23 November 2024
Everton 0 Brentford 0
Everton welcomed Brentford to Goodison Park with the visitors still looking for their first win of the season on the road. It seemed the perfect fixture for Sean Dyche’s side who themselves had gone into a mini-slump and were finding scoring goals as difficult as avoiding PSR charges of late. Something had to give in this game.
The Toffees started well as Ndiaye weaved his way into the box. Just as he looked to pull the trigger a superb sliding challenge deflected his effort wide for a corner. The Bees half-cleared the resulting corner but Gueye’s effort from outside the box took a deflection on the way through. Flekken made a world-class save in the bottom corner to turn the effort behind.
Dyche’s side were looking reinvented in the opening exchanges and finding it easy to carve the Brentford defence open. As McNeil slid a pass in behind the defence, Calvert-Lewin ran onto it but his shot from a tight angle was well saved by Flekken once again. The Bees’ keeper was earning his keep for his team on Merseyside.
In a rare attack, Damsgaard played a defence-splitting pass through the hosts’ defence. Wissa found himself clean through on goal with only Pickford to beat. As he looked to tuck it past the England keeper, an outstretched leg diverted it behind for a corner. Thomas Frank’s side were so close to opening the scoring against the run of play.
They seemed to grow in confidence from this moment and started to put The Toffees’ under some pressure. Janelt whipped a cross into the box and it was headed across goal. Two Brentford players tried to convert but Pickford did enough to put both players off. The keeper stayed down as he seemed to be caught by The Bees’ captain.
VAR reviewed the incident and sent the referee to the monitor. After taking some time to study all the angles, the official opted to give Norgaard a straight red card. There is no doubting that he caught Pickford high up the leg with his studs but there was definitely no intent at all. It was a contentious decision, you could argue for both cases.
The big thing that frustrates football fans the most in the Premier League is the inconsistency. We could live by decisions if they followed a pattern but sadly, they do not. Many Liverpool fans would compare this incident to what Pickford did to van Dijk a few seasons ago which resulted in the Dutch centre-back spending the season on the sidelines as a result. In that instance, no action was taken.
Either way, Brentford really had their work cut out now. They would have to play the rest of the game with a number disadvantage. Frank looked to change the tactical setup of his team to compensate and made them a lot narrower. As a cross came into the box from Ndiaye, it dropped to Mykolenko seven yards out in the middle of the goal.
The Ukrainian struck it on the half volley high over the crossbar. With accuracy like that, it is probably better that he is playing for Everton rather than being on the frontline for his country. It was a huge chance to give The Toffees the lead. The fans let him know what they thought of his effort from the stands in case he was under any illusion otherwise.
Brentford managed a break themselves with Lewis-Potter. He cut inside onto his right foot and got quite a timid shot away at goal. Pickford got it all wrong as he just parried the ball back out into the danger area. Jensen hit it from the edge of the box and it shaved the crossbar as it headed over. So close to giving the visitors the lead.
There is no coincidence that Everton’s form has dipped at the same time that McNeil has gone off the radar. The Toffees’ playmaker cut inside from the right side of the box and looked to get a shot off with his stronger left foot. It was a tame effort and made for an easy save for Flekken in the Brentford goal. Cue the groans from the Everton fans.
Ironically, since the visitors had a player sent off Everton seemed to regress into their shell. They created far more chances when Brentford had the full compliment of players. It could send a message to any of The Toffees’ opponents going forward, play a narrow game and they have no idea how to break you down.
Brentford will see this as a point gained considering how the game panned out but will also be left feeling it is one they could have won. Particularly with the Wissa chance where he could not beat Pickford. However, the draw drags Everton back into the relegation mix as they now sit only two points outside of the bottom three.
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