Everton 1 - 3 Fulham
As he watched from the stands at Goodison Park, it’s unlikely that Marco Silva will have taken much joy from Everton’s comprehensive defeat to his Fulham team on what was a sobering, even frightening afternoon for the fans he was charged with pleasing what feels like an awfully long time ago now.
He will, no doubt, have taken enormous satisfaction, though, at a performance and result that ended a five-match winless run in the Premier League, all the while being reminded of how fragile things can seem in this famous old stadium; how an air of resignation at the outcome of a given game can almost seep from the Old Lady’s girders; at how a rot can set in that only dramatic change or a seismic eruption of passion and desire from the supporters can overcome.
Change has been frequent at Everton, of course, and Silva was once a victim of a need for change that was, in context of the Toffees’ ambitions in 2019, justified but the most significant change this season has already occurred with the replacement of Frank Lampard with Sean Dyche.
It came far too late and it was critically undermined by the failure in January to add any attacking reinforcements to a team that lost its Talisman last June and has to largely fare without its injured top scorer for the better part of 18 months. Dyche hasn’t — couldn’t, in reality — complained about his lot but he has spent the past 2½ months trying various combinations of attacking line-ups, searching for a solution to a chronic lack of goals.
The search goes on and the broad consenus is that Dyche got it wrong today, even if he was let down by the two forwards tasked with leading the line today against Fulham as both missed gilt-edged and vital chances in the short period of the match where Everton were on top. Having done the hard part by executing a neat one-two with Dwight McNeil, Neal Maupay, with just one goal to his name in his last 33 games should have put the Blues ahead five minutes before the break, although credit to goalkeeper Bernd Leno who covered his angles well and got a vital arm to the Frenchman’s shot; likewise, Demarai Gray, the team’s top scorer in all competitions who could have added to his tally with a surer contact on McNeil’s cross four minutes later.
That neither player was able to find the killer instinct in front of goal would prove hugely costly in the second half thanks to another a defensive posture that was mystifyingly open and porous for a Dyche team. What the appointment of the former Burnley boss supposedly promised was solidity at the back and a general difficulty to beat about the side but, just as at Old Trafford last week, the Blues’ back line was breached far too easily and was embarrassingly susceptible to the ball over the top.
The result was a crushing 3-1 defeat that has the potential to be utterly devastating if Dyche isn’t able to spark an immediate reaction from his charges against a revitalised Crystal Palace and a talented but unpredictable Newcastle over the next fortnight. This one, against a Cottagers outfit that seemed to be falling away from European contention with the loss to a long ban of Aleksandr Mitrovic, was supposed to be the most winnable of Everton’s remaining eight games.
Shorn of the suspended Abdoulaye Doucouré and the injured Amadou Onana and with Dominic Calvert-Lewin once again left out of the match-day squad, Everton had looked aimless and disjointed in the early going, despite having the first shot on target in the fifth minute when Gray profited from full debutant James Garner’s intercepting tackle and fired a low shot that Leno safely gathered at his near post.
Everton would quickly become overrun in midfield and it quickly became apparent that a side that has always struggled to play its way through teams, had little idea how to get the ball into forward areas if it wasn’t in quick transition or the counter-attack when the pitch opened up in front of them.
Otherwise, the strategy appeared to revolve around Jordan Pickford lofting balls forward in the general direction of two small forwards and hoping that one of the midfielders could pick up the loose ball. If the goalkeeper had been hoping for one of Maupay or Gray to peel off a marker or shape to make a telling run in behind, he would be increasingly frustrated… visibly and audibly so, to the point where his manager had to tell him at one point to calm down.
Fulham took the upper hand once they had got the measure of hosts who quickly appeared to lack ideas and belief going forward and they should have gone ahead with 18 minutes gone when James Tarkowski gifted Harry Wilson the ball around 15 yards from goal but he shot tamely at Pickford.
A corner that picked out Andreas Pereira in oceans of space on the edge of the box saw the Belgian bounce a half-volley wide but just a minute later it was 1-0 as Fulham pounced on another Everton giveaway in midfield and sprang forward.
Wilson’s shot came back off the post, Dan James did enough to knock the rebound into the path of the untracked Harrison Reed and he placed the ball wide of Pickford and inside the post.
The 4-4-2 formation with pint-sized forwards hadn’t worked but a tactical switch from Dyche that moved Alex Iwobi into a central role, moved McNeil to the right flank and dropped Gray off to left would pay dividends before half-time, though.
