Everton record hat-trick of league defeats after staggering implosion against Bournemouth

Everton 2 - 3 Bournemouth

Everton collapsed in nightmarish fashion against Bournemouth to somehow throw away a 2-0 lead by conceding three goals in nine minutes and remain rooted to the foot of the Premier League heading into the international break.

For the second home game in succession, large expanses of empty seats were visible at Goodison Park following an exodus of irate Evertonians and the Blues and their manager were met with a torrent of boos from those fans who had remained behind at the final whistle.

This should have been Iliman Ndiaye's day on the occasion of his belated first Premier League start; instead, it will be remembered for one of the most calamitous nine-minute spells this famous old stadium has seen. 

Sean Dyche’s side were cruising to a well-deserved victory behind goals from Michael Keane and Dominic Calvert-Lewin as the game moved into the final five minutes of the 90, but there were already alarming signs that their dominance of the contest was waning when their star performer was mystifyingly withdrawn in favour of Abdoulaye Doucouré and Andoni Iraola's own substutions transformed his team's posture.

The Cherries duly pulled a goal back in the 87th minute through their chief threat Antoine Semenyo and then stunned Goodison in stoppage time, first when Lewis Cook wiped out Everton’s lead and then when substitute Luis Sinesterra won it with 96 minutes on the clock.

The horrifyingly chaotic finale seemed almost — almost... because this is Everton, after all — unimaginable earlier in the second half when the Blues were rampant at times, albeit let down by their familiarly inconsistent end product in the final third. Two goals to the good before an hour had elapsed, they had chances to match or even improve on last season’s emphatic 3-0 win over the same opposition before they self-destructed in a manner only Everton teams can.

The first half had had an air of deja vu in that the hosts had the upper hand but hadn’t been able to translate their superiority into goals. However, there was optimism that would eventually get it right given that Ndiaye had finally been handed his first Premier League start and Tim Iroegbunam was, once again, in confident and purposeful mood in the middle of the park alongside Idrissa Gueye.

Together with the magical Ndiaye, the former Villa man was at the heart of Everton’s best moments in the first period, playing a neat touch to Jack Harrison to flash a cross across goal early on and then collecting a pass from the Senegalese forward before driving past Julian Araujo and skidding a ball of his own in front of Kepa’s goalmouth.

Everton kept it and Gueye smashed Harrison’s cut-back over while Harrison spurned the chance to put the first shot on target a couple of minutes later but dragged his effort wide.

Earlier, Calvert-Lewin had headed a Dwight McNeil corner into the side-netting but when he won another set-piece in the 33rd minute and headed the resulting delivery back across goal to Keane, Ndiaye went close to opening the scoring. Unfortunately, though the defender’s touch fell invitingly for him, Ndiaye’s volley wouldn’t squirm between the keeper’s feet and it remained goalless at the interval after Kepa had easily saved McNeil’s speculative drive from distance.

The pattern continued into the second half, with Iroegbunam finishing another powerful run with a drilled shot that was charged down by Cook before Everton took the lead when Bournemouth failed to clear a free-kick after Ndiaye’s determined run had been checked by Justin Kluivert.

Harrison kept the ball alive with a cross that Calvert-Lewin chested into the path of Keane who finished with the kind of aplomb and crisp shot that has become typical of him in front of goal in recent seasons to break the deadlock.

Gueye bounced a half-volley into the goalkeeper’s arms shortly afterwards and Seamus Coleman somehow contrived to miss a gilt-edged chance after Everton had completely carved the visitors’ defence open before Calvert-Lewin doubled the lead in the 57th minute.

Iroegbunam overran the ball trying to bustle his way to the edge of the box once more but Ndiaye won it back, played in McNeil and the winger-turned-No.10 knocked it perfectly into the path of DCL to strike confidently past Kepa from a central position.

In marked contrast to the horribly one-dimensional approach against Brighton on the opening day, Everton were playing some lovely football at times, as good as anything Goodison has witnessed under Dyche and they should have added to their tally as the second period progressed.

After more lovely work by Ndiaye, McNeil should have shot himself but tried to play Calvert-Lewin in again with a heavy pass that ran away from the striker, while Ndiaye had two efforts of his own, one a low drive after neat feet had taken him past Araujo and the second a wayward shot that he ballooned into the Gwladys Street.

Harrison failed to bend a 25-yarder around Kepa, James Tarkowski should have scored with a header off a corner but struck the outside of the post and Iroegbunam hammered one narrowly over as Dyche’s men continued to press for more goals.

Bournemouth had barely been in the contest for 80 minutes but they briefly threatened when Jordan Pickford was called into action for the first time to push Marcus Tavernier’s strike away to safety and then see Sinisterra’s shot past his post a minute later.

But the 83rd-minute departure of Ndiaye along with his ability to hold the ball up in forward areas caused a rapid change in the character of the game, one that the Cherries seized upon in devastating fashion, exploiting the fatigue plaguing both Coleman and Vitalii Mykolenko.

They attacked after Iroegbunam had been dispossessed in their half and when Tavernier found Kluivert and he delivered a hard, low cross, Semenyo arrived untracked to convert a simple finish at the back post.

For Everton fans who had seen this movie before, alarm bells started ringing but Dyche proceeded with his planned substitution that removed Calvert-Lewin from the fray and after both Doucouré and McNeil had seen tempting balls flash across the face of goal with no takers, at one end, Bournemouth equalised at the other in the second minute of injury time.

This time it was Sinisterra who was allowed to cross and Cook stole in unchallenged to bury a header past Pickford to make it 2-2.

Tavernier should have won it a minute later as Everton almost completely folded but Pickford made a double save to keep his header and follow-up shot out before denying Semenyo’s low strike seconds later.

The epic surrender was complete two minutes after that. One more uncontested cross was whipped in from Everton’s right and this time it was Sinisterra coming in at an empty back post to head home before wheeling away in stunned delight to celebrate with his team-mates and the away fans.

In retrospect in the aftermath of a defeat whose scars will run deep for Everton players and fans alike, this was unforgivably atrocious game management from Dyche and his men and it will once again put the head coach in the crosshairs of criticism and frustration from much of the Goodison faithful.

The Toffees were heading for their first Premier League win in August for three years but threw it away in incomprehensible fashion and head into the international break with an awful lot of introspection needed, particularly from the manager and a defensive unit that just caved in the closing stages.

 

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