Smart subs from David Moyes change the game for Everton

Charly injected a much-needed spark that was sorely lacking in the first half — his energy really shifted the tempo. It'll be intriguing to see whether he or Dewsbury-Hall gets the nod next time out.

I thought Beto put in a decent shift too; he certainly gave the Palace back line more to think about. For everyone's sake, let's hope he starts finding the net soon.

As for Tim, his performance against Wolves didn't help his case, but today he added a physical edge to the midfield — something we've been missing.

As has been said on here previously, Beto looks better causing his usual havoc as a late sub when the opposition backs are tiring.

I see yet another article linking Richarlison back to Everton in January. I was dead against it initially but it's starting to look more appealing with every game.

Or incorrect team selection in the first instance?

Good analysis, Angus. I think Iroegbunam deserves extra credit for stepping in with a very aggressive effort after unexpectedly having to replace Garner in midfield.

And Moyes deserves credit for making that move when necessary, sliding Garner back instead of subbing in Coleman or Patterson at right-back.

On that note, why on earth were our medical staff interfering when Ndiaye was cramping. They created confusion that meant Ndiaye was ordered off by the referee despite not actually having received treatment. They should have been nowhere near him until allowed to be there. Mindless stuff that could have cost us.

I didn't think Iroegbunam or Beto did anything particularly great. They were warm bodies when we needed them and any sub will have a bit more in the tank compared to those who start (take note, Mr Moyes). Fair play, they put in a shift.

Charly was the big winner. He didn't just provide fresh legs; he changed the game. My view of him is that he's not the most technically gifted but he's got aggression and intent. I can't imagine a game where he shouldn't at least come off the bench for the last 30 minutes. Personally, I'd try him as our false 9.

If Moyes could've been half as positive in the first half, Barry and Dibling would have been more in the game and Grealish and Ndiaye would have been more freed up.

Richarlison... I hope not. We have good enough players, bar needing right- and left-back backup. Moyes just has to get the tactics more right. Beto would also benefit.

It was the tactics that done for Everton against Liverpool, Wolves and West Ham. None of these teams are any better since.

Moyes then would be able to gradually introduce young players to add depth to the squad. Sitting back off any Premier League side is going to cost you a goal.

Jesus, that takes the biscuit!

Playing on the right in a team that immediately targets every move towards the left must be a thankless task, especially for 19-year-old new boy.

He comes across as a pretty shy kid and his performances currently look like he's intimidated by his surroundings or his price tag.

Lots of time to fix that given his age but I don't think it's as simple as us favouring the left every time. Ndiaye sees the ball on the right.

If not, one would have to ask why we set up the way we did which effectively surrendered midfield. Tactically, it failed... and we not only were overrun in the first half but we failed to adapt after the first nightmare 10 minutes which clearly laid bare our tactical set-up failure.

Rather than change it immediately, after 3 or 4 good saves and missed chances, Moyes waited till half time, 30 minutes away, to make the changes. Wrong tactics made worse by poor individual performances.

We were lucky to still be in it by the second half when changes were made, definitely a 'Get Out Of Jail' moment. But we did, and I'll take it... but smart subs should never have been needed in the first place.

I was more positive in the second half when the subs were made because the performance improved. Like all those watching the first half, my thoughts tended to be negative because we were getting beat and the performance wasn't great.

Dibling and Barry are part of the squad and deserve their chance in the team as the manager sees fit but, given what happened in the first half performance, Moyes recognised the situation and addressed it.

It's a conundrum and Moyes worked it out to enable us to win. So, credit to him.

Had Keane not been injured, Tim Iroegbunam would have presumably stayed on the bench. Hardly smart substitutions but I was mightily relieved that we won.

I remain negative towards Moyes because I cannot forgive his stupid team selection which cost us a Carabao Cup run.

I think the major change we see in Everton at the moment is that we finally have a bit of depth, so can actually change things from the bench. Some rotation is great to see.

Breath of fresh air on here.

