Town will get rewards with more men in box

Mooy knocked in a cross from an attack down the right but only Depoitre and Durm were in the box

Toffees survived a Palace penalty and were still 0-0 with three minutes to go at Goodison Park. When substitute Ademola Lookman clipped in the cross for fellow benchman Dominic Calvert-Lewin to head the opening goal, Everton had SIX men in the box waiting to get on the end of the cross. All were in dangerous positions and, had Calvert-Lewin not scored, Michael Keane probably would have. Moments later, the third substitute, Cenk Tosun, scored a second to give the scoreline an unbalanced look, but the opening goal illustrated the value of getting more men forward and into the opposition box.

Appreciated, it was much later in the game than when Hogg rattled the woodwork for Town, but even in the second half the pattern remained similar at the John Smith’s Stadium.

On 67 minutes, for instance, Mooy knocked in a cross from an attack down the right but only Depoitre and Durm were in the box to try to get on the end of it. And even when substitute Steve Mounie fired over from close range with eight minutes left, only he, Depoitre and Durm were in the box to try and convert Isaac Mbenza’s cross.

We have called for better service into the box for pretty much the whole season, but if players aren’t in the mixer to convert, then the outcome is bound to be fewer chances to score.