Everton 2-1 Crystal Palace: post-match verdict

LiverpoolWorld

Will Rooney gives his verdict from Goodison Park.

Transcript

00:00Full-time here at Goodson Park, Everton finally off the mark in the Premier League.

00:06A 2-1 victory over Crystal Palace, much needed for Sean Dyche's side,

00:11and it caps off a fine week on and off the pitch.

00:14Obviously the freeking group agreeing a takeover deal was a feel-good factor heading here into the game.

00:21That's despite Everton winless in their opening five Premier League games.

00:25They were playing a Crystal Palace side who were also winless and remain winless after six games

00:29because it was Everton who proved triumphant.

00:32But they had to do it the hard way because Crystal Palace took the lead in the 10th minute.

00:36Everton's achilles heel this season has been set to pieces.

00:39It was the opposite last season, but this season it has been,

00:43and Everton were punished from the second phase of a corner.

00:46The ball came in the box, headed back across goal,

00:48and there was Mark Gahey to deftly finish at the near post.

00:52The first half was a bit funny because Crystal Palace were by far the better team.

00:57They were dominating the midfield in particular, but Everton created the better chances.

01:02Dominic Calvert-Lewin, as a header, cleared off the line from a corner,

01:07and Dwight McNeil, as a header, nodded wide when he was in all sorts of spaces.

01:11He was a lot better with that.

01:13As I say, Palace were a better team, particularly in midfield,

01:17but Everton came out in the second half and were much better, much improved,

01:21and they were level inside two minutes.

01:23Dwight McNeil with a fairly wonderful strike from outside the box to pick out the top corner.

01:29Ashley Young did really well to win the ball, nipping and winning.

01:34He deserved credit there.

01:36Seven minutes later, Everton were ahead through Dwight McNeil again,

01:39his second of the game.

01:41Jack Harrison, who came on at halftime for Jesper Lindstrom,

01:44whipped the ball into the box and a real good touch from McNeil out of his feet,

01:49and then a composed finish.

01:51It looked like he was going to slam it home instead.

01:53He just gave Palace keeper Dean Henderson the eyes and just rolled it into the near corner.

01:59From that moment, there weren't a lot of chances at all for the rest of the game.

02:02It was a little bit of a humdrum, but Everton were quite happy with that.

02:07In the previous four games, they've gone ahead and not managed to keep hold of leads.

02:15Palace barely looked like equalising, to be quite frank.

02:20Everton nearly had a chance to make the victory more emphatic

02:24when Abdullahi Dekhore burst through on goal,

02:26but he just had the ball taken off his boot as he was about to pull the trigger.

02:31Big relief here at Goodson Park.

02:35All that's needed is a win, and now Everton need to build some momentum.

02:40They've got Newcastle here next week.

02:42That'll be a very tough game, but some winnable games after that.

02:46Sean Dyches felt that Everton's performance had been better than the results.

02:52But Everton need to pick up results, and that's a matter of fact.

02:55A massive boost today was the return of Gareth Bramford.

02:58It started a little bit rusty, to be honest with you.

03:00He lost the ball after about three minutes.

03:03A couple of passes he played, he thought, is that going to get there?

03:06But eventually, he settled it. It was magnificent.

03:09He really helped bring the best out of James Tarkowski as well.

03:13My man on a match before Tarkowski won everything that came his way.

03:17Everton looked a lot better at the back with Bramford there.

03:20You can see how much they've missed him, and keeping him fit will be imperative.

03:26A good afternoon here at Goodson Park for Everton.

03:30Finish Everton 2-1 Crystal Palace.

Category

Transcript

Recommended