What supporters did before shootout sums up Everton mood as drought goes on

Analysis from Chris Beesley from after Everton crash out of the League Cup on penalties

What supporters did before penalty shootout sums up Everton mood as transfer drought goes on

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Evertonians who travelled up to Preston North End for a pre-season friendly got an early glimpse of what Jesper Lindstrom is capable of doing when he enjoyed a dream debut at Deepdale by netting with a spectacular free-kick. But while he can certainly deliver from dead ball situations, the jury remains out on the summer signing from open play.

If Sean Dyche was left to lament last season’s top scorer Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s one-on-one miss at Aston Villa on Saturday, then what might he be thinking after his new boy was guilty of failing to convert not once but twice in such situations against Southampton?

The Danish international – starting against Premier League opposition for the first time, fluffed his lines with just Alex McCarthy to beat either side of the break and while it was finally third time lucky for him in terms of converting his penalty in the shoot-out, that proved to be futile as his team crashed out of a tie that should have already been out of sight.

Lindstrom netted nine goals for Eintracht Frankfurt in his final season in the Bundesliga in 2022/23, but he has come to Goodison Park on loan from Napoli having drawn a blank in Serie A last term.

There’s clearly an immensely gifted player in there, the 24-year-old’s clever runs got him into those inviting positions in the first place. However, given Everton’s somewhat mixed bag with players from Lindstrom’s homeland, the Blues must hope he can prove to be more of a ‘Great Dane’ like Thomas Gravesen rather than Per Kroldrup who infamously couldn’t master the basics required of his position in the English game.

McNeil shows versatility

At Villa Park on Saturday, Evertonians got to witness ‘the paintbrush’ for the first time this season as Dwight McNeil opened his account for the current campaign. Here, rather than demonstrate the delicate strokes of an artist, he was asked instead to start with a grafting role in defence, football’s equivalent of the being handed the 12-inch roller.

It was certainly a change of pace for a player who, despite the Blues’ struggles so far, has created more chances and more big chances in the Premier League so far, but a necessity given Vitalii Mykolenko’s absence through injury and the only alternative being Ashley Young, the club’s oldest-ever outfield player with the full game against Aston Villa three days earlier.

McNeil found himself back in his number 10 position for the final half an hour and while that is also new to him, as a primarily attack-minded player, he looked more comfortable there again. The problem was there was no Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who he has dovetailed well with, in front of him, or indeed any sort of orthodox centre-forward with Beto having been withdrawn to a backdrop of boos.

Teenage kicks

It was a damning indictment of Everton’s distribution at Villa Park on Saturday that Ross Barkley, a half-time substitute for the hosts, completed more passes than the visitors’ entire midfield but whatever Blues think of their former academy graduate and his legacy these days, he’s arguably the most-gifted midfielder they’ve produced in house during the Premier League era. Indeed, surely only Wayne Rooney is better when it comes to home grown heroes of modern times.

Yet Harrison Armstrong has just stolen a march on his fellow Scouser Barkley by starting for Everton for the first time. At just 17 years and 243 days, the prospect from West Derby in some 15 days younger than Barkley was when he made his first Blues start in a 1-0 home defeat to Queens Park Rangers on August 20, 2011.

He certainly didn’t look out of place in front almost 34,000 fans and after an encouraging display, the hope must be that there is still plenty of scope for development. Speaking after the Bristol Street Motors Trophy win at Tranmere Rovers last month, Under-21s manager Paul Tait said he didn’t want to go over the top but admitted Armstrong has: “got loads to come as he’s not fully developed or anywhere near yet physically.”

Paying the penalty... again

Incredibly as the last few minutes of the match were being played out, several home fans in the vicinity of this correspondent could be spotted making an early exit from Goodison Park. With a typical piece of gallows humour that unfortunately ended up ringing true, one wit in the Press Box remarked that it was a film they’d seen before.

Touché... and they didn’t like the ending. Everton made history on November 4, 1970 when they beat Borussia Monchengladbach to triumph in the first ever penalty shoot-out in European football but they’ve only won one of the nine at Goodison Park since. That solitary success came at Norwich City in 2015 with Southampton – who will of course provide the opposition for the ground’s final fixture next May – now having beaten the Blues here twice on spot-kicks in this competition after previously achieving the feat in 2018.

Other victors include Charlton Athletic (Full Members’ Cup, 1987); Sunderland (League Cup, 1998); Crystal Palace (League Cup, 2001); Fiorentina (UEFA Cup 2008); Leicester City (League Cup, 2019) and Fulham (League Cup, 2023). It’s a sorry story but the loss means that Goodison has now staged its final tie in League Cup, a competition they have never won... perhaps the move to the new stadium might bring a change in fortunes?

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