If there was a moment that summed up the festering frustrations among Everton supporters then it arrived on 38 minutes, by which point this bludgeoning was already as good as over. Dominic Calvert-Lewin headed for the tunnel holding an ice pack to his face after reporting blurred vision after an earlier collision with Emiliano Martínez and a section of travelling fans jeered his premature exit. Calvert-Lewin, who was not fit enough to feature on the opening weekend but completed a rare 90 minutes in a friendly on Tuesday, responded by sarcastically raising a thumb at the fans by way of thanks and muttered a few words under his breath.
For the second successive season, Everton have zero points from their opening two matches. The painful reality is Aston Villa wiped the floor with Everton. This fixture is the most played in English league history, the game their 211th top-flight meeting, but on this evidence Everton have much work to do to ensure a repeat of this trip next season. It seemed Sean Dyche’s side might even get off lightly until the Villa substitute Jhon Durán scored with his first touches on 75 minutes.
Ashley Young arrived on to the pitch with two of his children, his youngest blowing kisses towards the away support, which was sparse long before full time. Young, who was released by Villa at the end of last season, received a warm ovation from the Holte End after the final whistle but those Everton fans will remember his afternoon for the long throw that led to Villa’s fourth.
Young sold Michael Keane short and Durán nipped in to nick the ball and calmly slotted past Jordan Pickford. For Villa, this was some reaction to what Unai Emery described as an embarrassing opening-day 5-1 trouncing at Newcastle. Emery dedicated the victory to Tyrone Mings and Emi Buendía, who are unlikely to play again this season after both sustained anterior cruciate ligament injuries.
It was an afternoon to forget for the Everton goalkeeper, who conceded a first-half penalty which allowed Douglas Luiz to double Villa’s lead inside 25 minutes. Pickford caught Ollie Watkins with a wild punch, a left hook as the striker attempted to convert from close range and while James Tarkowski hacked the ball clear, the Everton captain’s goalline clearance proved in vain.
If Everton were bad, Villa were barnstorming. They had earned a corner within 13 seconds and after 18 minutes the captain, John McGinn, had got the ball rolling, side-footing in a neat volley after Moussa Diaby combined with Leon Bailey.
It should have been 3-0 on 26 minutes, at which point all sides of this stadium partook in a minute’s applause for Michael Jones, the 26-year-old construction worker who lost his life at the site of Everton’s Bramley-Moore Dock stadium on Monday. Bailey chopped inside Idrissa Gueye, the former Villa midfielder, but Diaby’s shot from Douglas Luiz’s layoff was tame. The same could not be said for Diaby’s next effort, a rip-roaring volley that smacked a post via Pickford’s left glove. Villa supporters gasped as replays were shown on the big screens.
Villa were rampant and should have been out of sight before half-time. Everton finally registered their first shot on target into nine minutes of first-half added time when Arnaut Danjuma, who replaced Calvert-Lewin, latched on to a neat reverse pass by Nathan Patterson. The restless Everton support vocalised their feelings, as did the scattered few that remained at the end. Young, Keane and Tarkowski applauded those who had stuck around.
“It looked too lackadaisical, like people were waiting for someone else to ignite it,” Dyche said. “And they looked like a side who had lots of players looking to affect the game. We were miles off it. There’s no magic wand – there never was when I took the job – and there are no shortcuts, because shortcuts in football usually cost a lot of money.”
Lucas Digne’s quick-thinking was the catalyst for Villa’s third. The former Everton left-back launched the ball into a huge hole in the visitors’ 18-yard box and by the time the defence had cottoned on, Keane inadvertently helped the ball into the path of Bailey, who stroked his shot through the legs of Pickford. The ball rippled the net while the stadium announcer was still reading aloud the name of Neal Maupay, the Everton substitute who at least tested Martínez with a volley but is now 29 appearances without a goal.
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Maupay replaced Alex Iwobi, who pulled up after stretching to reach an Amadou Onana pass three minutes into the second half. As Iwobi hobbled down the tunnel, Villa quietly exhibited their newfound strength in depth: Youri Tielemans, Philippe Coutinho and Diego Carlos limbered up on the touchline. Coutinho was forced off late on with a suspected hamstring problem but the damage had already long since been inflicted on a damning afternoon. “I could have taken the whole team off at half-time,” Dyche said. “We have to make sure that we learn from that very quickly.”