I'd imagine most fans in the ground were very disappointed (that's being kind) with Everton's woeful performance and most of them knew who had to come off. They also knew -- Moyes being Moyes -- one of the replacements had to be Beto.

Alcaraz has deserved more time on the field than he has had and he put in a 50-odd minutes appearance that I don't think has been bettered by any Everton player this season... certainly not by Dewsbury-Hall in any of his games.

Charly deserves more games in his proper position; when he's having a poor game, substitute him like any player... and I mean any player who is having a poor game.

I could name a couple of players who Moyes won't substitute unless they are injured.

Must be difficult supporting a team where there's still a tinge of bitterness, even when they stage a brilliant comeback, largely down to the tactical nous of the manager.

1. Dibling out wide on the right and Ndiaye in the middle (Ndiaye in the middle has been a popular suggestion on here) and many would have likely complained if Dibling didn't start and we lost.

I envision posts such as "Why pay £35+ million to not use the lad when we have suspensions?" After what some considered a bright cameo against West Ham, I don't think there was many to argue pre-game that he chose this.

2. Alcaraz as a direct replacement for Dewsbury-Hall. After being hauled off at half-time against Wolves, I wasn't surprised Moyes didn't choose this.

I think Alcaraz offers much-needed energy behind the striker, some impish bite, a directness when he picks up the ball, and a genuine goal threat in and outside the box. Given a genuine run of games in the Number 10, he could provide a possible Cahill esque (not exact as they have different attributes) bridge between midfield and attack. With a focus on attack and being a goal threat, as a Number 10 should do.

Either option seemed to be welcomed by many pre-game as justifiable. It just happens to be that Dibling had a bit of a stinker and Alcaraz made a big difference when he came on.

Moyes, for all the slagging off, has made multiple subs at half-time now. Without a doubt, doing this is a clear show to all that the player is stinking the gaff out. He isn't dithering around with certain players. But he does seem to still wait till the 80th minute to make further changes or tweaks.

Moyes now has a dilemma on what to do when Dewsbury-Hall returns. Plus as Grealish can't play against Man City, I would hate to see Alcaraz shoehorned wide right again. Though it seems somewhat inevitable that Ndiaye goes left, Dewsbury-Hall in the middle, and Alcaraz wide right after Dibling had a bit of a mare.

I think it's terrible for Alcaraz if he does this: no chance to build some momentum and stake a claim for his favoured role. A lacklustre performance out right by him, against a City team with Doku out left who are picking up form, might see him once again relegated, firmly as a back-up player.

Beto, for all his faults, is better than Barry right now. He offers physicality, he constantly looks to make runs in behind. It's a blatant weakness in the time. I think his purple patch last season convinced Moyes he had a player who could do a job for at least a year, score enough goals and be a nuisance that he could focus solely on more flair and goals from midfield.

Also, Moyes seemed to be pulling his hair out everytime the players passed sideways or backwards. It's obvious he wants to be going forward, through the lines, exploiting space, but the players are the ones to shirk the responsibility when in possession and choose safety first repeatedly.

Very relieved to get the points but honestly, Palace should have been out of sight. Even after Moyes's substitutions, they had 2 very good chances to finish us off. They looked tired after that and we took advantage. I feel that if the team that ended the match had started, they too would have been outplayed in the first half.

Tiredness not great tactics won this for us.

I agree with most of that post but why wait ‘til half time to make the changes?

I also think Moyes has made multiple changes at half-time, as in the Wolves cup tie when he tried to rectify the cock-up he made with his starting eleven.

I don't think this is a Moyes grudge etc -- it seems that the club generally has decided Patterson is not very good.

It would nice to see a happy ending to this given on paper he's exactly what we need. But just seems extremely unlikely now.

This situation against a tiring Palace suited them perfectly but Moyes started an XI that most were happy to see.

Iroegbunam provides a lot of energy and athleticism but his positioning is poor and often when he plays the midfield get bypassed too early. Likewise Alcaraz has been pretty hit and miss this season, although is definitely better in the middle and his chaotic energy seems to chime well with Beto.

