Everton returned to Premier League action, and they maintained their unbeaten start, with a 2-2 draw at Hull City.
The points were in Everton’s hands at one point during a topsy-turvy second half, but Hull fought back to equalise through the in-form Mohamed Belloumi.
Here’s what we learned from Sunday’s draw.
DEWSBURY-HALL DELIVERS
It’s fair to say Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall has had a difficult start to the campaign, and his lack of form followed him to the MKM Stadium in the first half.
There were just too many times when Dewsbury-Hall would dawdle in possession, although he was definitely not the only one guilty of that — Jack Grealish was taking far too long to release it or try and pick out a cross.
But, in the second half, Dewsbury-Hall came into his own. He was everywhere, putting out fires and also looking to drive Everton forward.
He took his goal brilliantly, staying onside and then stooping to direct a neat header into the far corner, while his assist for Thierno Barry came about through pure tenacity.
We need more of that from Dewsbury-Hall, and hopefully this is a platform from which he can now build.
JOHNSON SHOULD NOT BE STARTING
If not for a “subjective offside” decision, then Brennan Johnson would have given Everton a first-half lead, but regardless, the Wales international should not be starting out on the right wing.
Johnson had just one touch in the Hull box in the first half, and did not really do anything of note outside of the disallowed goal.
It is not that he is playing terribly, he just can’t seem to find the space he needs to make an impact. Surely, it’s time for David Moyes to mix it up and let Johnson come on from the bench, when he can really exploit the room that, in theory, would be on offer against a fatigued defence.
Because from the start, Johnson is just looking lost.
THERE’S SUCH A THING AS A ‘SUBJECTIVE OFFSIDE’
Everton and VAR — they always seem to be the pioneers!
Now, I’m sure there have been instances before of an offside being decided subjectively, but it was still rather bemusing to see the referee go to the screen to make a call on whether or not Johnson could be deemed to be active before he moved to block Ryan Giles’ clearance.
To be clear, I don’t have a particular issue with the decision, but it could have gone either way, and truly, VAR should not be looking to disallow goals for marginal decisions.
KEANE BACK IN, AND EVERTON ARE BACK TO CONCEDING GOALS
I really don’t want to dig out Michael Keane, because once again he didn’t really do anything wrong.
But, surprise surprise, the Keane – James Tarkowski partnership returned, and Everton conceded twice. Even if Ainsley Maitland-Niles was largely at fault, the statistics make for grim reading when this is the centre-back pairing.
When those two play together in the Premier League, it does not work. How much more evidence does Moyes need?
I understand moving Jarrad Branthwaite to left-back, but then surely, Jake O’Brien should be starting ahead of Keane.
We have all read this script before, we don’t need to keep going over it, but Moyes just can’t seem to get out of his way.