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Post by Everton News. on Feb 4, 2017 14:31:20 GMT
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Post by Everton News. on Feb 4, 2017 14:33:45 GMT
Ademola Lookman is handed a full Everton debut as Ronald Koeman makes three changes for the visit of Bournemouth. Kevin Mirallas, Tom Davies and Mason Holgate drop to the bench as Lookman, Gareth Barry and James McCarthy come in. The Blues are looking to extended their unbeaten Premier League run, which stands at six games following Wednesday’s 1-1 draw at Stoke City. The changes see a return to a four-man defence, with Seamus Coleman, Leighton Baines, Ashley Williams and Ramiro Funes Mori given the task of protecting Joel Robles in goal. Ahead of them come McCarthy, Morgan Schneiderlin and skipper for the day Barry, with Ross Barkley and Lookman supporting Romelu Lukaku in attack. On the bench, the aforementioned trio of Mirallas, Davies and Holgate are joined by Maarten Stekelenburg, Phil Jagielka, Enner Valencia and Idrissa Gana Gueye, who returns to the squad after completing Africa Cup of Nations duty with Senegal. Lookman has made three appearances off the bench for the Toffees since completing his move from Charlton Athletic in early January but gets a first start against the Cherries, who include former Blues midfielder Dan Gosling in their first XI. “Sometimes you need to protect young players," said Everton boss Ronald Koeman ahead of kick off. "We know we have big competition in the midfield, so I can make changes. Lookman deserved to start today. He has brought some energy to the team after coming on and I’d like to see the boy from the start. “We have a strong record at home this season and we’d like to keep it that way but it’s not so easy in the Premier League. “Bournemouth’s last few results may mean they will be a little bit more defensive than normal. They need the points but so do we.”
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Post by Avinalaff on Feb 4, 2017 15:48:13 GMT
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Post by Everton News. on Feb 4, 2017 17:06:54 GMT
Everton 6-3 AFC BournemouthHome team scorersRomelu Lukaku 1 James McCarthy 23 Romelu Lukaku 29 Romelu Lukaku 83 Romelu Lukaku 84 Ross Barkley 90 +3:15 Away team scorersJoshua King 59 Joshua King 70 Harry Arter 90 Ronald Koeman believes Everton emerged stronger and leaner from the January transfer window, and for a hour they were certainly too much for a lightweight-looking Bournemouth to handle. Romelu Lukaku, who ended up with four goals and could have had more, was too powerful for Bournemouth’s defence on his own. Yet the Everton manager was nowhere near as pleased with what he saw in the second half, for after establishing complete control and cruising into a three-goal lead the home side went right off the boil and allowed their opponents back into the game. Bournemouth fell behind after just 30 seconds, before most members of their team had managed to touch the ball, and for the rest of the first half looked demoralised and resigned to taking a beating. Bournemouth could still find themselves dragged into the relegation mix, and if they begin many more games as listlessly as they started this one they will continue to slide down the table. If they play as they did in the second half they will have more of a chance, though in view of the final scoreline the partial comeback was probably more a case of Everton falling asleep rather than their opponents waking up. If Eddie Howe had made any plans to deal with Romelu Lukaku’s attacking threat they were in tatters in under a minute. The Everton striker merely breathed on the Bournemouth defence on the home side’s opening forward foray and an obliging gap appeared. Cutting in from the right, Lukaku strode into it and beat Artur Boruc with a confident shot into the top corner from just inside the area. Such a start did nothing to harm Everton’s self-belief and swagger and Ademola Lookman almost made it two a few minutes later, completely bamboozling Harry Arter with his footwork on the edge of the area but sliding a left-foot shot narrowly wide. Everton like the look of their teenage capture from Charlton, and Lookman is adapting rapidly to his new surroundings. His willingness to take on defenders is already marking him out as a crowd favourite, as is the ease with which he can beat them, though Lookman will have to learn not to be too adventurous in the wrong areas of the pitch. A better team than Bournemouth might have taken advantage when Lookman exposed his defence by losing the ball unexpectedly in his own half. Bournemouth’s chances of drawing level amounted to one precision through-ball from Jack Wilshere that might have allowed Josh King a shooting opportunity had Ashley Williams not been so quick to close it down, before Everton went further ahead midway through the first half. Again Lukaku was able to make a nuisance of himself, this time by reaching the dead-ball line past some fairly shoddy defending by Tyrone Mings and Mark Pugh, and found himself with enough time and space to turn a pass back for James McCarthy to have a shot. Though the midfielder’s first attempt came back off Steve Cook it fell straight into McCarthy’s path and with Boruc already on the floor the ball simply rebounded into an unguarded net. If Bournemouth imagined things could not get any more slapdash before the interval they were wrong. Under no particular pressure Simon Francis hit a backpass right into the corridor of uncertainty between the goalkeeper and the last defender, leaving Lukaku to intercept and score with nonchalant ease. The Cherries were lucky to turn round just three goals in arrears. Seamus Coleman saw a shot saved a couple of minutes before the break, and had Lukaku found Lookman to his left, instead of Williams to his right, when Everton went charging upfield against an undermanned defence, the young forward might have made a better job of finishing. The second half was inevitably flatter at first, though at least Bournemouth showed some spirit in hitting back with what looked like a consolation goal. Everton gave Wilshere rather too much space to weigh up his options and the result was a perfectly weighted lofted pass forward, neatly splitting the two home centre halves and allowing Josh King to run through and reach the ball before Joel Robles. That did not seem too much of a worry for Everton, though when Pugh almost sent in King again two minutes later it was a warning. Unable to break out of their own half and their attacking impetus apparently stalled, Everton close to ignore that warning. Bournemouth kept asking questions, and when Andrew Surman sent Ryan Fraser to the byline 20 minutes from time King turned up in the middle to collect his second. For just a few minutes, during which Robles had to beat out a goalbound effort from Arter, it looked as though one of the fightbacks of the season might be on. But Everton still had Lukaku, and when they finally worked out how to get up the pitch again it was a relatively simple matter for the striker to play a return with Coleman and meet his cross for his hat-trick. With only seven minutes remaining that ought to have been that, yet this most unpredictable of scripts still had a few more twists. Lukaku scored a fourth, courtesy of Ross Barkley’s clever backheel, before Arter deservedly got onto the scoresheet at the other end, collecting a rebound off an upright before tapping the ball over the line from close range. The ninth and final goal of a slightly surreal afternoon went to Barkley, who rounded Boruc and raised his arms in celebration before stroking the ball into the Park End goal. It was quite an afternoon. Guardian
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Post by rugbytoffee on Feb 4, 2017 17:12:45 GMT
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