Smart subs from David Moyes change the game for Everton

Crystal Palace presented arguably the toughest test for Everton at the new Hill Dickinson Stadium so far this season. Sitting second in the league and on a remarkable 19-game unbeaten streak.

​For the first forty-five minutes, the home side were comfortably outplayed by Oliver Glasner’s team.

​Palace simultaneously controlled more of the ball, threatening Everton on numerous occasions from set pieces, while also cutting the Toffees open on quick counters when Everton made forays into their area.

​With Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall suspended, David Moyes opted to play Iliman Ndiaye in the number ten position, while Tyler Dibling moved out to the right wing.

​While Everton fans were excited to see the 45 million pound signing get his first Premier League start, the decision hurt Everton tactically.

​Crystal Palace get their width from wing-backs, rather than wingers. Meanwhile, their two most advanced midfielders, in this case, Yeremy Pino and Ismaila Sarr, tend to stay central.

​At the same time, their two deeper midfielders, Daichi Kamada and Adam Wharton, sit in a double pivot in front of the back three.

​This means Crystal Palace often have four midfielders who can press as a unit in the center of the pitch, supported by the full-backs out wide, and the striker in front of them.

​Whereas Iliman Ndiaye likes to roam centrally from the right and support Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, both Dibling and Grealish stayed out wide.

​Everton lost the midfield battle, as Ndiaye, James Garner, and Idrissa Gueye were outnumbered in the center of the pitch.

​A look at the stats shows that in the first half, in addition to enjoying the bulk of possession, Crystal Palace won eight more tackles than Everton, and won just under 60% of midfield duels.

​Down by a goal at halftime, Moyes brought on Charly Alcaraz to replace Tyler Dibling, and when still trailing in the 65th minute, he replaced an injured Michael Keane with Tim Iroegbunam.

​This countered Crystal Palace’s midfield overload. While in the first half, Everton had only Iliman Ndiaye attacking the space just in front of the Palace back three, for the last third of the game, Everton had all three of Alcaraz, Iroegbunam, and Ndiaye roaming that area.

​This evened up the midfield battle, and in the second half, it was Everton who controlled more possession, as well as winning more than 50% of duels, with 38 to Palace’s 37.

​It was Iroegbunam's run from midfield into the box that resulted in the tackle and penalty, which Ndiaye dispatched comfortably.

​It was Iroegbunam again who started the move for the winner, combining with Mykolenko out on the left as Grealish pushed into the box. Alcaraz’s next pass set up Ndiaye to cross into the box, where Everton now had four players waiting.

​Without a win since late August, and after fielding much criticism for certain tactical decisions in recent weeks, David Moyes’ on-the-fly changes ultimately made the difference, and bump Everton up to eighth in the Premier League heading into the second international break of the season.

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