Everton suffered a 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa on Wednesday evening.
Villa spoiled the party on David Moyes’ return to Goodison Park, as Ollie Watkins netted the winning goal just after halftime.
It was a really close-fought encounter with a lot of positives to take from it and Vitaliy Mykolenko in particular impressed.
It emerged earlier this week that Everton were looking at signing a left-back, but those transfer plans may now be put on hold after Mykolenko’s positive display.
Orel Mangala put in another solid performance in the midfield, too, and completed 98 per cent of his passes, which is pretty remarkable.
Speaking after the game, Moyes praised large parts of the performance and issued his honest verdict on Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who he said on Monday can be the ‘big difference’ in their quest to avoid relegation.
David Moyes admits Dominic Calvert-Lewin should’ve finished chance at the end
Speaking on TNT Sports after the game, Moyes alluded to the fact Calvert-Lewin really should’ve scored right at the death.
“I said to Dom to see if he can get himself into goalscoring positions.
“I think he can show everybody that he’s a really hard-working centre forward and he can work harder.
“He got a couple of chances tonight, he took one of them on the run in the first half and was a bit unlucky, it was a really good effort.
“And he had a pretty big miss at the end which was probably the big chance for him.”
It’s evident Moyes is keen to place his trust in the Everton frontman and he clearly believes he fire his side out of danger.
But Everton should still sign a striker this month to support him because Beto certainly isn’t the answer, either.
Everton should try to sign Evan Ferguson
It’s been widely reported that Everton are interested in signing Evan Ferguson, who has been made available for loan by Brighton and Hove Albion.
The Toffees face stiff competition from Arsenal, Bournemouth and West Ham for his signature, so it won’t be an easy deal to strike.
But if they do manage to convince him to make the switch to Merseyside, it could genuinely be a relegation-saving signing.
And, it’d take the pressure off Calvert-Lewin, who is clearly bereft of confidence in front of goal.
