Everton exit the 2018 Carabao CupEverton exited the Carabao Cup at the third-round stage after losing a penalty shootout to Southampton.
Theo Walcott had dramatically hauled Everton level with five minutes to play following Danny Ings' first-half strike.
But Walcott’s penalty was saved by Angus Gunn, clearing the way for Cedric Soares to convert the decisive kick. Richarlison had lifted Everton’s third effort over the bar, with Maarten Stekelenburg denying Matt Targett to leave the teams level after their first four kicks.
It was two substitutes who combined for the Blues’ equaliser on 85 minutes. Oumar Niasse muscled his way into possession inside Southampton’s half and moved forward a step or two before sliding in Walcott to his right.
Former Southampton man Walcott had to check his stride but showed fabulous composure to ease the ball in front of him and slide his finish beyond Gunn.
And Everton could have completed a thrilling turnaround with 60 seconds to play. Leighton Baines stood up a cross which found Michael Keane in an inexplicable amount of space in the penalty area but unable to sufficiently get over his header to bother Gunn.
The visitors had led when Nathan Redmond concluded a driving run down the left by squaring for Ings. He took a touch and prodded his low finish into far corner.
Southampton’s goal smarted all the more for the fact Maarten Stekelneburg had bailed Everton out of bother moments earlier.
Manolo Gabbiadini reacted quickly to a loose pass from Morgan Schneiderlin and rapidly made ground before finding Redmond to his left. The fleet-of-foot Redmond worked a shooting angle and drew a smart stop from Dutchman Stekelenburg down at his near post.
Everton’s first convincing attempts on goal were provided by two players making their first starts this term.
Ademola Lookman, his confidence and adventure visibly growing as the game progressed, opened up his body to curl a left-footed shot narrowly wide on the half-hour.
Not long before, Bernard – playing from kick-off for the first time in 203 days – rapped a ball into Cenk Tosun, controlled the return with one touch and drove on target with his second. Gunn sprang to his left to turn the ball round the post.
Lookman had demonstrated his intent with a smart turn and run early in the game. The forward felt Jan Bednarek at his back on halfway and rolled the muscular Pole. As Lookman hurriedly advanced, however, Bednarek was making tracks back towards his near post and was well positioned to divert the Everton man’s cross behind.
Lookman’s sortie alleviated an early spell of pressure on the hosts’ goal. Maya Yoshida was left kicking himself when he unwittingly diverted a Cedric blast off target.
And Ings was embroiled in a similar state of self-flagellation after latching onto Targett’s lofted pass but rushing a shot which Stekelenburg saved with his legs.
Redmond served first warning of his direct running with a dribble and strike which bobbled wide on 18 minutes.
Southampton number one Gunn was untroubled at the subsequent corner when Schneiderlin, arriving fast at the back post, headed over.
The final five minutes of the half were all about Southampton’s offensive play. Even before Stekelenburg had denied Redmond and Ings converted, striker Gabbiadini made a hash of a presentable opportunity.
Mario Lemina’s raking ball from the right was exquisite but Italian Gabbiadini’s body shape was all wrong as he screwed a volley wide of Everton goalkeeper Stekelenburg’s right post.
Kurt Zouma rose highest at a free-kick minutes after the restart but the defender’s effort was comfortably fielded by Gunn.
England Under-21 international Gunn was rather more stretched to repel Lookman on 57 minutes. Bernard came in off his touchline to collect possession in the middle of the field.
He spun in an instant and showed wonderful vision and execution to lift a pass beyond Southampton’s backline for Lookman. He made a true contact on his strike but the impressive Gunn was swiftly off his line to block.
Stekelenburg was at full-stretch to fingertip over a header from Bednarek shortly after the hour. When the corner was headed away from the box but only as far as rangy midfielder Lemina he sent an effort screaming past the upright.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg dumped an effort into the Park End stand when well positioned to add to his side’s lead.
The best of a flurry of activity around the away side's goal with 15 minutes to play saw Bernard rap a first-time pass into Tosun, who was promptly closed down by Bednarek.
A Jonjoe Kenny drive from 30 yards flashed past Gunn’s right post – an effort which was sandwiched by two incisive Richarlison raids.
The first ended with the Brazilian going to ground in the box but seeing his penalty shout go unheeded; the second with him on the turf after being chased back by Yoshida but not awarded a free-kick after referee Chris Kavanagh consulted the video assistant referee.
Goodison Park erupted as Walcott's effort hit the net – and the volume rose further still as Everton went in search of a winner, with Keane so close to settling the contest in the Blues' favour – but the night would ultimately finish on a low note.
