Everton’s spirit delivers timely win for Silva
The league table does not look so different, but Everton owner Farhad Moshiri will be content with a step in the right direction.
Victory over Bournemouth moves his club into the Premier League’s top 10. To echo Moshiri’s midweek comments, that is still “not good enough”. Nevertheless, what may have been lacking in quality at Goodison Park was compensated for in application as Kurt Zouma and Dominic Calvert-lewin deservedly secured the points.
Moshiri’s observation about his club’s standing has truth. There is also naivety to his openness. Unnecessary pressure was piled on to his manager and players before this edgy, yet committed, performance.
The intensity was most encouraging for Marco Silva, proof that the Portuguese coach is capable of inspiring maximum effort from his players. They scrapped their way to an ugly, vital win, Zouma’s header early in the second half crucial before Calvert-lewin added injurytime gloss. That there were five Everton bookings showed how much they wanted and needed the respite of three points.
Given recent league form and boardroom remarks, this felt significant, signposting the direction of the second half of the season. Moshiri’s comments at the club’s general meeting were not put into suitable context by the majority shareholder.
He is entitled to expect more than recent results have provided. Moshiri must equally acknowledge collective failings preceding Silva’s arrival – Everton’s unbalanced squad still not corrected despite better recruitment last summer. The manager’s biggest immediate challenge is fixing mistakes he inherited. The timescale over which he and Marcel Brands, the director of football, are expected to do this is unspecified. It needs at least three windows and they do not appear to have the cash to work in this one.
Attempts to solve a striking crisis – which began the day Romelu Lukaku departed – embody the issues.
The fact the problem endures 18 months since Lukaku’s sale borders on the negligent.
Silva persisted with Richarlison as a lone striker out of necessity rather than preference. There is no option because Cenk Tosun, signed by Sam Allardyce, and Oumar Niasse, signed by Roberto Martinez, are Championship standard. That is being generous. Until they are off the wage bill, Silva cannot afford a replacement.
Richarlison loses some dynamism in a more advanced role, his discomfort obvious as Bournemouth’s Steve Cook was constantly on his back. The Brazilian appealed incessantly for free-kicks as he tried to cope with the physicality of the role. Referee Anthony Taylor was unsympathetic, which curiously contributed to rousing the home crowd as they felt penalised throughout. Goodison grew into the game much like the players, the jeers for Taylor audible amid the applause for the win.
Neither manager was happy with the referee. Eddie Howe was bewildered no penalty was awarded for Idrissa Gueye’s 11th-minute trip on David Brooks. He also felt Everton’s Andre Gomes should have been sent off for two offences.
“The first one I felt was a penalty, and then I am told there was a stonewall penalty at the end of the game,” said Howe, referencing a Gomes challenge on Jefferson Lerma. “I think he [Gomes] was lucky to be on the pitch.”
Silva was enraged when Josh King was not penalised for holding Zouma as Brooks rushed clear a few minutes later. The post rescued Everton following Brooks’s shot. “If you are an Everton supporter this afternoon, then you are not happy with the referee,” said Silva.
Everton showed their promise when Ademola Lookman was at his most direct, and Lucas Digne’s leftwing deliveries most accurate. Michael Keane flicked the bar after a Digne cross, the closest the home side came in the first half. Not surprisingly, it was Digne’s left foot that set up the first goal after 61 minutes – a nicely weighted chip to the near post where Zouma glanced past Asmir Begovic. Bournemouth applied pressure without truly testing Jordan Pickford and when Lookman broke clear in added time, substitute Calvert-lewin side-footed the second.
It is a worrying dip for Howe. “When you don’t win, confidence is an issue,” he said.
“You would not know as a neutral we are in a bad run. We have to take confidence from the performance.”
For Silva, there will be more satisfying victories. Not many will be so well-timed.