Toffees lack bite as they blow chance to pull clear
FRANK LAMPARD paced and prowled and kept looking at the floor. The clock was creeping towards full time and Everton were inching towards safety.
A point, on the face of it, wasn’t the worst result in the world. Another positive was a second clean sheet in three games and there was a feeling amongst the travelling contingent that this had not been a bad night’s work.
Yet Lampard’s body language told a different story. With Leeds getting squashed by Chelsea, Everton had a glorious chance to effectively exorcise the spectre of relegation — this assignment was one of their games in hand — but, there was no end product.
Their fate remains in their own hands but, really, this should have been so much better. Watford, with nothing to play for and a squad zapped of senior players, ought to have been defeated and it now means the pressure on Everton’s home games against Brentford and Crystal Palace remains.
They could not have wished for a better lift before kick-off. News filtered through of Mason Mount’s opener at Leeds and it only added to the relentless positivity that was being shown in the away end.
It is amazing what a cause to pursue can do for a fan base; such was the passion on show, it’s difficult to imagine the Evertonians would have been any noisier had their team been pursuing a trophy. Through challenging times, their support has been unfailing.
But what of their team? Lampard was at pains to stress on Tuesday that the quickest route back towards danger would be complacency and was anxious about the test Watford presented, even if their fate had already been sealed.
Here was a different challenge. Watford were never going to give Everton the chance to sit in and wreak havoc on the counter, as they had done in those successes against Chelsea and Leicester. Could they impose themselves and set the tone?
For the opening 45 minutes, the answer was firmly no. Though Lampard’s side were never subjected to pressure — the best it got for Watford was when Seamus Coleman misjudged a backpass and Jordan Pickford plunged to his right to avert a calamity — Everton couldn’t dominate.
Clearly, they had identified Watford’s left side as a weak link but each time Alex Iwobi or Anthony Gordon scuttled down the flank, there was a lack of composure and accuracy with the final ball. Stood with his arms tightly folded, Lampard fidgeted whenever a move broke down.
Everton did get themselves into decent positions but shots from Vitalii Mykolenko and Demarai Gray, plus a header from Michael Keane, didn’t result in Ben Foster working too hard. This had to change after the interval.
Much to the boss’ relief, it did. As the volume was cranked up behind Pickford’s goal — you could hear the emotion in everything they sang — so, too, did the speed at which Everton played. Richarlison, once of this parish, should have broken the deadlock in the 52nd minute.
His turn was sharp, his control was good but as he worked an opening, he wanted to take it on with his right foot rather than his left and the Brazilian could only flick his effort towards Foster rather than whacking it past him.
Still, it was a change in momentum and, 10 minutes later, a better chance arrived. Gray won possession, ushered a pass out to Iwobi and surged into the area to get the return but the finish lacked precision. Gray’s grimace told you he knew he should have done better.
When Michael Keane then headed straight at Foster from Iwobi’s corner, you began to wonder whether Everton were going to pass up an incredible opportunity. Watford’s play was nondescript and there was very little ambition, as it seemed they were content to play attack against defence.
One wonders what Rob Edwards, the incoming manager from Forest Green, will make of the squad he will inherit. Watford have good people working at the club but the squad is bereft of any magic.
‘We’ve won the ball!’ the home crowd sang, swiftly followed by: ‘We’ll give it back!’ They were right. You couldn’t help but smile at the gallows’ humour and admire them for having fun in a charmless situation but they had call it exactly right. They were apt words for that kind of night.