Everton probably should have levelled 10 minutes later when Maupay was fouled by Tosin Adarabioyo, Tarkowski won the initial header from the resulting free-kick but then blazed the loose ball over the bar after Leno had parried Maupay’s header from point-blank range.
The leveller did come 10 minutes before the break, however, and it came from one signing from last summer who is at least proving his worth under Dyche. When Idrissa Gueye’s tenacity won the ball in midfield, Garner carried it forward and found McNeil who drove towards the penalty area before drilling a crisp shot into the bottom corner from 20 yards out.
Maupay’s missed chance was another great chance that went begging but McNeil teed up Gray perfectly in the 44th minute, only for the forward to side-footed past the far post with the goal gaping in front of him.
The Blues’ fortune deserted them four minutes after the interval when McNeil’s cross came back off the woodwork rather than sneaking past Leno and, capitalising on uncertainty among the centre-backs, Tarkowski and Keane, and the deployment of the unsuited Ben Godfrey at right-back in place of the injured Seamus Coleman, Fulham almost immediately restored a lead they never looked like relinquishing.
Tarkowski lunged in needlessly on one side of the pitch but missed his man, Godfrey was was caught out by a deep cross to the back post and Willian knocked it back to Wilson who had the simple task of rapping the ball past Pickford to make it 2-1.
Another short corner routine that once again found Pereira free outside the box required action from Pickford to push a fierce shot over the bar before shots from William and Paulinha were blocked and Pereira again smashed the ball over following Mykolenko’s poor attempt to clear his lines.
Godfrey was forced off with a suspected concussion, with Nathan Patterson coming on in his place but Everton looked lost at this point and they fell further into arrears with 22 minutes left.
A simple ball over the top wasn’t dealt with by Tarkowski, Dan James’s touch inside took a fortunate ricochet off Michael Keane and the Welshman found himself with just the stranded Pickford to beat, which he did with aplomb to deliver the killer blow to an utterly despondent Everton side.
Dyche’s men stirred briefly after Ellis Simms had belatedly come on for Maupay, as Iwobi tested Leno with a shot that had to be palmed behind and Garner first fired at the German keeper from distance and then drove another effort that narrowly missed the left-hand post but the fight had largely left both Everton and the Goodison faithful.
In terms of its timing in the season and the gut-punch it represented, this defeat is being compared to the Toffees’ ugly defeat to Dyche’s Burnley a little over a year ago. As a home game Everton needed to and were expected to win, it brings to mind the 3-2 loss against Brentford but it remains to be seen whether the fans have the energy of spirit to drag this team over the line the way they did last season.
This is going to have to come from Dyche and the players. It’s going to need a reset and refocus on the defensive side of the game. It’s going to need them to go to places like Selhurst Park, the King Power Stadium and Molineux and scratch out at least one victory. And it will likely need a healthy dose of fortune on the injury front where the absences of Onana and Coleman were keenly felt and the return of Calvert-Lewin up front is really quite urgent now in order to provide a proper focal point up front.
While there are games to be played — six of them, if you’re ruling out getting anything against Manchester City — points to be won and three other teams apart from doomed Southampton struggling for points along with us, there is still opportunity and there is still hope.
The manner of this defeat will sting but for this club’s top flight survival — and, perhaps, for the continuation of Everton’s very existence — we fans have to keep fighting, keep believing, keep supporting; to put this one behind us and go again. We have no other option.
Reader Comments (42)
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2 Posted 16/04/2023 at 19:55:11
I just wish that we could get an honest assessment of the Calvert-Lewin situation. Is he injured? Is it physical? Psychosomatic? We keep getting told he is "nearly" ready, what exactly does that mean? I tend now to agree with Jim Benning in the post above, it is probably far too late for his return to make any difference anyhow.
Some selections by Dyche yesterday were strange. No Patterson, Maupay ahead of Simms. I've wondered if Gregory might be better as a defensive midfield, perhaps in place of the ageing Gueye.
As in most aspects of life nowadays, the mental side seems to be so important to the modern player. It's probably age, but I'm not sure Jimmy Gabriel or Alan Ball needed quite so much emotional reinforcement from Harry Catterick, or Peter Reid or Andy Gray needed cherishing so much by Howard Kendall as modern players seem to need.
I don't think the Bournemouth game will be that vital, I expect it all to be over before that date. I hope Liverpool win tomorrow, but they rarely seem to do us a favour in these situations.
3 Posted 16/04/2023 at 19:56:24
My issue with this game, is that Dyche should have played a more defensive system, instead he chose a system to encourage an open end to end game. Fulham were undoubtedly the best team and their players are better than ours. Hence this result and their league position.
