Hello darkness, my old friend.
Everton’s season is going from bad to worse after a miserable penalty shootout defeat to Southampton – their last League Cup game at Goodison Park.
Ashley Young was the missing player and the Saints won 6-5 to advance to the fourth round.
The previous 90 minutes weren’t much better either, with two much-changed teams struggling to create many chances. Everton had the better chances but Southampton dominated possession, resulting in a terrible stalemate.
Everton made eight changes to their weekend defeat at Aston Villa, with Orel Mangala and Jake O’Brien, the 17-year-old academy graduate, starting for the first time. Roman Dixon and Jesper Lindström also made only their second start.
Everton started promisingly and an early attempt by Beto from a tight angle was blocked by goalkeeper Alex McCarthy.
They took the lead when O’Brien held a corner at the far post, Michael Keane headed towards goal and Abdoulaye Doucoure headed the ball over the line from close range.
It should have been 2-0 when Lindström had a beautiful, flowing pass on goal, but he was so desperate to get the ball on his right foot that he opened his body and lost his balance, causing his shot to lack power.
Not for the first time, the Toffees paid the price for failing to capitalise on their chances. After Ryan Fraser was brought down by Dixon, the unmarked Taylor Harwood-Bellis headed home a Saints free kick from the right.
Everton went into the break with just 22.7% possession, a pretty dismal statistic even against a possession-oriented team like Southampton.
Lindstrom made another bad miss early in the second half as he ran onto Beto’s beautiful shot, but his effort was well saved by McCarthy.
The Goodison crowd grew increasingly restless and expressed their frustration when Dyche decided to take off striker Beto and replace him with full-back Young. This meant Iliman Ndiaye was moved up front, but it still seemed like a poor substitution at a time when Everton needed to score.
Everton improved in the closing stages: a goal by Ndiaye was rightly disallowed for offside, and an effort by Dwight McNeil was deflected and the resulting corner was headed over the goal by Tim Iroegbunam.
Tyler Dibling almost secured the win for Southampton in the 90th minute.th minute with a masterful run and a shot that went just over. But they didn’t have to wait long for the win as Everton’s season continues to go uphill.
