Source: evertonfc.com
Another European night and another victory for Everton, now winning the last three games in the competition. Although the season has been a horrendous one in terms of league form for Evertonians, the Europa League has provided a nice distraction for The Blues and they could be the only English side left in both European competitions (UEFA Europa League and Champions League). It didn’t start to promising for The Toffees, Oleg Gusev who branded Everton “Mid table English pheasants” in mid-week opened the scoring after some shocking defending from the corner. Everton turned it all around though, Romelu Lukaku out-muscling three players to find Steven Naismith who comfortably curled around the keeper to make it 1-1. A late penalty would see Everton win the game, thanks to Big Rom. What happened that made Everton turn the ship? Who was the key player toward the Everton victory?
Line-Ups and Formations
Everton changed the formation from a 4-3-3 against Stoke to a 4-2-3-1 for last night’s match; they also made three changes after the last fixture. Aaron Lennon, John Stones and Darron Gibson were all replaced, Ross Barkley, Antolin Alcaraz and Kevin Mirallas all coming in. Everton lined-up with Tim Howard in goal, with Seamus Coleman and Luke Garbutt in the full-back positions. Antolin Alcaraz and Phil Jagielka started in centre-back positions with James McCarthy and Gareth Barry playing in front. Kevin Mirallas, Ross Barkley and Steven Naismith all started in attacking midfield, Romelu Lukaku started upfront for Everton.
Dynamo Kiev made four changes from their last match, a victory over Olimpik Donetsk. They replaced Olexandr Rybka, Mykyta Burda, Jeremain Lens and Younes Belhanda with Oleksandr Shovkovski, Aleksandar Dragovic, Oleg Gusev and Miguel Veloso. They started with Oleksandr Shovkovskiy in goal with Domagoj Vida and Vitorino Antunes in the full-back positions. Danilo Silva and Aleksandr Dragovic started as centre-backs with Miguel Veloso and Sergiy Sydorchuk in defensive midfield. Oleg Gusev, Vitaliy Buyalsky and Andriy Yarmolenko started in attacking midfield with Dieumerci Mbokani upfront.
Dynamo Kiev’s Shape & Pressure
Kiev clearly done their homework and in the first thirty minutes of the game, they had the game under control. Not only did Kiev defend every ball that came towards them, they also created some decent chances and Everton were extremely lucky that they only conceded once. In them first thirty minutes, Everton had touched the ball twice inside the Kiev box. Everton’s heat map from the first thirty says a lot about Kiev’s shape and Everton being stuck inside their own half.
Everton’s heat map from 0-30 minutes
We were stuck in our own half! Just 37.64% of out touches in the first quarter all came in the Kiev defensive half. A lot of pressure was put on Phil Jagielka and Antolin Alcaraz, which forced a lot of errors. Here are just some examples of Dynamo Kiev’s superb pressing game.
Because of Kiev’s ‘two-player pressure’ game, we was locked in our own half and even though you can see space in this screenshot, you cannot see any support for Phil Jagielka or Antolin Alcaraz. A counter here would put us in a lot of trouble.
This also cut out options for the centre-backs, because Seamus Coleman and Luke Garbutt pressed high on the opposition full-backs, that left a lot of space around the back and Kiev’s pressing could of lead to another goal for them. However, after 30 minutes, this all faded away. Lets look at the equalizer.
Naisy makes it 1-1
This was sublime from Romelu Lukaku, showing strength and power to ease past three Kiev players to assist Everton’s goal. Watch the build-up again and you can see Dynamo Kiev’s shape completely breaks and that made many gaps for Everton to pounce.
As you can see, the full-backs positioning is awful, so much room for Everton to attack and Romelu Lukaku to pick the right option. Even though he doesn’t pass to Barkley, nobody is five yards away from him and not one person follows the run of Naismith.
Steven Naismith is in so much room and Romelu Lukaku makes a brilliant pass into his path. The Scotsman makes it one-all with a superb finish.
Second-Half improvements
Everton made massive improvements in the second-half, the passing tempo being a lot quicker and the shot count going up massively. Pressure from Romelu Lukaku, Ross Barkley and Steven Naismith all forced errors from the Kyiv defence who had gone even deeper. Defender Danilo Silva couldn’t get close to Romelu Lukaku, having to make four fouls just to keep him under control.
Kiev had no organisation at the back, which lead to many gaps opening, especially on that right side for Seamus Coleman and Kevin Mirallas to pounce at. There was no pressure either, which lead to Everton creating much more.
The Toffees had the game under control from the 30th minute until the end. The winner was well deserved and all came from the right side. Leon Osman attempts to pull the ball back into the area, which is handled by the defender. Romelu Lukaku netted his 7th goal of the Europa League campaign.
Man of the Match: Romelu Lukaku
No doubt in my mind who deserved the ‘Man of the Match’ award. Lukaku was incredible, first minute to last. He completed three take-ons, had four shots (three on target) and bagged a goal and an assist. He’s been crucial towards Everton’s campaign in Europe.
Conclusion
To come back in the manner that we did was incredible. We was abysmal in the first-half and that’s because of our performance and Dynamo Kiev’s set-up. However, as it fell apart we grew stronger and our passing tempo was much quicker. We wasn’t as amazing as we was in other games in Europe, but whatever Roberto Martinez said at half-time it clicked (first time I’ve said that this season). The first game has certainly given a great advertisement for the second leg. Here is to the next leg!
Up the toffees.
Joel Parker
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