We should have played a defensive game and counter attacked.
Hindsight is a great thing, but we cannot set up a formation to be an open attacking team when we do not have the quality players too play that.
I can't see us getting a result at Palace, given their current form. We are indeed peering into the abyss.
4 Posted 16/04/2023 at 20:02:57
Looking at the run in, we might just stay up because other teams are worse than us,
Southampton, probably gone ( but I thought Bournemouth had a few weeks back) Forest have a more difficult run in than us, as have Leeds and both look at least as bad as us. Leicester have a relatively easy end of season and after the City game yesterday looked to have some fight in them.
So I'm hopeful of survival, but only just. But if we do, I think next season will be the same, who of any quality will want to come to EFC and the shambles it has become.
5 Posted 16/04/2023 at 20:04:15
6 Posted 16/04/2023 at 20:13:20
To finish ahead of them we will need to be at full strength for the rest of the season, DCL included, and crucially when we play them, I agree it's going to be a pivotal match. We seriously need Leeds to be sucked into it too, because I think Leeds are a slightly weaker side than Leicester, maybe more likely to implode, tomorrow night's result will give us an insight into that.
7 Posted 16/04/2023 at 20:32:34
8 Posted 16/04/2023 at 20:39:49
Maddison, Dewsbury-Hall, Vardy, Inanecho, Tielemans, Barnes Daka, Tete
But the game isn't played on paper and here they are, 2 points below us and having got 1 point from a possible 27.
Their next 3 games of Wolves home and Leeds away followed by us at home will play a large part in deciding their fate. If they manage a win before they play us then we will need to beat them as I suspect we will have 1 point more than we do now by the time we come to play them.
9 Posted 16/04/2023 at 20:45:01
If we'd got a win against Leicester at home and we'd now be 8 points clear of them rather than 2. Mins you, we were battered that day and it wasn't dissimilar to yesterday's game with their midfield passing round us.
10 Posted 16/04/2023 at 21:38:29
So what the hell happened? 'We lost our way' was the best Dyche could do in trying to explain it.
11 Posted 16/04/2023 at 22:44:16
12 Posted 16/04/2023 at 22:58:18
Leicester are a much stronger side on paper, but I do wonder how much fight they have in them. It seems like most of their better players - such as Maddison and Tielemans - were looking to leave long before their season went off the rails.
13 Posted 17/04/2023 at 00:12:56
Let's hope, on the playing side, Everton do the business, and gain good fortune on all impacting EPL, games, from now to season end.
UTFTS!
14 Posted 17/04/2023 at 02:28:35
Although we were not so good throughout vs Fulham, we went completely to pieces once Godfrey went off to hospital.
Mal @ 3. Yup, mate, injuries and suspension - the problem is we could see it coming with the Douc. The problem is tot the injuries and suspension per se, it is the fact that we have no depth in the squad and so cannot replace like for like!?
15 Posted 17/04/2023 at 02:31:12
16 Posted 17/04/2023 at 05:36:37
It's still hard to swallow. We lacked purpose. We lacked intent. We lacked a plan. We just lacked. For the second time in seven days, I witnessed an opposing team not really having to do much to beat us comfortably.
Gueye was running around probably wondering who the hell was supposed to be in midfield with him. Garner might end up being a good player in a performing team, but not in a struggling one. We missed Doucoure. And Onana. Despite his critics, he would have given us physical presence. I've written off Calvert-Lewin for this season. I hope he sorts himself out and gets his career back on track.
Watching Derek Temple and Tony Kay walk on the pitch before the match, I'd have considered giving them a shirt and leaving them there. I never watched them play, but have heard very good things about them.
On Silva, I like that assessment. I'm sure he was pleased with how his depleted team went about their business. I'm equally sure he looked on with sadness at Everton. Another sacrificial lamb in the revolving door of managers when the real culprits can't even be bothered to look down from the Main Stand anymore having effectively criminalised the supporters.
Shithouses. No way back.
Last time out, we walked through blue smoke. Concerningly, it was, yet again, very subdued around the streets of Goodison before the match. And the crowd were finding it difficult to lift the roof. Worryingly, there was an air of resignation once Fulham got their second.
All that said, we are still in the game and in control of our own destiny for now.
South east London and then Goodison under the lights. Lick the wounds and pick ourselves up. And those privileged to do what we all dreamed of as kids had best do that too.
17 Posted 17/04/2023 at 06:12:35
Glad you see where I'm coming from regarding sticking Keane up front.
Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Would it be insulting to our attacking options?
Maybe but who cares, we need goals if we are going to get out of this mess.
