INSTANT KARMA
Lukaku’s good deed rewarded as Everton run riot on south coast
IF you believe in karma, then Romelu Lukaku was served a huge helping of it in Everton’s convincing win against Southampton.
During the warm-up, the striker smashed a ball which struck a Southampton fan in the Northam Stand, home to their more vocal supporters. But instead of the usual wave of apology — as is custom from players — or occasional display of ignorance, Lukaku climbed far into the stand to apologise and give the lady a hug.
A lovely gesture, no doubt, and what goes around comes around. By half-time, he had scored twice.
‘Maybe he’ll have to hit a woman (with the ball) in every game,’ manager Roberto Martinez joked afterwards. With a return of goals like that, strikers all over the country will be plunging into the stands pre-match at every opportunity.
Lukaku’s first, when Everton took the lead after 22 minutes, was against the run of play but was a break of high calibre. Southampton had a cor-- ner, but the ball rolled out of the box to Ross Barkley on the right.
His pass down the line set Arouna Kone free and he dribbled towards the area and stuck the ball on to Lukaku’s head. The towering striker nodded it back in the direction from whence it came and the ball clipped the crossbar on its way in.
A minute before the break — via another break — Lukaku had a second. He won the ball in the centre of the pitch and passed to Barkley, who raced through the middle, causing Southampton defenders to back off, then prodded the ball inside to his team-mate, who swept a first-time shot into the bottom right of goal.
‘We saw that sort of performance from Lukaku against Young Boys and Wolfsburg in the Europa League last season,’ Martinez said. ‘When he gets in those situations he is a pleasure to watch.’
Lukaku’s cosmic goodwill extended to Barkley, who added a third in the final 10 minutes. Seamus Coleman played a one-two with Lukaku, then passed across the area to Barkley who had drifted in from the left.
He took a touch before bending the ball sumptuously into the right of goal. It was the forward’s second goal in two games, following only two in the entirety of last season.
‘When Ross Barkley gets into that mode, running with the ball with power and pace and quality, there are not many like him,’ Martinez added. ‘Ross can play different roles. Not just to come up with a goalscoring threat. In previous performances he is always clever with his positioning, works hard to do his job well. Then when he gets into the box he can show the top mentality he has. He works hard for the team, allowing him to get in goalscoring positions.’
Leading up to Everton’s opener the chances had mainly fallen to the home side. After 12 minutes, the sprightly Sadio Mane broke in behind Everton’s defence but from an acute angle to the left of goal could only shoot wide. He was in a similar position nine minutes later, this time testing Tim Howard but the Everton goalkeeper threw a limb at the ball and diverted it wide. Shortly after Everton’s first goal they almost — and should have — had another. Lukaku made a powerful run through the middle and played the ball into the path of Barkley who shot first-time, from eight yards out.
It was saved by the legs of Maarten Stekelenburg, but when the ball came back out to Tom Cleverley, slightly to the left of goal, he had just to send it on target to score, but dragged the ball wide.
Southampton manager Ronald Koeman seemed in disbelief at the scoreline. ‘It is difficult to accept the result,’ he admitted. ‘It wasn’t good. Too much went wrong in the first half.’
He warned his players to forget last season’s seventh-place finish, after a raft of changes have been made to the squad yet again, adding: ’We know it’s a new season, everyone starts at zero. You don’t get results on the performance of last season. We need time, to be patient, it’s not time to be nervous. I believe in the quality of the players and their spirit.’