LEW’S ON THE BOOS
Everton ...... 1 Huddersfield ..... 1 Dom snatches point but jeers fill glum Goodison
At the end of this turgid contest the boos ringing around the ground reflected anger at the eccentric decisions of referee Stuart Atwell but also at the alarmingly uncreative performance of the Toffees.
There were murmurs when Gylfi Sigurdsson was replaced after 70 minutes. The Iceland ace was the Blues’ best chance of breaking down a dogged if limited Huddersfield side in the absence of suspended top-scorer Richarlison. That turned into full-on frustration at the end. This was despite the fact that Eveton had responded almost immediately to falling behind in the 34th minute when Town midfielder Philip Billing got his head to a corner.
The industrious Dominic Calvert-Lewin was the man with the equaliser as he nodded in Lucas Digne’s pin-point cross.
Blues boss Marco Silva shared the supporters’ frustations.
He said: “It is a normal reaction. The fans always want to win and always want to see a big performance.
“We are a big club and you must to do everything to win the match. In some moments we achieved that and in others we didn’t.”
It was the lack of creativity that was the biggest concern for Silva, who has been tasked with transforming Everton from a dull and functional team under Allardyce into a free-flowing and attractive outfit.
He added: “We controlled the possession but this type of game we have to put far more creativity into our performance.”
Digne did provide some after 36 minutes when he provided the perfect response to Huddersfield’s opener.
The Frenchman’s fine left-wing cross was expertly steered home by Calvert-Lewin.
But Everton had to wait until the 75th minute to find more inspiration when sub Ademola Lookman provided a fine run and cross which should have been converted by Cenk Tosun.
That was it for the home fans who had every right to vent their unrest, even if the suspended Richarlison is a big miss.
Theo Walcott also limped off injured while summer signing Bernard is not yet fit enough to provide his Brazilian magic.
Silva said: “We can not use the excuse of missing players. We still had 11 out there and it is their job to find a way.”
If there was frustration from Everton it was shared by Terriers manager David Wagner who felt his team got themselves into a position to win but showed naivety in throwing it away.
He said: “We were organised, had a fantastic defensive effort and showed great communication and discipline.
“But when we took the lead we only held it for a minute. If you want to take the negative then that was certainly it.”
Huddersfield had exploited Everton’s weakness at corners to take the lead through Billing. Wagner said: “We knew in the past they were not