Both Alcaraz and Iroegbunam bring more risk to the team, which Moyes dislikes, which is why I imagine we will see them more as subs than starters.

Dibling didn't get involved much but then it's hard for a winger who wants to cut in when you have a centre-back playing at full-back behind you.

Still staggered as to why we didn't buy a proper full-back this summer, but trust they will rectify this in January and possibly play Garner there till then, who at least offers more dynamism and talent on the ball than O'Brien.

And re #22, can you really imagine Moyes making changes in the first half unless forced by injury or red card? How many times have you ever seen a manager do that? Very rare, I'd say.

Sam #25, Garner's best position is in midfield. He should and does play full-back only out of necessity.

Ernie #7, what I saw was the medical staff waiting for the ref's direction to come and treat Ndiaye, and the ref in turn waiting for Ili's indication that he needed the help. The medical staff only interfered when Ili tried to return to the action and they pointed out Seamus was subbing on for him. The ref never ordered him off that I saw until the sub sign went up.

As for Patterson, I think it's obvious that Moyes has come to the same conclusion on him that his other managers did. And Moyes clearly felt Iroegbunam in midfield and Garner at right-back was a better solution than Garner in midfield and Patterson at right-back.

I would say the results proved him correct. You've answered your own question about under what circumstances he will be called upon -- the answer is "only in an emergency".

What I am convinced by is that we need a full-back who can consistently overlap our right winger (who wants to cut inside), receive the ball and get good crosses in. O'Brien is not that, Coleman's fitness cannot be relied upon and Patterson has been frozen out. Hence the necessity for Garner as I see it till we have a better alternative.

Moyes seems to like Iroegbunam and there is also Röhl to play in the middle. I wouldn't be surprised to see Garner more at right-back, though Moyes does seem to like O'Brien there when there is a lot of defending to do.

And watching Mykolenko getting pulled out of position for their first goal was painful -- not his fault at all, Jack couldn't be arsed to make a simple run to track back so Mykolenko was forced to decide between two runners.

We got away with a lot yesterday.

Pickford;
Garner, Keane (if fit; if not Branthwaite), Tarkowski (with Jarrad given some minutes to replace him), Mykolenko;
Gueye (Röhl given some minutes to replace him), Dewsbury-Hall (who can run all day, press and pass through the lines), Dibling, Alcaraz, Ndiaye;
Beto.

Given a solid run at centre-back that should iron itself out, but for the moment, I no longer want him in the team at right-back and he doesn't get in at centre-back ahead of Keane and Tarkowski on current form, or Branthwaite on historic form and ability.

I think he could've taken nearly anyone off in the first half without much complaint by any player.

Many would likely accuse him of destroying a new and young player's confidence by subbing them 25 minutes into their first league start (Dibling, I think?) or first start for a couple of games after replacing an effective player (Barry for Beto) and question how in hell are they meant to prove to be better with such minimal game time

Sam @28, I agree about Garner. He puts a shift in, is reliable and decent. I think he is more beneficial as a right-back. He has good delivery from out wide and we lack this so much.

O'Brien gets so many opportunities to deliver a ball in from decent positions but nearly always chooses to go back or pass inside to someone already marked. He is also much more comfortable on the ball and can control and move it on quicker, speeding our pedestrian play up.

But it all depends on Tim or Merlin proving they can be consistent

Either way, he made the changes at half-time and, in positions like his, you won't please everyone

My worry is when Gueye goes to the Afcon... Not to mention Ndiaye. Worrying we're so reliant on a 36-year-old.

Garner as a stop-gap right-back? But then that loses the height in the team.

Roll on, a week Saturday. Another international shitfest to endure.

I'm going on Dewsbury-Hall's form with Everton last week v WHU was the first time I've been impressed. Well, I liked what I saw in the first half but then he went off the boil in the second half. I've never seen him put in a display like Charly did yesterday which changed the game for Everton and don't just listen to my opinion on that.

