Everton analysis from Chris Beesley following the vitally important 1-0 Premier League win at Nottingham Forest
Jarrad Branthwaite keeps Nottingham Forest at bay during Everton’s win at the City Ground
Return of the Mc
Dwight McNeil was Everton’s match-winner with his first goal of the season but we’ve always known that he’s got finishes like that in his locker, certainly since he broke his duck for the club in the 2-1 comeback win at Southampton some 14 months ago.
When McNeil arrived on Merseyside from Burnley in the summer of 2022, he was under significant scrutiny as an attacking player given that he’d failed to score a goal in his final season at Turf Moor – which ended in relegation – and provided just a single assist. He hit the ground running at Goodison Park though, coming off the bench to bag a brace on his debut in a 3-0 friendly win over Dynamo Kyiv. But after also finishing a peach of a move for his first Premier League strike on home turf for the Blues against Crystal Palace later in October after the maiden effort at St Mary’s, it was only after he was reunited with former Clarets gaffer Sean Dyche that things took off.
Starting with his match-winner against Brentford on March 11 that came just 35 seconds into the contest, McNeil added five more goals in a purple patch during the run-in to finish Everton’s top scorer with seven. But after hobbling off in a pre-season friendly at Stoke City with an ankle ligament injury, the Rochdale-born player had been left playing catch-up so far this term. There had been signs that McNeil was on the cusp of getting back into the grove though, not least earlier in this contest when he was only denied a first-half opener by Murillo’s clearance off the goal-line but you can’t keep a good man down.
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And that’s what the 24-year-old is as one of Dyche’s most-trusted lieutenants and someone capable of producing a bit of silk along with the steel that his manager demands. A celebratory salute to the Trent End marked his return and hopefully this is now the spark needed to see more of that again on a regular basis.
Baby-faced assassin
Following Everton’s previous 1-0 win on the road at West Ham United – they’ve now triumphed four times on their travels in the Premier League this term, the same total as both of the last two seasons combined and on six occasions in all competitions – manager Dyche described his centre-back pairing of James Tarkowski and Jarrad Branthwaite as “immense.” But if anything they were even more dominant here against one of the division’s most physically-imposing outfits.
Tarkowski of course knows all about Chris Wood having played alongside him for four-and-a-half seasons at Burnley. But despite surrendering a couple of inches to the New Zealander who wouldn’t look out of place lining up alongside his compatriots in the All Black rugby team, he set the tone for the contest by winning the first of many aerial duels in the opening seconds. Rookie Branthwaite of course is still only just learning his trade at this level but after displacing Tarkowski’s former Clarets centre-back partner Michael Keane earlier in the campaign, he’s gone from strength to strength.
The pair faced a steep learning curve against Manchester United last time out but were back to their best here and man mountain Wood looked more like a gentle hill after he was left flailing on the turf in pain after tangling with Branthwaite, a baby-faced assassin who has already devoured another veteran Premier League striker in the shape of Michail Antonio in the aforementioned visit to London Stadium. Between them, Everton’s centre-backs headed and kicked out everything that came their way and as Tarkowski says about his younger colleague “I don’t worry about him at all.”
Beto’s big chance
As Everton’s biggest signing of the summer, only arriving in the final week of the window, Beto needed to hit the ground running but after a dream start, his first season in England has so far proven to be a game of patience.
A mere 24 hours after his £25.75million move from Udinese, the Portuguese striker came off the bench and turned around his new side’s tricky Carabao Cup tie at Doncaster Rovers, grabbing a debut goal and a man-of-the-match trophy. Yet understandably, Premier League defences have proven much harder to breech. Beto is clearly a player of certain pedigree having netted double figures in back-to-back seasons in Serie A but it’s clear that for all his promise, he’s still adapting to the game in this country.
A hard-worker with plenty of running in him, he has many attributes that Evertonians admire in their centre-forwards but there is much more to the 25-year-old than the labours that someone like game but limited cult hero Denis Stracqualursi brought, and so there should be given his considerable fee at a time when funds at the club are tight.
With Dominic Calvert-Lewin ruled out through injury though, this was Beto’s opportunity to shine. However, he squandered the big chance of the evening that came his way, blazing over the bar when the ball fell to his feet following a spillage from Nottingham Forest keeper Odysseas Vlachodimos. Beto’s arrival has been beneficial in the renaissance of Everton’s number nine after the injury woes of the previous couple of seasons in that the 6ft 4in target man provides much more of a like-for-like replacement to Calvert-Lewin, ensuring that the team do not have to adjust their shape in his absence. But this was a timely reminder as to just how difficult it is to get to 50 Premier League goals for Everton, an exclusive club that the man from Sheffield has become just the fourth member of.
We shall not be moved
The old Everton battle anthem ‘we shall not be moved’ was defiantly belted out after the final whistle sounded from the masses of away fans who had packed the Bridgford Stand.
It was a jubilant finish to what had been a terrific performance both on and off the pitch from the travelling Blues when they really needed it. Burnley’s 5-0 thrashing of Sheffield United earlier in the day had temporarily dropped Dyche’s side to rock bottom of the Premier League table and, while the manager has always preached the mantra that the only placing that ultimately matters is the final one, if ever there was a false position it was this one.
It is only because of the most-severe sporting sanction in the 135-year history of the English top flight that this improving Everton side, who had been on the cusp of mid-table before the penalty, find themselves in such a sticky patch. But as the supporters also proclaimed: “you can shove your points deduction up your a****!”, we were treated to a wide repertoire from the Blues songbook as those who had travelled down from Merseyside on the coldest weekend of the year kept themselves warm with all the old favourites. But while that encouragement helped galvanise the players’ efforts, the team’s football did their talking in getting a determined message across at what could be a pivotal moment in their season as Dyche’s new dogs of war showed their teeth.
