Everton Notebook | Faultlines Clear as End of Campaign Draws Near

Outplayed, Outlasted The first half of Sunday’s disappointing 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace proceeded much as envisioned, with an energetic Everton jumping off to a quick start against what could have been imagined as unmotivated opposition. With three games to go in the Premier League campaign, the Eagles were mired firmly in the lower reaches of midtable, with little to play for — domestically, that is. The South Londoners do have a rather more important fixture than this, namely a UEFA Conference League final against La Liga outfit Rayo Vallecano awaiting them on May 27th, which offers a golden opportunity for manager Oliver Glasner to add to the FA Cup he won with the club last season, the first major silverware in their 121 years as a professional outfit.

So the Blues pounced with the early goal, via James Tarkowski’s tidy finish, and looked the more likely to add to their tally, with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall spurning a great chance on the break being the most obvious opportunity. The visitors generally were lively, breaking after forcing turnovers in possession several times, but poor passing and decision-making meant that they failed to capitalize. Palace slowly warmed to the task during the half, and panicky defending from Everton led to Ismaïla Sarr’s equalizer in the 34th minute.

The teams went in at the break level, but Beto’s bulldozing run and adept finish, off of a nothing Tarkowski long clearance, put the Toffees back in the driving seat, with a great chance to play on the counter for the rest of the match. Unfortunately, whether due to choice, or Palace’s adjustments, Everton backed up too much, inviting the hosts to control the game: they improved from a 50% share of possession in the opener, to 67% after the restart. Adam Wharton and Daichi Kamada were increasingly able to find space and to get on the ball, dictating play; I fully expected the Japanese in particular to open Everton up at some point, to such a degree was he left unchallenged in ample space, with James Garner and Tim Iroegbunam having to track the host’s more advanced midfielders – Sarr and Brennan Johnson – who operated fluidly as half-wingers.

Alarmingly, the Toffees flagged badly as the game proceeded, with the Eagles dominating and carving out big scoring chances, the visitors only able to offer a couple of promising, but spurned counterattacks in response. Palace’s eventual breakthrough, in what had become an open game, came courtesy of more poor defending, Jean-Philippe Mateta left unmarked as Tarkowski and Michael Keane sat far too deep — almost on top of Jordan Pickford. Before that strike, in the 77th, and after, only Pickford’s efforts and the visitors’ woodwork kept the Eagles out.