Would it be controversial in that fans and media would grill Dyche for taking that route?
Again who cares, I'm sick of seeing Everton play the same old tune week in week out and fail dismally.
I'd back something different right now.
18 Posted 17/04/2023 at 06:29:46
It smacks of desperation as we have no other options.
Oh for the days when our centre backs could weigh in with goals without having to play up front.
Derek Mounfield once bagged 14 goals from a central defender position.
19 Posted 17/04/2023 at 06:53:09
This year, we have 27 points with 7 games to go with about 6 or 7 other teams as indifferent.
As last year, we'll probably stay up by default rather than through any amazing change in our fortunes.
On another note, if Branthwaite wants to gain experience, I suggest he stays away.
20 Posted 17/04/2023 at 06:56:21
Yep, and last season we had the main catalyst in Richarlison who in those last six games put in some huge perform levels for us particularly Chelsea and Palace at home.
I'm not seeing one really standout candidate this season that looks capable of carrying that burden.
21 Posted 17/04/2023 at 07:33:09
I wonder if he will sue Everton as well?
22 Posted 17/04/2023 at 07:54:46
23 Posted 17/04/2023 at 07:56:17
He is Gylfi Sigurdsson.
Sue Greater Manchester Police? Not that we need it, but I'd be looking at Everton Football Club if I was him.
We shat our pants and hung him out to dry, ruining the last years of his career.
I just hope he and his family can rebuild their life.
24 Posted 17/04/2023 at 08:16:27
Has it all dragged on far too long? Given the eventual outcome I'd say yes that is very likely. However, I for one will be holding back on my defence or support of him regarding this matter as we know next to NOTHING about the facts.
What about Everton suing him or the person who made allegations? We have lost a fortune on this, someone is not telling the truth and it has cost us big time. It certainly is an interesting situation.
25 Posted 17/04/2023 at 08:28:40
In a round about way, we are probably making the same point. We simply don't and didn't know the facts.
Which is why we should not have panicked and acted on assumptions.
Who was the player who served time in jail only to be found innocent?
Innocent until proven guilty.
26 Posted 17/04/2023 at 08:51:28
27 Posted 17/04/2023 at 08:58:01
He went with an underaged prossie who wasn't honest about her age and then got blackmailed with the threat of her, or her pimp, going to the papers /police and he,say, refused to play ball and pay the blackmail so the threat was carried out. Still wrong, still underage but not in the same league as Saville, which is the brush he has been tainted with. Just a theory like… honest.
28 Posted 17/04/2023 at 09:05:02
29 Posted 17/04/2023 at 09:08:42
*anyone but maupay.
Coady is a leader and a fighter and we need vocals in this fight as well as grit.
30 Posted 17/04/2023 at 09:15:35
Whatever happens, the player in question doesn't come out of it well - but nor do the CPS, the police, or - if the scenario is correct - the blackmailers.
However, I'm not sure what else Everton could have done, considering the alleged crime was so heinous, and in the current climate when it comes to allegations of those kind of crimes.. Would his team-mates have been happy to play alongside him? Would a percentage of our fans, or indeed our sponsors, have boycotted the club or withdawn funding? And, as Robert says, perhaps the player agreed to the suspension, or even requested it..
31 Posted 17/04/2023 at 09:29:09
No, I'm not blaming the club at all but it never sat well with me that a man's career was basically ended because of an outrageous and stupid announcement that specified a 31 year old midfielder at Everton when we only had two at the time that fitted the description. And then the other one (was it Gareth Barry?) announced public ally that it wasn't him (understandably). If it was the club that released that statement then they were wrong to do so - they effectively named him.
32 Posted 17/04/2023 at 10:31:22
I expect them to put in a better performance at Crystal Palace now they have had their rest.They really did think they had to turn up to beat Fulham and got the kick on the ass they deserved.The pressure on them now at Finch Farm this week is great stuff and the only way to get that place motivated.
I don't blame Dyche one bit, as I don't blame the recent Managers who similarly have had to endure such pathetic displays.What do you expect other than this with the three Monkeys in charge, hearing no evil, seeing no evil and completely silent . Not having the gutts to be present.
33 Posted 17/04/2023 at 10:57:17
Get Doucoure, Onana, Colemans and whatever minutes DCL might be able to play.
34 Posted 17/04/2023 at 13:29:59
The only time he should be upfront is a set pieces, with cover in place.Otherwise he is a carthorse.
35 Posted 17/04/2023 at 13:56:02
36 Posted 17/04/2023 at 14:57:28
Keane might be rubbish up front Jerome, but even so he would have suited Saturday's tactics, so much better than either Gray and Maupay.
