cup Quarter-Final at home to relegation-bound Wigan. While upsets can happen and Wigan would go on to beat Man City in the final, we were 0-3 down mid-way through the first half, the rest of the game being played to an empty Park End as everyone knew they weren’t going to come back.

And, just like the year before, Everton were in action against the Champions the following weekend, and once again, they reacted by giving them a bloody nose, this time beating Man City at home to further derail their already flimsy title defence.

And again, there was an air that the players had redeemed themselves, rather than being interpreted it as yet another example of the team/club failing to accomplish anything themselves and so taking pleasure in wrecking someone else’s attempts to do so. 

Oh, and the Finishing-Above-Liverpool Cup was won again, and celebrated accordingly. By then, Moyes was on his way. The celebration of statistics in the absence of trophies rather summed up his time at the club – remember the “100 years of top-flight football” during his first full season in charge?! (still waiting for No Other Team to enter the charts).

Not that any of these celebrations were endorsed or encouraged by Moyes himself, who, to be fair, seemed uncomfortable with the fuss being made. And at the time of writing, he’s in with a good chance of winning a real trophy, ironically with the aforementioned West Ham, and ironically they were also the opponents for what everyone already knew would be his last home game in charge. 

The hero’s send-off Moyes was given that day irked many but, after what I’d witnessed in 2011-12, came as no surprise to me. Nor has anything that’s happened at the club since. A list too long and too painful to go into now.

11 years after that thrilling 4-4 draw at the home of the then Champions, many supporters are pleased, or at least relieved, with a 0-0 draw at Selhurst Park (another Wimbledon connection!). But the seeds for where we are now were sown long before…

Everton had been in decline for many years but, for me, for all the happenings, both on and off the pitch, the 2011-12 season saw the transition from Big 5 to ‘plucky little Everton’ complete.

David Hardman

Match Preview

Everton make their final trip of the season to the Capital on Saturday where they will face Crystal Palace in another hugely significant match in terms of the Blues' survival hopes.

Sean Dyche's men come into the weekend hovering above the relegation on goal difference alone and in increasingly urgent need of improving a woeful away record that has seen them win just once away from home all season.

The visit to Selhurst Park looks a lot more daunting than it would have done three games ago, when Palace were in free-fall, struggling to register shots on target let alone score goals and win games under Patrick Vieira. Now, under Roy Hodgson, the South Londoners have won three on the bounce and are effectively safe with seven matches to go.

Everton have been boosted, though, by the fact that Dominic Calvert-Lewin is set to make his first appearance in 2½ months. The striker, who hasn't featured since Dyche's first match in charge at Goodison Park on 3 February because of a hamstring injury, has successfully come through two weeks of training and played an hour of a behind-closed-doors match against Chester on Tuesday.

Calvert-Lewin posted a tease to Instagram afterwards expressing his excitement for this weekend's clash at Selhurst Park and Dyche admitted in his press conference at Finch Farm on Thursday that the 26-year-old is "in the thinking" of the team that will line up against the Eagles.

Whether the manager opts to start him after such a long lay-off remains to be seen but Everton's need for points is becoming acute and the team needs all the firepower it can get following a run of four games without a win.

Meanwhile, the manager has received a boost in that Amadou Onana is back in training and his groin problem will be assessed before the line-up is finalised but Seamus Coleman and Ruben Vinagre remain out through injury.

Andros Townsend remains sidelined as he tries to recover from an anterior cruciate ligament tear sustained at Selhurst Park last year in the FA Cup.

Whether Calvert-Lewin starts or not, Dyche has decisions to make in terms of formation and personnel. His  4-4-2 formation against Fulham backfired and it's unlikely that trying to go toe-to-toe with Palace from the off would be the wisest choice either.

Rather, getting back to a more solid, heart-to-beat posture would serve Everton better in trying to re-find some stability under the new boss.

Though his most memorable evening as Everton boss came against Palace last May, Frank Lampard lost both of his away games against the Eagles heavily but, prior to that, this was a happy hunting ground for the Toffees who had an eight-season unbeaten run in this fixture.

Dyche constantly speaks of fostering the right mentality in his side and he will need to have channelled all of his ability to inspire his charges for what are effectively seven cup finals between now and the end of the season. 

Kick-off: 3pm, Saturday 22 April 2023
Referee: John Brooks
VAR: Darren England
Last time: Crystal Palace 3 - 1 Everton

Predicted Line-up: Pickford, Godfrey, Keane, Tarkowski, Mykolenko, Gueye, Onana, Iwobi, Garner, McNeil, Calvert-Lewin

Lyndon Lloyd

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