And so it begins. After last season’s dramatic turnaround under David Moyes and a summer of squad rebuilding, Everton’s ‘new era’ officially started with a trip to Elland Road and the first match of the season against Leeds United. To put it in perspective, the last time that Everton made the trip here, Frank Lampard was the manager in a 1-1 draw!
Everton were unbeaten in their last five Premier League away games against Leeds United (W2 D3), which was their joint-longest active run away to any of
the other 19 current top-flight teams. The Elland Road faithful would be up for their first game back in the top flight.
Team News
With such a significant turnover of players this summer, David Moyes was painting a new picture and the team lineup was complicated by the injuries to Branthwaite and Mykolenko. When the lineup was released, you could hear the moaning in Canada. “No Grealish.” “Looks disjointed.” The fans would have to wait to see how Moyes lined them up. Possibly it was a three at the back?
For Leeds, Daniel Farke gave goalkeeper, Lucas Perri with Sean Longstaff on the bench alongside Jack Harrison. Thankfully, Dominic Calvert Lewin was not in the Leeds lineup so all of those Evertonians who predicted the winner from DCL would have to hold off their pessimism for
Match Report
A respectful moment of silence for Diogo Jota and his brother Andre before Chris Kavanagh blew his whistle to get the match underway. Leeds were full octane pressing Everton right away. Four at the back being protected by Iroegbunam and Gueye, with Alcaraz and Ndiaye out wide and Dewsbury-Hall in the middle. Beto on his own up top. Sorted.
The first chance fell to the home side with Piroe cutting into the box but he was met by Pickford. Everton were struggling to get on the ball as the pressure from Leeds continued. The long pass into Beto was not working and Piroe recorded his first shot but it was wide of the goal. Moments later, Willy Gnonto broke into the box but he was tracked nicely by Iroegbunam.
Everton could not get the ball and the Leeds crowd was pushing on their team. Pickford was under pressure as Tarkowski tried to settle everyone down and get them organized. Alcaraz finally got the ball under control and there was a moment of respite.
A cross from Dan James was met by Piroe but O’Brien scrambled it away. The first quarter of the match had passed with Everton not getting a touch in the Leeds box. That finally changes in the 29th minute when Alcaraz broke into the box but the Leeds keeper was there to snuff out the chance.
Everton were starting to get on the ball and when four Blues pushed forward, Alcaraz could not get the pass correct and the chance was lost. Everton had the ball at the edge of the Leeds box and for some unknown reason brought it back to the defenders. Moyes was having a brain aneurism on the sideline! Moments later, with seconds to go in the half, Garner chose not to cross the ball into the box and the half ended. As the teams headed into the change rooms it was hard to find positives. Leeds had 12 attempts on target but only one on goal.
The second half started with no changes for either side. Everton had more of the ball but the final ball was lacking. A turnover in midfield fell to Gnonto but he could not trouble Pickford. It had taken 53 minutes for Everton to make their first attempt on goal. Sadly, Gueye’s shot was wearing his Adidas Moonshooter boots!
A yellow card was brandished by Kavanagh towards Iroegbunam for his tackle on Ethan Ampadou. It was the trailing leg that caught the Leeds midfielder and it took him a while to get up. The Evertonians found their voice as Forever Everton rang out around Elland Road.
Charly Alcaraz drew a freekick which was blasted goalward and forced a corner which was delivered by Dewsbury Hall but it came to nothing. Ndiaye then tried to take on half of the Leeds team with no success. Leeds were readying some subs as Everton were growing into the match.
Gnonto was withdrawn with Aaronson replacing him. Garner and James were both on the ground as Jack Grealish stripped off and put on his shiny new shirt. It was Tim Iroegbunam being replaced by the England wannabe with twenty minutes to go. Grealish was on the left, Alcaraz in the middle and Ndiaye on the right.
O’Brien took on Aaronson and forced a foul. Dewsbury-Hall delivered the cross and had to then win it back. A nice move by KDH led to a first shot on net by Alcaraz. The resulting corner was headed over the bar by O’Brien. There were chances being created and Daniel Farke took of Piroe, James and Ampadou for Nmecha, Gruev, and our nemesis Jack Harrison.
Everton were bossing the game when Leeds gained control on the edge of the box and Struijk blasted the ball goalward. James Tarkowski leaned into the ball and Chris Kavanagh pointed to the spot. It was checked by VAR but the penalty stood. The penalty was dispatched by Nmecha and it snuck under Pickford’s arm to break the tie.
Alcaraz was withdrawn and on came Barry for his Premier League debut. Leeds were buzzing and Gudmunsson forced Pickford into a good save as seven minutes of added time was announced. Everton struggled to get the ball forward. An incredible call by Kavanagh on Beto took the ball away from Everton on the edge of the box. The seven minutes dissipated without any chances and the villain of the piece Chris Kavanagh blew his whistle to end the match.
Everton’s Man of the Match
Name: Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall – The first half was poor and to find an Everton player who rose above was impossible. When Moyes shuffled the pack in the second half, KDH was moved back and he then was given a chance to show what he could do. Moyes needs to sort out where he is playing his team and this game was more evidence.
Instant Reaction
The big question today for David Moyes was the players he would select and where they would be positioned on the pitch. The gaping hole on the right side has not been addressed so far, so it was a matter of square pegs in round holes. Jack Grealish had had a week to settle in, but he had no game time with his new teammates. When the lineup was released, Evertonians at a loss to figure out how Moyes would set it up. It ended up being 4-2-3-1 with Garner filling in at left back. The first half saw Leeds completely control the play and Everton had only one touch in the Leeds box.
Another decision goes against the Blues and costs them points. This time, it was a penalty call that gave Leeds the win. The rule says that if the ball strikes the arm below the bottom of the shirt. The ball struck Tarkowski on the bottom of the shirt and had even deflected on the way to him. This was a poor call and Kavanagh didn’t make the call at first but received info from his assistant referee…..the same one who didn’t see the ball cross the line by two feet in the first half.
As Tarkowski said after the match:
“My arm was in a natural position. Unless the rule has changed that you can’t lean then I don’t know”
The loss was hard to take because of the call by Kavanagh. However, it was a game that could gone either way. The first half was all Leeds and Everton controlled much of the second half. The changes in the second half made a difference although the introduction of Grealish did not really have the expected impact. Moyes will have learned a lot today about his team. It is the first game and a trip to Leeds is never an easy one.
The signing this week of Dominic Calvert Lewin by Leeds could not have been better written for a movie script. An immediate chance to face the club who he walked away from in May was his chance to show Everton what they were missing. Thankfully, he was not in the lineup and not on the bench…..probably an injury in training yesterday!!!!!! The naysayers will have to wait for the reverse fixture at Hill Dickinson at the end of January.
Blast from the Past