Bernard's Instant ImpressionIt would have been perfectly understandable had Bernard allowed himself a period to catch his breath in this one.
The Brazilian was starting a match for the first time in 203 days – his last outing for Shakhtar Donetsk in a Champions League tie with Roma on March 13.
Bernard sent his first shot arrowing on target on 21 minutes – the attacker not thinking twice about letting fly after receiving an intricate return pass from Cenk Tosun in a congested area 20 yards out.
This, however, was not the work of a man who had been feeling his way into the contest.
Bernard started like a house on fire, a footballer evidently keen to make up for lost time. Operating on the left of midfield, he popped up deep on the right inside two minutes, doubling up with fellow attacker Kieran Dowell to smother Nathan Redmond.
His first interchange with Leighton Baines conjured memories of Everton’s left-back combining instinctively with another slight schemer down the flank, Bernard’s clever flick into his teammate very much in the image of Steven Pienaar.
Equally, the current Blues left sider was on the move with the ball still in motion en route to Baines, searching out space to add to his colleague’s passing options.
There was another blink-and-you'll-miss-it one-two minutes later which moved Southampton out of their rigid shape and opened up space for Morgan Schneiderlin to direct a pass forward through midfield.
The imagination and assuredness of touch to cushion a zipped cross from Ademola Lookman into the feet of Dowell was a joy to behold.
No fear about having a go off his right boot either, Bernard ending one foray into the box with a low shot held by Angus Gunn.
Indeed, Bernard’s right boot seems infused with a certain amount of magic, too. The vision to spy Lookman’s run in the second half was superb. The weight and precision of the pass even better.
Bernard hassled the life out of Cedric Soares whenever Southampton’s accomplished right-back had the ball at his feet.
In possession, he is untroubled by similar pressing tactics. Bernard’s awareness and quality of distribution feed into a tremendous range of passing.
Shared Wisdom
With Everton trailing 1-0 and eight minutes remaining, the game would have been up had Leighton Baines not been switched on to the danger when Mario Lemina crossed from the left.
The ball was making its way inexorably to substitute Steven Davis until Baines charged to the near post to put his body in its line of travel and intercept.
With the scores level Baines was doing as much as anybody to try to create a winner. The left-back sent in a succession of threatening crosses, the pick of the bunch landing on Michael Keane’s head 10 yards from goal.
He stepped up first in the shootout, too, embracing the responsibility of getting his team off on the right footing. His strike cannoned in off the underside of the bar.
Baines’ fellow thirtysomething Maarten Stekelenburg made a similarly valuable contribution to his side’s efforts.
The former Ajax number one showed the reflexes and agility of a man 10 years his junior when he saved from Redmond late in the first half.
The importance of his second-half stop from Jan Bednarek’s powerful close-range header became apparent when Theo Walcott raced away to equalise.
He saved from Matt Targett in the shootout, too.
World Cup Blues
With Ademola Lookman and Kieran Dowell trading positions – the two 20-year-olds by turns operating on the right and in behind central striker Cenk Tosun – and Jonjoe Kenny at right-back, Everton, essentially, deployed a triangle of World Cup winners in that area of the pitch from the start.
The celebratory tone of the coverage surrounding England’s Under-20 team becoming global champions in summer 2017 swiftly gave way to the airing of concerns for what would happen next to these gifted young things.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored the winning goal in the final of that competition and has started each of Everton’s four matches before tonight.
Here it was the turn of Lookman and Dowell, with fellow world champion Kenny starting his fourth game on the spin.
Lookman felt his way into this, sizing up his opponents, sniffing out where he could cause trouble. His touch and turn deceived defender Jan Bednarek around the 10-minute mark. Bednarek recovered to clear but Lookman’s ambition and purpose gave his opponents something to think about.
Suddenly defenders were reluctant to get tight to the Londoner, affording him the freedom to run directly at the Saints’ rearguard. He sent in a steady stream of hard-hit low deliveries in a first-half when he nearly broke the deadlock with a bending shot from distance.
Lookman’s final involvement before he made way for Richarlison on the hour saw him run into space for a pass from Bernard, turning round Southampton’s defence but finding Angus Gunn an impassable barrier at the last.
This was Lookman’s first Everton start since he scored twice in a Europa League game at Apollon Limassol at the back end of 2017.
He received a generous ovation as he came off and his efforts merited the applause.
Kenny’s defending went largely unnoticed, another tick in the box for a defender accumulating them week on week.
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