Leicester City 1-1 Everton: Three Takeaways | Stumbling Towards a Bright New Era
The Blues let another lead slip, but finally get their first points of the season
Sean Dyche had outlined at length the problems afflicting the Everton squad well before the team arrived at the King Power Stadium, for Saturday’s match against fellow strugglers Leicester City. The infamous list of potentially unavailable players the beleaguered Blues boss produced, in what was an unusual moment to commence Thursday’s pre-game press conference, appeared – to the cynical amongst us – to offer a ready-made alibi for a possible negative result two days later. In the end, five of those dozen players made the matchday squad, and four started.
Depth would obviously be an issue, given Everton’s squad is not the deepest and only eight substitutes were named, including two goalkeepers (when will this ever end?) and a couple of youngsters — although Roman Dixon now has two first team starts under his belt, including one in the Premier League. With some uncertainty as to who would make the team, Dyche surprised a few by handing James Garner his debut at right back, a concern given he’d struggled playing there for a spell as a substitute at Villa Park.
With a week’s training and especially so, considering he’d been ill in the days beforehand, the midfielder coped reasonably well — enough to show he can be trusted to handle the position, should specialist senior right backs be unavailable. In midfield, Dyche got the balance right, electing to pair Orel Mangala with Abdoulaye Doucoure, the latter fielded in a deeper role that’s become the exception, rather than the norm for him. Rather than being utilized as an ad hoc support striker, the Malian looked far more comfortable operating in his preferred position, breaking up play effectively — making a combined five tackles and interceptions, along with three blocks.
Fears that his athleticism may be a thing of the past were proven false, as the 31-year-old covered a lot of ground, leading the team with nine ball recoveries. Alongside, a fitter-looking Mangala proved a complementary presence, utilizing his strong positional awareness to make three interceptions and offered a calming influence in possession. His 57 touches ranked second behind Ashley Young and a pass completion percentage of 91.7 topped all players in the game. It’s possible Dyche may have found his best midfield combination.
