Everton 1 – 1 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Everton should have been comfortably ahead against Wolverhampton Wanderers in this midweek Premier League clash at Hill Dickinson Stadium on Wednesday night but had been pinned back before Keane crazily pulled Tulu Arokodare’s ponytail: violent conduct, red card.
Jack Grealish, who had reacted badly to this ridiculous decision from rookie Premier League referee Thomas Kirk, shouted at him after an incident and saw his first yellow card before he was then fouled and sarcastically applauded the referee: second yellow and red card.
Squad resources are still stretched due to injuries and Afcon, with Idrissa Gana Gueye and Iliman Ndiaye progressing to the quarterfinals of Afcon in Morocco.
The only change from the weekend is an interesting one: youngster Harrison Armstrong favoured over £42M summer signing Tyler Dibling. If Moyes won’t tell him why he was hooked at Half-time, perhaps he’ll get this message loud and clear!
While other players who performed so shockingly against Brentford retain their places.
First Half
The Blues kicked off in standard fashion: Pickford punt upfield loses possession. It took the best part of 5 minutes of crap football before Everton got forward but O’Brien lobbed his cross straight to Sa.
Arokodare showed keen interest intercepting Mykolenko’s casual headed backpass to Pickford — hopefully not a warning of what was to come!
Grealish and Armstrong combined well, the cross cleared straight to Iroegbunam who had no idea how to propel it goalwards.
Clever work by Grealish released Iroegbunam for a great run down the left but his cross in was hopeless. O’Brien was called for grappling with Mane but Everton cleared any danger.
Armstrong’s quick turn drew a foul, each cross in defended away. Iroegbunam was fouled closer in, setting up a decent set-piece for McNeil to loop to the far post and Iroegbunam scuffed it back in the mix for a fine finish from Michael Keane. 1-0
Grealish and Armstrong tried to double-pass their way forward, which could have ended better. McNeil saw his shot blocked before Mykolenko drove wide from outside the Wolves area.
McNeil had another chance to deliver a telling free-kick but it was repelled. However, Garner pushed it back in for Keane again running onto it but it was cleared. At the other end, a Wolves corner was cleared.
Armstrong showed excellent skills to drive forward through midfield and exchange passes with Grealish but Iroegbunam was not on the same wavelength. Iroegbunam was fouled and a superb ball in from Garner was met perfectly by Keane but his potent header ricocheted off the face of the post!
A great effort from Garner followed an excellent drive into the area as the Blues tried to make openings with some innovative pass-and-move stuff.
Mosquaera looked to have outplayed Armstrong but the young Blue persisted and something almost came from his persistence before Arokodare broke forward and needed chasing down.
Grealish jinked his way forward but held the ball too long and the move broke down. The quality of the final ball in from a blue shirt was just not good enough… in fact, McNeil’s so-called cross was diabolically bad.
Tarkowski tried to undo any good work by almost repeating his gift to Brentford at the weekend, passing straight to Tolu but this time it did not lead to a goal and Everton went in at the break with the lead and a clean sheet… what more could you ask for?
Second Half
Armstrong showed good desire, but his thinking was too fast for Iroegbunam. Grealish was doing his usual stalling, failing to either shoot or cross. Finally, he beat his man after Iroegbunam had driven forward but Jack poorly overhit his cross.
Tarkowski foolishly shoved Arokodare over in a move that could easily have been judged a penalty if VAR had recommended a review. Wolves had some rare touches in the Everton box, Gomes dribbling through but Pickford was down to save at the near post.
But Everton got a free-kick upfield and it looked like a good delivery leading to an Everton corner, coming out to Grealish who pulled his shot horribly wide.
But a sharp through ball to Mane was finished off superbly to level the game when Everton should have been over the hills and far away… which is no doubt where Tarkowski will be in the eyes of many Evertonians for letting it happen.
What should have been a comfortable win was now looking anything but, with Barry unable to convert a half-chance as he ended up on his arse. Grealish again tried his magic but Iroegbunam lost the ball.
Barry showed a nice burst of speed down the right wing but his effort from wide was nowhere hear the goal. Grealish did better to feed Mykolenko who missed his first effort, winning a corner at the second attempt, but nothing from it.
Irroegbunam was beaten by Mane, then covered back to foul him at the expense of a yellow card. A Wolves corner could have been more dangerous as Everton lived on the edge.
VAR spotted something unusual, Keane pulling Tolu Arokodare’s poneytail, and the referee decides it’s violent conduct — red card. Un-fucking-believable! Moyes was livid, and he was shown a yellow card. The atmosphere became understandably febrile as Wolves sensed the opportunity to rub salt in Everton wounds.
Grealish had been infuriated by the Keane red card, got himself booked, then sarcastically applauded the referee for giving him a foul — and got himself a second yellow! Just astounding as Everton were down to 9 men with 9 minutes added on.
Bueno launched a superb strike and Pickford made a simply fantastic full stretch fingertip save to keep the score level. Wolves piled on the pressure in an urgent quest for a winner.
Patterson had to head a cross behind and Arokodare headed just wide as the 9 men Everton held on.
Everton: Pickford; Mykolenko, Keane [R:83′], Tarkowski, O’Brien; Garner, Armstrong (87′ Patterson), Iroegbunam [Y:77′]; Grealish [Y:87′;YR:89′], Barry (87′ Beto), McNeil (90+1′ Rohl).
Subs not Used: King, Travers, Aznou, Campbell, Welch, Dibling.
Wolverhampton Wanderers: Jose Sa [Y:43′], Mosquera [Y:57′], Santiago Bueno, Krejci (67′ Larsen); Tchatchoua, Arias (46′ Andre Trindade), Joáo Gomes, Mané, Hugo Bueno; Arokodare, Hwang [Y:77′] (90+5′ Pedro Lima).
Subs not Used: Johnstone, Doherty, Wolfe, Chirewa, Lopez, Ojinnaka.