Everton’s miserable season hit a new low on Saturday as Southampton became the second bottom-of-the-table side to triumph in the past three matches at Goodison Park with their 2-1 comeback win inflicting a fourth consecutive home defeat on the Blues for the first time since 1958. While the result left Frank Lampard’s side in the Premier League relegation zone at the halfway point of the campaign, here are some things you might not have spotted from the game.
Thinking outside the box
Unlike most areas of Goodison Park, there was plenty of legroom for Everton director of football Kevin Thelwell to stretch out into during the game against Southampton. Thelwell was the only home ‘director’ in attendance with members of the Blues board advised not to go to the game on safety grounds.
One of those absentees, chief executive Denise Barrett-Baxendale revealed last month when claiming that 2022 had been “a year of resilience and progression” at the club, that Thelwell is implementing a 120-point action plan for their footballing operations strategy but just getting to 40 points come May is currently Evertonians’ biggest concern with their side on just 15 at the halfway stage of the Premier League season after this latest embarrassing setback. Given that the January window is open, this is a particularly busy time of the year for Thelwell but almost midway through the month, the Blues – understood to be wanting two new attacking reinforcements – are yet to make any signings.
With plenty of talk surrounding potential loans with obligations to buy, it remains to be seen just how big a budget the club have to play with but Thelwell might already be left rueing “the one that got away” with the sight of summer Everton target Mykhailo Mudryk being paraded at Stamford Bridge today after completing his €100million move to Chelsea. It’s also worth noting that 84-year-old Derek Temple, scorer of the winning goal for Everton in the 1966 FA Cup final, appeared to cut a solitary figure in his seat nearby with no sign of his former team-mate Colin Harvey following the death of his brother Brian.
Coady cajoling
He’s only at Everton on loan right now but he’s already captained the side and Conor Coady was visibly displaying his leadership skills all afternoon both before kick-off and during the game. Ahead of the match, Coady, who admitted that he and his Blues team-mates needed to look at themselves in the mirror after getting thrashed 3-0 at Bournemouth in their final pre-World Cup fixture, insisted that the side’s struggles weren’t due to a lack of fight.
The native Merseysider said: “I don’t think you ever accuse this Everton team of not trying because there’s lads in that dressing room, who for one, wouldn’t let it happen, for two, we have miles too much respect for our manager to be doing that.
“We believe in what he’s trying to do, [believe in] him as manager, his staff and how he trains us and we’re listening every single day to put his ideas across on the pitch. It’s not the gaffer who goes on the grass, it’s us who goes on the grass, we have to take responsibility for where we are.”
As the teams took to the pitch, Coady could be seen waving his arms and attempted to gee up his colleagues and even inside a stadium with 39,000 fans, his voice could be heard at times offering instructions. Everton’s players should be hurting after this new low, but you can be sure that Coady is, if only some of the others shared his passion.
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Banner headline
There’s no getting away from it, Goodison Park had plenty of banners protesting about the club’s leadership on display on Saturday on all four sides of the ground. To be fair to the fans – who received no reward for the rousing coach welcome they gave the Everton team on arrival – despite displaying these messages before kick-off and getting them back out after the final whistle, they were generally kept away during the match itself so those in the stands could get behind the Blues.
Some were direct and to the point with slogans such as “Moshiri Out”; “Kenwright Out”; “Baxendale Out”; “Ingles Out”; “Sharp Out” or the “No Communication, No Vision, No Plan.” However, what was noticeable was the number of rhyming banners, showing that for all the tumult right now at Everton, the fanbase retains its wit and is always capable of displaying a hint of gallows humour in even the darkest of times.
Pie in the face
Hailing from Melton Mowbray, Saturday’s man in the middle John Brooks might know a thing or two about pies but given that he’s a relative refereeing rookie at this level, it seemed a tad harsh for him to be booed before the game unlike those crusty more experienced officials that Everton supporters have learned to love to hate. Born in 1990, Brooks is younger than both Seamus Coleman and Idrissa Gueye and his only previous game at Goodison Park was last season’s 3-2 defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion in which he awarded the hosts a penalty only for Dominic Calvert-Lewin to miss it.
Like elephants, Blues fans never forget though so while they might have just been booing out of habit whenever a referee’s name is read out, perhaps it was in reference to the only other Everton game Brooks has taken charge of, their goalless draw at Fulham last October when home striker Aleksandar Mitrovic appeared fortunate to escape a red card for a late tackle on Gueye when he left his studs up. The nasty-looking challenge left the Senegalese international writhing in agony and perhaps this young Johnny on the spot should have more respect for his elders?
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