Except is isn’t quite check-mate – yet.
“How’s he gonna spin into convincing us we’re still in this one now?” I hear you and many others ask...
Yes, we are all really [expletive]ed-off with what did and didn’t happen at 1:30pm-6:00pm on that glorious sunny Merseyside Sunday afternoon; and the downpour that followed during the COVID-19 enforced kick-off time which never had been needed to drag down the possibility of expansive Goodison play less...
It’s no excuse for the players, of course. They're paid world-class salaries for many reasons.
There’s no better news that ANY slight possibility of Man City complacency has just been erased at Brighton tonight.
Guess who’ll get the backlash..?
But whilst the mother of all footballing challenges lies await on that short eastward journey to Manchester this Sunday, there’s the issue of Wolves at home to take care of first.
Just before we re-assess and number-crunch the mathematics, another brief look at one area of our first team squad and in particular: how the next two games are so massive in how it can be dealt with in the Summer: LEADERSHIP.
Many onlookers, as well as fans, will have not taken long to identify one glaring weakness those on the pitch for Everton.
Sure, as Liverpool, Tottenham, Arsenal and Chelski have discovered themselves against us; conceding first means winning becomes so much a harder task – let alone the thumping that would have addressed our (now) -7 goal differential to West Ham, two games left to rectify – or hope...
European experience, whether it’s a 4-team pool, 6-fixture group phase or a 2-legged knockout tie, will help teach young players that sometimes conceding first is an absolute no-no.
We were doing everything eight in the first 6 minutes at Goodison Park against the weakest team in the Premier League – our (supposedly) easiest fixture of the season; taking the game to the opposition, everyone looking up to the pace of requirements.
Then: the sucker-punch upper-cut we weren’t ready for – a seventeen-year-old former trainee allowed to almost go unnoticed in the penalty-area.
During the course of a League campaign, it’s easy to say to yourself: “Better to concede first in the first minute, than the last five”,
not wanting to apply any unnecessary pressure on you, or your team-mates.
Indeed, we came from behind – not just once, but TWICE – at an Old Trafford club that had just spanked Southampton for nine three nights prior, meaning raw energy and adrenaline was in us, when raising the game was the way to go.
But sometimes there also has to be a purpose. 100% focus on the task at hand, at all times.
Going back to the Villa stale-mate: we got away with this very upper-cut when Tyrone Mings headed wide from a cross, directly following a corner clearance, 20 minutes in.
And we grew from it there, giving as good as we got in all legal areas; again in very difficult, wet weather.
We could really have done with three points in Birmingham, yet holding on to one still meant we had Arsenal where we wanted them - all the time chasing West Ham for 7th.
We weren’t so lucky last Sunday.
A relegated team with little to play for, other than careers in the Premier League and financial prize money.
Keep them that way.
You know the rest, other than Carlo Ancelotti and Marcel Brands know one area that is just as necessary for us to solve as it had for so long been at Anfield in-between Steven Gerrard’s retirement and Virgil van Dijk’s long-awaited arrival.
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So what now?
Well, a 3-1 win over Fulham-aside, the recent form of West Ham’s opponents on Sunday: SOUTHAMPTON, isn’t too great. You’d have to think that the Hammers, should they fail to take anything less than maximum pints from The Hawthorns tomorrow after our home closer against Wolves, would be super-fired-up for that. We’ll see.
But it means, given the goal differential issue in play, that WE have to get at the very least a draw in Manchester; probably a victory if we’re realistic in respect to the (Hampshire) Saints’ capabilities of their trip to London.
3pt ahead (3.5, if you take the +7 goal differential advantage), one more win and West Ham are in the clear, of us at least...
With Liverpool already 7pts clear, the only other target WE can catch is Tottenham, something that would require Harry Kane’s Coronation Night vs Aston Villa to go horribly wrong or/and Leicester City beating Spurs on Final Sunday;
3pts clear with two games to play, a goal differential +19 against Everton’s one more win for Tottenham – and their departing starman’s Golden Boot at stake – it’s unlikely we’ll catch Spurs. Not impossible, but unlikely...
Yes, both Arsenal and Leeds can also be included in the permutations. Leeds may have won at Southampton tonight, but they can be left aside, ‘til Saturday night, for now.
The same can no longer be spoken for those Gooners; the in-form team of the Premier League (asides Liverpool) are now just one point us (half a point, if you account for a +9 goal differential in their favour) and with Palace (away) & Brighton (home) left, you’d fancy them to win both.
The gist of what’s at stake now quite simply means we have to get at least a draw at Man City – a win IF either West Ham get a draw at West Brom or (in realistic terms) Arsenal win at Crystal Palace so we need to play our very best to win back control of our destiny for the final 180 minutes of the season.
No pressure, best manager in the world. Still, it can't be denied: it's nail-biting time to the end...
