What Everton supporters did sent clear message to Sean Dyche as opportunity missed
Analysis from Chris Beesley after Everton’s clash with Crystal Palace in the Premier League
“This is not football”
On what is widely-regarded as being Goodison Park’s greatest-ever night as Everton muscled their way through to their only European final to date in 1985, there were complaints from the sidelines of “this is not football” but while that was sour grapes from the Bayern Munich bench, here it was the home fans who were doing the complaining.
Pat Van Den Hauwe, one of the heroes of the Blues most-successful side who went on to lift the Cup-Winners’ Cup in Rotterdam and the first of his two League Championships with the club the following month was given a belated round of applause for 2020 Everton Giant award before kick-off and the defensive hard man epitomised the kind of attributes that the Goodison crowd most admire. As they showed as they outfought and outthought the German giants, Howard Kendall’s heroes could combine a combative approach with skilful passages of play as demonstrated by Trevor Steven’s decisive third goal that night.
It’s been said many times by this correspondent that Sean Dyche is the ideal man to lead Everton in these tough times and he can hopefully be given the time to steer them to a brighter future but the moans and groans coming from beleaguered Blues here told the manager all he needed to know about how frustrating this was to watch as his side huffed and puffed. There’s nothing wrong with playing direct but good football was in scant supply here.
Onana’s mixed bag
With Abdoulaye Doucoure back fit after starting just one of Everton’s previous 11 matches, Dyche had four central midfielders vying for three berths again but while his top scorer squandered his big opportunity it was the odd man out who started on the bench who popped up to earn a share of the spoils.
