Everton defeated Newcastle United for the second time in five days in a well deserved 1-0 away win.
Thierno Barry scored once again, just like at Hill Dickinson Stadium last week, and secured all three points for the Toffees.
By no means was this an aesthetically pleasing game, with both sides having their in-possession struggles. But Everton navigated them much better than Newcastle, feeling a lot more comfortable with the ball.
It was yet another frustrating game for the Magpies, and the fans made it clear by the reactions to every mistake. This was their match with the third-fewest amount of 10+ pass sequences in the Premier League this season (8).
And in the chaos, one specific player stood out.
How did Everton break down Newcastle’s defence?
Dewsbury-Hall pulling the strings
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall is more of a number 8 rather than a 10. Even playing as Everton’s centre-attacking midfielder, he still has tendencies to drift wide and operate in the half-space instead of central areas.
Tonight however, he played like a true, classic and old-school Number 10. And Newcastle’s defensive scheme actually fuelled that.
Matthias Jaissle, as usual, had them defending man-to-man at basically all times. But they left one of the centre-backs as spare man for extra coverage. He obviously didn’t want Dan Burn or Fabian Schar covering long distances and being dragged out of position with no chance of recovering in space.
This meant that they both stood back with one of them busy against Barry. Meanwhile, central midfielders Joelinton and Nico Gonzalez were matched up against James Garner and Harrison Armstrong.
As a result, Dewsbury-Hall then had all the time, space and freedom in the world to drop deep unmarked. As Jordan Pickford and the defenders went long, the No.8 was always there to either receive passes or pick up loose second balls in the middle of the park, ready to charge forward with nobody on him.
And Everton as a team were always ready to pounce on Newcastle’s inevitable mistakes. They lack midfielders – players in general, actually – with great technique, which leads to turnovers. And the Toffees made sure to turn those errors into fast breaks.
And Dewsbury-Hall was key to that. He was always the one getting the ball forward and finding teammates in good positions. This happened in back-to-back sequences to end the first half, but both Jake O’Brien and Armstrong failed to put their chances away. Could have been two assists then and there for KDH.
Unsurprisingly, however, his most magical pass was still yet to come. In a free-kick, he received it short and played a beautiful through ball to Everton’s second-most important player of the game: Tyrique George.
Lukas Hornicek’s saved his initial attempt, but allowed the ball to go under him, leaving Barry with an open net to score the first and only goal of the game.
George wreaking havoc
Everton actually started the match looking to attack down the right more often. They were constantly trying to get Merlin Rohl down the line against Lewis Hall – and did find some success there.
But once George got more involved, he quickly became their main source of creating dangerous situations and generating advantages. This inverted the Toffees’ attacking focus to the left wing.
There was one Newcastle adjustment that even helped him get more touches in space. With Dewsbury-Hall constantly picking them apart in central areas, right-winger Anthony Elanga tried tracking him more closely and ignoring his main assignment Vitalii Mykolenko. This left the Ukrainian free to receive and connect George down the wing.
Unsurprisingly the Dewsbury-Hall-George connection is basically what won them the game. Granted, with a lot of help from Hornicek.
The 19-year-old winger was actually Everton’s third player with the most touches (41) in the game until Barry’s goal. Which goes to show just how much they relied on him going forward.
Good performances out of George are even more important now that Jack Grealish has been unavailable for breaching club discipline. The Toffees are already short with attackers but internal improvement from the ones who are there could make a world of difference for them going forward.