Sigurdsson’s class act finally rewards ascendant Everton
Where there is Gylfi Sigurdsson, there is hope. Not for the first time this season, Everton were indebted to their Iceland international for converting pressure into points when, with a preternatural calm, he cut through the alarm gathering around Goodison to sidefoot the game’s only goal.
The three points achieved here against a sweat-soaked and stubborn, if woefully limited, Cardiff City took Marco Silva’s side into sixth place, ahead of the perpetual stutterers Manchester United. But frankly it really should not have been as hard as this.
For too long here the home side seemed wholly uncertain how to turn superiority into goals. It did not help them that their main striker, Richarlison, appeared to have mislaid his radar.
His one shot on target found the Cardiff goalkeeper Neil Etheridge in defiant form.
He was not alone. For much of the first half, Everton, while dominant in midfield, found their way blocked. Things had come to the point when the crowd were seeking comfort in cheering Idrissa Gueye’s sliding tackles and the manner in which Yerry Mina shouldered Callum Paterson off the ball with ease. Cardiff’s Etheridge, meanwhile, was booked for time-wasting as early as the 42nd minute.
“We started slow, in some moments too slow,” was Silva’s assessment of Everton’s first half. It was clearly something he communicated in the dressing room. Because his team began the second with an additional spring, nowhere more than in Sigurdsson’s heels. First he shot over, then rounded Etheridge and shot goalwards only for Sol Bamba to scramble the ball off the line. His determination to win the game on his own found reward on the hour, after Theo Walcott accelerated between two Cardiff defenders and shot low. Etheridge did well to save, but the ball rebounded to Sigurdsson who, with accomplished ease, stroked it home.
But if the crowd thought that might signal an onslaught, they were quickly disabused. With Cardiff ever capable of scoring from one of Aron Gunnarsson’s howitzer long throws, what Everton needed was a second to eradicate the nerves. The final pass, however, never seemed to arrive. Silva tried to resolve things by sending on the extra firepower of Cenk Tosun and Ademola Lookman. And the young Englishman almost delivered. He burst through to be one-on-one with Etheridge but the keeper diverted it behind. Then he broke clear again, sending a defender sprawling before picking out Tosun, whose shot was tame. Had the pass fallen to Sigurdsson, it can only be reckoned the last few minutes would have proved considerably less fraught.
“When you are winning and don’t take [the] chance to score a second, it’s tough,” said Silva. “But we deserved to win the match.” Now they move on to face altogether more substantial opponents in Liverpool. With such a prospect ahead, it is as well they have Sigurdsson in their ranks.