Everton 2 Bournemouth 1

Oumar Niasse saved Everton from what would have been a demoralising defeat to Bournemouth yesterday. The Lazarus like striker’s second half cameo eased the pressure on manager Ronald Koeman and gave Everton their second won of the season.

Injury Woes

Evertonians would have been surprised to arrive at Goodison and find both Phil Jagielka and Michael Keane missing from the squad. Jagielka’s hamstring strain and Keane’s cut foot meant that Mason Holgate started the match at centre half with Cuco Martina preferred to Kenny on the right. Further forward, the usual pairing of Schneiderlin and Gueye sat behind Sigurdsson, Rooney and Klaassen with Calvert Lewin preferred up top.

Bright Start Fades

Everton started the game brightly and passed the ball quite intricately against a compact Bournemouth side. Baines and Martina found a great deal of success in the early stages and it was the formers right footed cross which provided Calvert Lewin with an early sight of goal. Unfortunately for the youngster, his stopped header drifted wide of the left hand post.

Everton’s movement was quite fluid for the first twenty minutes with some intricate play between Rooney, Klaassen and Sigurdsson, with one such move leading to the Icelandic international endangering some fellas cup of Bovril mid-way through the first half.

Bournemouth remained solid though and Everton were forced to throw crosses into the area in the hope of getting on the end of them. You can see why Koeman wanted Giroud as he would have been a real physical presence yesterday. Whilst Calvert Lewin shows promise, he is not yet physically strong enough to consistently trouble a back line.

Stitched Up?

The game had gotten quite scrappy after half an hour. Martin Atkinson was having his usual frustrating Goodison performance when Everton were denied claims for a penalty. Rooney leapt for a cross in the area to be met with the trailing elbow of Simon Frances. Croxteth’s finest was livid with Atkinson and suffered a nasty gash to his head which led to him needing two separate spells of treatment on the touchline. Atkinson was unmoved although to be fair to Francis, a penalty would have been harsh as he kept his eyes on the ball. Rooney’s absence disrupted Everton and the half fizzled out without incident.

Sloppy Seconds

Everton continued their habit of starting the second half poorly and were one nil down within 4 minutes of the restart. Cuco Martina was caught too far up the pitch which left the back four isolated. Josh King collected the ball and cut in with pace from the left hand side before arrowing a shot into the bottom left hand corner. Christ knows what they give the players at half time but we always seem to start slowly. Holgate was caught the wrong side of his man badly for this goal. Schneiderlin and Gueye were nowhere to be seen.

Everton were in disarray and the Cherries could have had a second minutes later. Rooney’s poor pass lead to Jermain Defoe having a golden opportunity to bury the game. Thankfully, Jordan Pickford once again showed his class, blocking the shot and keeping Everton in the game.

Riverboat Ron

Koeman had seen enough and made a change to his formation. Klaassen had once again faded badly and Rooney was ineffectual in the second half. The replacements were surprising but pivotal. Rather than go for width and sacrifice one of his defensive midfielders for Vlasic or Lookman, Koeman brought on Tom Davies and the prodigal son, Oumar Niasse.

This gamble provided Everton with a much needed physical presence up front and also more direct passing from midfield. Everton looked much more dangerous and Holgate was unlucky to see a header from a corner cleared off the line. Davies was pulling the strings from midfield and it was the blonde bomber who provided Everton’s first goal.

Work, Work, Work

One thing that always endears a player to Evertonians is a high work rate. Who can forget Denis Stracqualursi, the Argentine Brett Angell who won over Evertonians with a strong work rate and a never say die attitude. He wasn’t the best player technically but he never gave up and gave defenders a torrid time with his physicality. Niasse is a better player than the Stracq but he shares the same attitude.

Winning the ball near the half way line (whilst breaking up a dangerous counter,) Niasse played the ball inside to Calvert Lewin whilst continuing a diagonal run into the box. The ball was played to Tom Davies and the Ketwig Kaiser fired a perfect through ball for the oncoming Niasse to take a touch and strike past Begovic.

Everton were inspired and 5 minutes later, the same airing combined for the winner. Jonjoe Kenny who had earlier come on for Martina, whipped a ball into the area. Calvert Lewin’s layoff found Davies whose shot spun up into the air. Niasse showed great strength in putting the header on target (despite a shove in the back) and whilst his initial effort was clawed away, he tucked in the rebound. Goodison was in rapture as the Senegalese saviour celebrated in front of the Street End.

Calvert Lewin was unlucky not to score a 3^rd for Everton from a wicked Kenny cross whilst the Toffees were almost caught napping from a corner. This was to be Everton’s day though and Everton held on for a victory which seemed unlikely 40 minutes before.

Everton’s second league win of the season win was badly needed by Koeman. What did you make of the game? Let us know in the comments section below.