Wolves (a) On the road again
Whatever type of day you were having yesterday, at 7:15pm I’d be shocked if you weren’t shocked....No strikers & no clue how the outfield 10 would line up. As baffled as we were, spare a thought for Nuno, he hadn’t a clue either along with all the media.
It turned out to be Godfrey at leftback & Digne ahead of him, Iwobi off the right with James playing behind Sigurdsson. A spine of Keane, Davies, James & Gylfi, Social media was peaking!! Humble pie would be tonight’s supper for many blues. I’ll be truthful as always, I had no intention of drinking last night, but I was 3 cans in by 8pm after the line up was announced.
Everton did more inside the first 10mins than in the West Ham & Rotherham games, the manager’s selection & tactics already had been justified. In the 5th minute Iwobi wide right played the ball to James midway in the Wolves half, James was in the now fashionably named ‘halfspace’ & his arcing diagonal ball found the advanced Digne just inside the box & his first time lay off found Iwobi betwen the edge of the area & penalty spot. You’d be forgiven to expect him not to score, but after track & tracing the ball he deserved what happened next. From Digne’s perfectly weighted lay off, Iwobi opened his body up to be square on to goal & side footed the ball passed Patricio. If it had taken a slight deflection off Conor Coady, all the better, but make no mistake this was a top class move & finish! 0-1
For next 10 or so minutes Wolves struggled to get to grips with Everton’s fluidity, Gylfi & James were sometimes a front 2, sometimes one would drop into a midfield 5. Sometimes Digne was leftback, then it was Godfrey. It was fascinating to watch, even whilst the obligatory clock watching had started once we’d scored.
Credit Wolves for their equaliser, only because of the cross & finish, other than that they were awful. Like us, they have key players injured, but like us vs West Ham on New Years day the onus was on them & they showed why many feel they are very mediocre & media hyped. If you weren’t aware of that Gary ‘I love Wolves’ Weaver was on hand in the commentary to tell you ‘all about Wolves’. A half cleared corner found Ait Nouri on the left at pace & he skipped passed Doucoure, his cross evading Mina, Keane & Godfrey to find Neves at the back post to volley home. 1-1. Harsh.
The enormously overpriced Fabio Silva had a tame effort at Pickford at bit later on in the half & James played a wonderful ball through to Iwobi who had a weak effort at goal when Sigurdsson square & unmarked was the likely the best option. You couldn’t blame him for taking the shot on. HT 1-1.
No changes at halftime, Richarlison you felt could make a real difference, he has a fantastic record against Wolves, but Gary on comms would rather tell you all about Neves & Dendoncker. He would soon be joined by the monotonous drone of Alan Smith in talking up the home team to the point of you thinking it was a WWFC in-house channel, but wait, haven’t Sky already been accused of this already this week with another team.....
The only downside of the game for Everton saw Doucoure get his 5th booking of the season & will miss the next game. Quite how Semedo got away from Sigurdsson in the first place was puzzling at best, lazy at worst. His pass to Neto forced Doucoure to foul. If anyone deserves a break in this team, it’s him, but to have it enforced is hard to take.
Everton’s first change was Gomes for Davies. Davies had been taking the ball on the half-turn & making the right decision like in the Brighton & Sheff Utd games. How Gomes would play following his embarrassing showing vs Rotherham would be interesting to say the least...but he would prove pivotal.
With the game heading for an agreeable draw, Everton get a corner. Swung in from the wonderful James, the ball was cleared & ended up where Wolves’s goal started from, the Gomes recovery & cross was as good as Michael Keane’s leap & accuracy in heading the ball into Patricio’s far corner!!! 1-2 absolute scenes from all blues amongst the backing track of Alan Smith moaning about how close our players were when celebrating!!! Penalty to Liverpool!!!! *****.
Gary on comms had now gone into the company playbook & reeled off who wasn’t playing for Wolves aided by his camera man showing a clip of Jiminez & Traore all wrapped up nice & warm in the stands, you could just make out the sound of Alan sat next to him praying to God, Allah, Buddah, Yoda, Santa & the tooth fairy for a Wolves equaliser... anything that meant Sky didn’t have to show a league table that showed Everton with more wins than Liverpool after 17 games & only 1pt behind them.. Poor Gary & Alan.
Richarlison on for Sigurdsson & Coleman on for James, Carlo had completely shut the door on the game once Keane had scored. Aside from a Neves volley just before the winner, Everton were untroubled & Wolves became the latest team to not have a second half shot on target. A huge collective effort, Keane, Mina, Godfrey were colossal, Digne & James showing their pure class. FT 1-2. Absolutely joyous.
What a win, to do it without recognised forward was an absolute masterpiece of tactical know how by Ancelotti. 6 wins from 9 on the road, the best in the league & back into the Champions League positions. It was a night for redemption, it was a night to put the ghosts of last seasons game to rest. The anger on the face of Carlo that afternoon, replaced with a knowing & satisfying contentment. He got nothing from his team that day, yesterday he got everything.
UTFT COYB 💙