37 Posted 17/04/2023 at 15:36:57
38 Posted 17/04/2023 at 17:42:15
I was being a bit facetious Jerome, because our fullbacks lacked creativity (I've broken a 38 year habit and actually have sympathy for a footballer regarding Mykolenko, who must be going through every single emotion on a daily basis) and our midfielders were outnumbered, which meant it was the angry Pickford, who was having to launch it long to two 5ft 8inch forwards, who were playing against two 6ft odd central defenders.
Pickford was unhappy because Godfrey, should have been getting the ball to hit down the sides, but he didn't really want to know, and we just lumbered on fighting for second balls, whilst getting overrun in the middle of the park.
Poor team, even poorer tactics, and yet remarkably we should have been in front at halftime, because Maupay missed two very good chances. One following in from a Tarkowski header, and once when Everton finally realized that football is about pass and move, but this was the only time we made it hard for Fulham all afternoon, unfortunately.
If you can't be good then at least be competitive, but I don't know how this is even possible, when you keep playing into your opponents hands.
39 Posted 17/04/2023 at 18:05:53
40 Posted 17/04/2023 at 19:06:35
41 Posted 17/04/2023 at 21:47:15
Thank you for your perspective on the performance I have always thought that when Everton are set with a toothless attack, the opposition push up and compact and provide support to the midfield.Combine that with two Centre Back that gravitate to being deep and their is loads of space on the edge of the penalty area for the opposition to run into.This has happened for years. Now the first quarter of the second half is the Everton fall apart period. The other problem is that to two Centre Backs are afraid to push up with the play and provide support to Everton's midfield They may get caught short if possession is lost.So they don't even bother to show for the ball.Add to that Godfrey and there is no support going forward. Actually all attacks are down the right flank, because there is no cover for Mykolenko.But I do still think the team mostly did not turn up and Dyche's sustained in stats fell by the waside.Ancelotti did alot of individual coaching and wondered lif anyone had remembered anything or cared.
Unfortunately Martin is right and the drafting silent of the Club Management is absolutely is unbelievable Definitely need a head to toe reconstruction..
42 Posted 18/04/2023 at 23:48:27
To stay up, we need to take each game as it comes, obvious comment, and to stay up, we have to match or better the performance of those below us and around us. It can be done! This point in our season 12 months ago, we were beaten at home by Brentford with an equally abject display. Our luck may just hold. I'm back in time for Newcastle under the lights. Cue Iwobi to score🤞 A result against Palace would be a good start. Hope to catch some of that in Manhattan.
We just have to believe and hope that the players do.
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1 Posted 16/04/2023 at 19:31:59
He's nowhere near match fit clearly, he's supposedly been on grass for two weeks yet couldn't even make the bench for a cameo performance yesterday so what kind of grass he's on isn't so crystal clear.
I'm not pretending that we missed Onana yesterday, he's been awful most of the season if we are honest with ourselves, Bambi on ice.
Doucoure is banned through his own stupidity reacting in a way that you just can't in this era especially against the media Golden Boy Kane.
I can't blame any of this on Dyche, however some things are leaving me scratching my head with his team selections.
I don't get starting Ellis Simms and Anfield and Old Trafford then snubbing him in a home game against Fulham and opting for the hapless Maupay and lightweight Gray who's just not a forward and never has been nor will be.
I don't get why he broke up the Tarkowski and Coady partnership either.
I know Coady was out of form a bit but he's still a better defender than Michael Keane and far more vocal.
I've said it before and I don't even think people called me mad, but I'd honestly just stick Michael Keane up front.
He's the best striker of the ball in our entire squad, I'd have actually backed him to have buried that chance Simms missed last week at United.
Also if you are going to hit long high balls he's winning more than both Maupay and Gray that's simple fact.
Keane is more lethal to us playing in defence because he's too haphazard, always has been and since he's been back in that position we've started seeing more of the same old self destruct moments.
Dyche clearly doesn't fancy Mina, probably thinking what's the point in him if he's moving on this summer, but for me, Mina is still our best defender hands down, just a shame he's another permanent crock.
Don't get me started on the fullbacks.
Mykolenko, Jesus wept, he'll be well at home in the Championship, how galling to see our former left back Robinson at Fulham yesterday and we actually paid 20 million or whatever it was for Mykolenko.
The lack of quality all over the midfield and the attacking area's isn't Dyche's fault I'll hand him that much.
I doubt he realised when he agreed to take this job on at the end of January just how bloody difficult this was going to turn out to be.