Southampton (h) E=MC2
Gordon back in, Davies back in, Mina into the back 4, same front 2.
Southampton coming off their best result since getting to a league cup final a few years ago have the 5th best away record in the division, they are no mugs. The anomaly of the Leicester game completely distorts the great work that Ralph Hasenhuttl is doing. Like Everton, Southampton are in the rebuilding phase, but where Everton have a stronger defence than Southampton, Southampton have a far stronger midfield than Everton. And this was the story of this evening’s game.
The opening 31 minutes were all the visitors, entirely theirs apart from an Iwobi snapshot. The confidence, pace, movement & idea’s of a team that had just beaten Man City was in full flow, Everton were still probably thinking on Monday’s non event. However, a small caveat to this dominance was the absolutely disgraceful Lee Mason.
Lee Mason hates Everton, it’s a fact. Everytime a Southampton player had the ball, Mason had his whistle in his mouth, he couldn’t wait to give them a decision, be it one of their players falling over their own feet or James Ward-Prowse coming to a complete stop in the penalty area and the forward momentum of his body puts him into Andre Gomes. No penalty... oh hang on it’s Lee Mason, penalty given. Ward-Prowse sends Pickford the wrong way, but smashed the cross bar and into the Gwladys St. Justice done, but Mason wasn’t finished there.
After the drinks/illegal coaching break the inevitably of Ings scoring came to pass, deservedly so if you’re being honest with yourself. The gap between Mina and Digne allowed Ings to latch onto a skewed shot by Armstrong and 6 yards out managed to shift the ball from right foot to left foot and poke it passed Pickford. Deserved, before all of this Pickford coming to the rescue from a corner that hit the bar from Ings, obviously. Gomes off, he looked like he was carrying a knock, he played like he was carrying a knock. Sigurdsson on, next to Davies, this was going to be interesting after Monday...
Nowhere near good enough was being kind to Everton at this point, in the same position as Monday night, struggling in the first half and a goal down. Then on 43 minutes Pickford plays the ball out, it finds Digne wide left just around the half way line, a diagonal pass at a 45 degree angle chest height found Richarlison in between the Southampton centre backs, he takes the ball down on the D, and hits a shot that’s thigh high passed McCarthy from just inside the area. The goal was as magnificent as it was unexpected. HT 1-1.
Ancelotti had a massive problem to solve during the halftime interval, but that’s what he does, he finds an answer to the equation.
Iwobi off, Sidibe on, 3-5-2 and Coleman to right centre back. A central 3 of Davies, Sigurdsson and Gordon. But the second half didn’t belong to either team, it belonged to the bumbling Mason.
After not awarding Everton a penalty of their own in the first half for a clear shove on Anthony Gordon, he then proceeded to not send off the last man when Richarlison was through on goal. Granted, Bednareck was in line with Richarlison, but it was a foul and he was the last man, it was a foul given, it’s denying a goalscoring opportunity.. not in Mr Mason’s view. Yellow card shown. An utter, utter joke.
The tactical change from Ancelotti snuffed out the marauding Southampton midfield, it forced Ings out wide, it meant Everton were allowed to press higher up the field. A second half master class, just as he did in the derby. FT 1-1. Lucky..for a change.
Special mentions for Digne & Keane, both fantastic and have clearly benefited from the extended break, and Anthony Gordon who has made himself undroppable for me until the summer.
We all know a huge amount of players in this squad are not fit for purpose, but Ancelotti can only pick what he see’s in training. Adapting in-game has sadly become a necessity since the re-start, but 2 wins, 2 draws and an unlucky own goal defeat has seen us to safety and an outside to slim at best chance of Europa league.
Onto Sunday, there has to be improvements from Monday and Today, not just from us but also from the match officials.
UTFT 💙
