Watford (a) Both sides of the story
If you’re not drained after that, you’ve got nerves and balls of steel. It’s why we love them and hate them in equal measure...
Spoilt for choice this week Carlo decided to start Iwobi off the left, Richarlison upfront with DCL and Sigurdsson back in the middle with Delph. Harsh on Bernard and Kean? I thought it was, but you can understand the reasons for rotating and finally having the option to do so.
The first 45 minutes were awful, second best and slower than Watford. The midfield domination was key to both their goals. Watford had pace, power and athleticism in Doucoure, Chalobah and Coupe whereas Everton had the one paced Sigurdsson and the no brained Delph. For the first goal the eternally dreadful Walcott came so far in field, a diagonal ball from the right dissected the whole of the Everton midfield and left Sidibe horribly exposed, Masina taking the ball on the half bounce and hitting into the ground and across Pickford for 1-0.
The rest of the half continued in the same vein, Watford first to everything, Everton wasteful when in possession, and silly free kicks from petulant reactions.
Inexplicably and under no pressure Fabian Delph gave the ball to Troy Deeney 18 yards from goal and he was through on goal, rather than take the shot he played in Pereyra who shot straight at Pickford who seemed to have guessed the shot would go low, his out stretched arm couldn’t reach the ball as it went in. 2-0. Deservedly so.
To this point of the game I will confess that I was screaming for Walcott and Delph to be hauled off. My exact words were “utterly finished at this level”
How it was about to change..
A consolation corner at the end of the first half saw Mina poke one over the line. It was an Everton goal, so naturally it went to VAR and it was given! 2-1. The team talk will be a bit different now.
Added time in added time and we get another corner. Yerald Mina, the player with most headed attempts at goal in the league without scoring puts Sigurdsson’s in swinger into the bottom corner of Foster’s goal!! 2-2 absolute scenes, absolutely undeserved, but neither were Newcastle’s last week!!!! Unbelievably were back in the game. Somehow. But it felt fantastic to be on the right side of it for once!
No changes at halftime, still fuming about Delph and Walcott from the first half. By the hour mark I’d called Walcott a competition winner, no end product, no productive value to this team. Everton were dominant now, Richarlison and DCL finally finding space and Iwobi threading balls through from cutting inside. Watford were shell shocked and brought on Welbeck to try and redress the balance. It didn’t take long for Carlo to make changes after that, Kean for Iwobi which meant Richarlison to the left wing. Carlo smelt blood and went for it. A ridiculous foul by Delph, reminiscent to the one he gave away at West Ham saw him sent off and hand Watford the initiative. In truth, it probably wasn’t a yellow card offence, but Craig Pawson is such a bad referee it’s difficult to predict what he thinks. Advantage Watford.
Sigurdsson off for Schneiderlin as a point was now a good result. More and more pressure, especially from wide areas. DCL off for Keane, he went into central defence and Holgate seamlessly into midfield. Watford made another attacking change to try and force the winner.
In the 90th minute Richarlison broke down the left wing leaving two Watford players in his rear view mirror, he played the ball forward to Moise Kean who broke into the box and had Foster to beat to win the game, he chose to pass to Walcott instead, the pass was angled from the penalty spot to the edge of the six yard box and Walcott squeezed the ball under the diving Foster. 2-3 ABSOLUTE SCENES!!.
Everton comfortably saw out the remaining five minutes of added time, such a contrast to the Newcastle game.
776 days since Everton last come from behind to win a game. A huge burden lifted. A show of resilience and backbone, also proving that lessons in game management for closing the final minutes in safety.
Mina will undoubtably get the headlines as well as Walcott for winning the game, but Holgate once again was superb in defence and midfield.
Delph’s sending off encapsulated his time at Everton. He was supposed to be a calm head, a teacher and a winner. He’s actually been a liability, a bad example and an accident waiting to happen.
I wholeheartedly apologise to Mr Walcott!!
Lots of positivity looking forward to Palace next Saturday.
UTFT 💙