Anyway, they may play together v Man City when I don't think Grealish is eligible for that game. If that happens, I hope Moyes doesn't play Charly on the wing but gives Dewsbury-Hall the job and see how he does there.

Regarding players getting substituted in the first half, I've seen it happen; why not substitute a player early when they just don't seem up to the job?

I'll give Barry time to prove how good, bad or indifferent he is. With Dibling, time will tell how well we spent the money on him; yesterday, the opportunity seemed too much for him.

On Dewsbury-Hall vs Alcaraz: Dewsbury-Hall is much more of a Number 8 than a Number 10. I look forward to Moyes figuring out they can play together, especially in situations where we're looking for a result-changing goal late on in games.

Roman Dixon appears to have picked up an injury, probably in pre-season. He was supposed to go out on loan with Stockport County but that got torpedoed.

Consequently, he has not played a minute of football this season.

But I also agree with Mike #36 that KDH is a more natural 8 or even a 6, and I think Charly is potentially our #10 of the future and should play only there. He and Beto have pretty good chemistry and I love the way he attacks the box.

However, we likely won't see that alignment until Gana is out of the lineup. Moyes likes KDH next to Grealish.

I was away on holiday when that Wolves game was played so only saw the highlights when I came back. Dewsbury-Hall scored a good goal so I can't agree or disagree about the rest of his game.

I hope if they both play well at Man City, we'll be debating how can Grealish get back in the side.

Ndiaye, Grealish, and McNeil can all play on the left, and although he was poor yesterday, Dibling could probably also play on either side? (I think he might be most suited to playing as a Number 10, because I'm not sure he does enough work defensively.)

We need Röhl fit to compete with Garner, Gana, Iroegbunam, and Dewsbury-Hall to play in the deeper midfield positions.

We are desperate for attacking full-backs, and we are desperate for someone to keep hold of the ball up front; otherwise, we seem very strong everywhere else.

Use this squad of players effectively and I think we can be a match for most teams, and could possibly beat any given team on our day.

Maybe I'm being optimistic, but why not? We haven't had this many players who are decent with the ball for years, so let's be brave, let's play with belief, and hopefully Moyes can become creative and find a way to start using more of his squad.

Initially, Moyes set up strangely with Ndiaye as a Number 10. I was really hoping to see Grealish there with Ndiaye back on the left.

The issue was not playing the Senegalese in that position but because we have no pace at the back they never squeezed up and so there was huge gaps in the midfield where we got outnumbered and overrun with Ndiaye playing too advanced.

It was strange that we went with such an attacking line-up on paper yet played so negatively, deep and passive. I don't want to see that line-up again unless we have at least one of Jake or Jarrad centrally.

Certainly you can't criticise Moyes for the substitutions, and getting them on at half time should be applauded rather than waiting, but I can't help feel that they were so obvious.

Furthermore, the question marks over the manager is when some of his favourites, such as Dewsbury-Hall don't get hooked, especially when I feel he has only had 2 excellent games for us. Also, Alcaraz could have provided potency against Villa and West Ham which the former doesn't possess. He has players that can change games as evidenced by yesterday and he needs to show more confidence in them.

In addition, the manager got a bit lucky with Keane's injury. Had he not done so, I have no doubt Tim Iroegbunam would have remained on the bench. However, with Jake providing a bit more pace in defence which helped us play a bit higher and Garner playing at right-back where I thought he would play more often, this will hopefully provide more food for thought for the manager going forward.

Posters suggesting Dewsbury-Hall as a Number 8 would make us even weaker in the midfield defensively, as highlighted against Leeds. The only way around this is to change shape slightly to a midfield three and play Röhl, Alcaraz, Gana or Iroegbunam beside him with Garner sitting. I wouldn't want Gana to sit as he isn't disciplined enough to perform that role plus it would remove his main attributes which are his energy, pressing ability, and tackling.

