The fans arrived in a sentimental mood but Julen Lopetegui wasn’t having any of it. With no Moutinho or Jonny in the squad and Raul left working the touchline as an unused substitute, this wasn’t the fond farewell many had anticipated. But Adama reminded us all of the good old days with a full length […]
The fans arrived in a sentimental mood but Julen Lopetegui wasn’t having any of it.
With no Moutinho or Jonny in the squad and Raul left working the touchline as an unused substitute, this wasn’t the fond farewell many had anticipated.
But Adama reminded us all of the good old days with a full length sprint that ended with Hwang slotting in the opener and with several sumptuous Neves passes to appreciate, the crowd at least got some of what they wanted.
It sort of fell apart a bit for Everton after a good start. For a while it felt inevitable they’d open the scoring with Wolves unable to retain the ball and crosses raining down on Dan Bentley’s goal.
But Traore’s super break and a couple of injuries really set them back and from that point it was Wolves’ game to lose.
We should have punished them in the second half but as usual we squandered the few chances we created and when we did finally manage a good effort from Matheus Nunes, Pickford was there to keep it out.
The Toffees were on their knees, relying on long punts into the area and set pieces as their only route to goal with Wolves defending superbly to repel the bombardment.
But when the board went up showing an almost inexplicable 9 minutes of additional time, it felt inevitable that something would develop.
We came within one cross of seeing it out but credit to Everton for keeping at it and getting what could be the most precious reward.
Did Lopetegui learn anything from the multitude of changes he made to the team? Probably not.
Collins worked hard and won his share of tackles but looked nervous at times and seems too error prone to be consistently relied upon.
Podence drifted in and out trying all the usual flicks, Hwang scored his goal and covered the ground while Sarabia struggled to adapt to the pace of the game.
With such indifferent attacking options it felt cruel for Raul not to get at least a token few minutes but I trust in the manager’s judgement.
We should respect the past but look to the future.
It’s time to move forward and hopefully find some new heroes.
