Thelwell hinted at Everton future decision as celebrations prove Pickford point

Everton analysis from Goodison Park as Jordan Pickford saves Anthony Gordon's penalty to give the Toffees a point against Newcastle

Kevin Thelwell hinted at Everton future decision as wild celebrations prove Jordan Pickford point

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It was perhaps telling last month when Everton director of football Kevin Thelwell namechecked James Garner among the first team squad’s list of potential right-backs, highlighting how the former Manchester United player had turned out there for Lee Carsley’s triumphant England side at last year’s UEFA European Under-21 Championships.

Garner has made no secret of his preference to operate in central midfield but with the Blues engine room currently looking like a pretty crowded place, there may well be a future for him in this other area of the pitch.

The starting right-back has changed for each one of Everton’s seven Premier League matches so far this season and while Garner has been among those four different faces to occupy the role – along with Ashley Young, Roman Dixon and club captain Seamus Coleman (Nathan Patterson is yet to feature) – he hasn’t been picked yet in the centre of the park.

A VAR check denied Garner a smart assist when his lofted cross met the head of Abdoulaye Doucoure but the moment showed, not for the first time, what an asset he can be when delivering from wide areas.

The Birkenhead-born player was kept on his toes defensively against fleet-footed fellow Merseysider Anthony Gordon and Joelinton but while at this stage of his career he remains something of a square peg in a round hole, Dyche has shown that he’s not afraid of drafting in players from elsewhere in this area as he showed with Ben Godfrey in the second half of last season.

Continuing with the summer ‘reset’ the Blues boss has spoken about in terms of adopting a more expansive approach, Garner would bring that and at 23 he is over a decade the junior of his opposite number Kieran Trippier, who intriguingly was linked with a potential transfer to Everton late in the summer transfer window.

Pickford’s penalty prowess

Back in 2019, Jordan Pickford saved another penalty against Newcastle United but the two performances from five-and-a-half years ago and now were as different as night and day, or black and white as you might say. Although the Magpies snubbed their traditional stripes here to instead wear the colours of their financial backers, the sovereign wealth fund of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

That wild display at St James’ Park was arguably the nadir for the pantomime villain who the Toon Army love to hate in this fixture, as he gave away the spot-kick in the first place and having lost his head, saw Everton surrender a 2-0 lead to lose 3-2 – something that until this season had been a rare occurrence for Blues sides.

To make matters worse, it came against an opponent managed by Kop Idol Rafael Benitez who during his short and not-so-sweet tenure as Everton manager would sign Salomon Rondon, a striker that appeared to be running through treacle by the time he turned out in the royal blue jersey, and the Venezuelan started the comeback with the first goal.

Fast forward to the present day though and former Sunderland man Pickford, now 30, appears to be at the peak of his powers.

After his heroics for England at the European Championships, there have been question marks about some of his early seasons displays but this was a timely return to form against his most-vocal detractors. The magnitude of the occasion didn’t quite match his last penalty save for Everton – a stop to deny Leicester City’s James Maddison on May 1, 2023, that kept his team in the Premier League – but as several observers commented, this was arguably the loudest and most enthusiastically celebrated penalty save they’d ever witnessed.

Keeping it clean

Last season, only title-chasing Arsenal, who finished runners-up in the Premier League despite their controversial last-gasp win over Everton on the final day, kept more clean sheets (18) than the Blues’ figure of 13 that matched the total of champions Manchester City. A shut out was something that had eluded Dyche’s men so far this term but at the seventh time of asking, they have now finally got there.

What was more impressive was the fact that it was achieved without a couple of their breakthrough stars from the previous campaign, the aforementioned Branthwaite and Vitalii Mykolenko.

The former returned from a loan spell at PSV Eindhoven a changed man and ready-made dominant Premier League colossus while the latter – having ironically struggled under Lampard who had Ashley Young, the best left-back in the competition’s history as his first team coach – emerged as the most-improved performer in the squad.

Both missed out here through injury but despite having lost half of their back four from the previous weekend, Everton were able to keep their expensively-assembled visitors at bay.

It’s not just the defence who played their part though, Dyche demands that the whole team put in a shift off the ball, and while Orel Mangala and Abdoulaye Doucoure appear to have brought some solidity in central midfield during the team’s upturn in fortunes in recent weeks, on this occasion, Dyche – whose substitutions have been scrutinised of late – followed up his positive introduction of Jack Harrison seven days earlier, to draft in both Idrissa Gueye and Tim Iroegbunam off the bench in the second half to help shore things up for his side.

Ploughing a lone furrow spearheading the attack can often be a thankless task for Dominic Calvert-Lewin in this team but he defended from the front, along with wide men Harrison and Iliman Ndiaye – who made a clearance off the line – plus Dwight McNeil who sacrificed his attacking intend to man mark Bruno Guimaraes for sustained periods as the Blues got back to the basics that you would expect from a Dyche team digging in.

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