I don't think it was any coincidence that Beto's performance improved with Alcaraz behind him which was a combo which bore great fruit last campaign.

In all of these games, he played as their defensive midfielder and sometimes I think if we are going to continue with no real attacking play coming from our full-backs if we should play with one defensive midfielder and let the other two advance.

Just a thought, and not something I'd do myself, but having players like Alcaraz, Dewsbury-Hall, Dibling, Ndiaye, Grealish, and possibly even McNeil, just being given licence to attack, would definitely make us a lot more exciting to watch.

Besic? 😁

I sometimes feel like I'm getting Alzheimer's, so please tell me Alcaraz has got a resemblance to Mo Besic!

For example, he reminds me a bit of Allan at times where both aren't great positionally. The difference being that Gana has the pace and athleticism to cover for his mistakes and so doesn't get as ruthlessly exposed like the former. Once the man was goal side, he couldn't get back.

I think Jimmy has greater awareness and is always screening, looking for danger. Gana sometimes gets done ball watching as he is always hoping to nick loose passes and get us on the front foot.

I think McNeil, Röhl (from what I've read), Dewsbury-Hall, Alcaraz and Iroegbunam could all play there now. Russell Martin reckons Dibling will end up there once he gains experience.

We have some exciting options now despite the criticism our recruitment team are getting.

Beto and Barry exemplify this. To me, Beto is currently the better player, a step up from the Stracqualursi of yesteryear who gave his bog-standard all whenever he played (signed by Kenwright whilst Moyes soaked up his mega-salary) and I just pray that Beto begins to emulate the likes of Chris Wood, another late-developer goal scorer we, right now, would welcome.

Barry is notably younger even though he's soon 23. To me, unlike Beto, he's light-weight in his disposition, thereby nullifying himself as a problem for opposition defences in the rigours of the Premier League. (Neither of them have ever been notable scorers, hence their "give-away" prices to us alone when we signed them!)

I just hope that one or both of them soon start to at least occasionally perform as strikers the opposition has to seriously worry about, as bog-standard Chris Wood has done in recent seasons, to his credit and the benefit of his club and their fans.

Let's say he does. 😂👍

Unfortunately for Besic, I'll always remember the horror pass in the 6-3 Chelsea game. #

At least Alcaraz plays it forward.

Yes, that Russell Martin gave Dibling an amazing assessment when he was the Southampton manager, is he now the manager of Rangers who are having a terrible time this season in Scotland and Europe.

Is he a super salesman getting Everton to pay a lot of money when we seemed to be the only club interested in him? I'll give the young lad plenty of time to prove himself but looks very weak physically, one-footed ,and hasn't got a tackle in him but I'm hoping the vast potential Martin talked about will shine through.

He was!

Thanks for that. I just googled it and saw he was sacked on Sunday after Rangers drew 1-1 with Falkirk and had to be escorted away from the ground by the police for his own protection from a section of Rangers fans!

Jesus, I hope he knows how to rate footballers!

I remember Besic playing as a full-back at Wembley when we lost to a last-minute Martial goal.

Another memory is of him being the best player on the pitch when we beat Man City in the first leg of a League Cup semi-final, but he always seemed to be injured and never really made it (£except a fortune£) because he could never stay fit long enough to get a run of games under his belt.

As for Rangers, he was on a hiding to nothing. They didn't like him as a player and his cockney type brash nature telling them how to play football didn't sit well with them. They wanted him out before he had got in.

He wanted to try and implement his 'philosoohy' which would have required time and patience -- something you don't get up there. It's win now and overtake Celtic which is a near thankless and difficult task considering where both clubs are at.

Also, the only managers who have succeeded playing the brand of football he does on some really crappy pitches and conditions up there were Wim Jansen and Ange Postecoglu who both had really strong squads to begin with.

I actually rate him and think he will bounce back somewhere which is a better fit in the Championship or abroad. That was a marriage made in hell and a ridiculous appointment for both parties.

Dyche would be perfect for them right now.