Everton vs. Crystal Palace: Post Match Thoughts
The Toffees earn a brilliant 2-1 result at Selhurst Park.
GOALS
42: Beto
47: Jean-Philippe Mateta
80: Carlos AlcarazOn Saturday, a depleted Everton squad scored three crucial points in a 2-1 away win over Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.
The win moved Everton to 13th, one point ahead of Manchester United and Tottenham. Everton’s form since David Moyes's return has been spectacular; they are nothing like the team managed by Sean Dyche until his sacking in January.
Let’s dive into my thoughts on the match and then look ahead to the rest of the season.
A Fighting Team
Despite missing one of their most crucial pieces in the creative engine, Iliman Ndiaye, Everton was able to go into Selhurst and stop Palace’s momentum cold.
This is the sort of match I would’ve dreaded a little more than a month ago.
And to be frank, I was hoping for a draw, at best.
The lack of Ndiaye and Dwight McNeil, not to mention attacking options in DCL and Armando Broja, had me feeling uneasy. Plus, the team was coming off an emotional and draining draw at the final Merseyside Derby at Goodison just three days ago. It was hard to imagine a tired team going into an away game and stealing even one point from an in-form Palace team.
But that’s just what they did.
It wasn’t always pretty. But there were a few things evident in the way the team played that helped secure the win.
Belief: In a stunningly short amount of time, Moyes has this squad believing in itself again. Perhaps for the first time.
Fight: Even after Palace leveled at 47 minutes, the players demeanor did not change. Under Dyche, the opponent tying the match would have led to a visible change in effort and overall spirit. That didn’t happen today. They continued to fight and believe.
Creativity: Moyes has taken the shackles off these players. Instead of being shackled to Dyche’s regimented, defense-first approach, players like James Garner and Carlos Alcaraz have been given freedom to try things Dyche never would have allowed.
And now, a few more thoughts on today and on Everton’s future:
The Damnation of Dycheball
If I owned a football club of any renown, I would be hard-pressed to give Sean Dyche another chance at management. I’ll always be grateful to Dyche for coming into a thankless job and keeping Everton in the Premier League.
But Everton’s performances since his sacking last month have brought two things to the fore:
Dyche’s stubbornness or sheer inability to adapt his preferred tactical style.** His time at Burnley seemed to instill in him an unwavering belief that his tactics are irrefutable and will work in any situation, so long as the players buy-in and adapt. That is not the case. The best managers adjust their style to the strengths of their players. They find what the people in their squad are good at and accentuate those strengths.
The way Dyche gave up on the Everton players, saying he’d taken this group of players as far as he could, should be the first thing on his resume. It won’t be, but it should. I think Dyche meant it as an indictment of his players. In reality, it was an indictment of him as a manager. Dyche’s Everton players were beaten down, depressed, and lacking any belief in themselves. Instead of picking them up, Dyche tossed them aside.
What David Moyes has done in his short time in charge hasn’t been a miracle. It hasn’t been a revelation. Moyes is not reinventing the wheel. What he’s doing is what any good football manager does: setting up his team to play to the strengths of the players on that team.
Most importantly, he’s instilling some confidence they’d lost under Dyche. The difference is visible on the pitch. You can see it.
“The players have reacted well. It has been a dream start coming in and winning so many games. Starting to look more healthy in the league” Moyes said. “I hope it will be the case. Ultimately I am thinking we still have to get enough points. It has been a brilliant start. It was a good win for us today, really scrappy. They showed great resilience and won at a difficult place against a team who have been improving.”
“Since the manager has come in we have definitely improved,” James Tarkowski said. “I don’t think we were great today but we took our opportunities. We are still working to get better. On a day like today, we stuck at it and got the win.”
Beto
For 18 months, we watched Beto struggle to find himself. We watched because he did not attempt to hide it. His agony over his struggles was right there, displayed on his face for all of us to see. It mattered to him that he was struggling.
Beto has never given up, even throughout a long and discouraging drought. The man fights and fights and fights. He never takes himself out of a match, even when things continually went bad for him.
This is why seeing him celebrate now is so much sweeter. It’s vindication.
Dyche never set up for the big man for success. He never played to his strengths, one of which is his actual strength. The man is a monster. Dyche never adapted his tactics to utilize Beto’s most significant assets.
The difference is stark.
“I am playing with more confidence and joy. We are playing better football and the team is confident. We want to win every game,” Beto said. “Today we deserved to win and it is like this.”
Beto is now a proper Everton #9. He’s a proper Everton center forward, and his play against Palace showed that. And truthfully, even when Dominic Calvert-Lewin returns from injury, he shouldn’t be our first-choice forward. That’s Beto’s job now, and it should remain so.
Calvert-Lewin is leaving this summer, and that’s okay. I never would’ve said this until the past two weeks or so, but…we should let him go. He’ll be seeking a big contract, and that’s money we can spend in better places.
He’s had some wonderful moments for us over the past half-decade, and I hope he goes to Newcastle or wherever and finds a lot of success. I hope he stays healthy.
But he’s not the guy up front for Everton anymore. Beto is. Our focus in the summer window should be on finding depth for the position, not finding a starter. Whether that’s Chermitti or someone we find in the market.
We’ve got our starter now.
Season Outlook
It’s difficult for Evertonians to maintain a rosy outlook on the future. We have been conditioned to expect bleakness.
I think we are out of the woods now. I can’t fathom this team melting down and flirting with relegation again. It’s February, and I’m not worried about what league we will play in next season.
That’s one hell of a feeling, isn’t it, Blues?
Updated February 17, 2025 - 11:31 a.m.