Everton and the Return of Joyous Football: The Pleasure is Ours, Jack

Jack Grealish turned and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall knew exactly what to do. The midfielder was off and making a diagonal run into the box. Everton’s new superstar tracked the movement and dinked a through pass beyond an outstretched Wolves leg with such nonchalant perfection that the ball bounced right into the path of Dewsbury-Hall who couldn’t help but lash it home. The net noise after the strike had cannoned down and in off the crossbar just added to the aesthetics of what was a truly magical goal.

Football had at last returned to Everton Football Club. Leading 3-1 at Molineux, this was a result born out of signing footballers. Total footballers. There are thousands of players making it as professionals but it’s footballers who boast the grace, skill and poise to play the beautiful game in its purest form.

Athletes will press and harry the opposition while speed merchants will race to the byline and there is no doubting these players bring huge benefits to top level teams. However, it’s the footballers, the Jack Grealishs and Kiernan Dewsbury-Halls, who bring joy to the stands and put smiles on faces.

Everton’s attack has been revolutionised. For too long, the Blues progressed the ball as if it was a grand piano being lugged up the tallest mountain. It was slow, laborious and exhausting to watch. Possession was lost the moment a player looked up, attackers were isolated and balls would bobble and rebound off shins. Play was ponderous and strewn with errors.

Now, on Saturday, the Toffees played with verve and vigour. Everton were buzzing with creativity and ideas and the electricity of Grealish and Dewsbury-Hall sparked runs and link-up play that produced stunning sequences of play all over the pitch. The Blues were in the groove and almost balletic as they galloped forward in unison. Showing such guile, nous and purpose to bear down on goal, there was only one place the ball was ending up. Again and again.

The best Everton sides have always been built on partnerships and groups of players who were almost telepathic, combining in such a harmonious way that the football and wins just flowed. From the Holy Trinity and Baines and Pienaar to Dave Thomas assisting Bob Latchford and Trevor Steven and Kevin Sheedy putting goals on a plate for Sharp and Gray, every top team has had this understanding.

In Wolverhampton, Grealish and Dewsbury-Hall floated about the pitch in tandem and sang the sweetest tune from the same hymn sheet. The elegance made Everton’s play purr and the away end roar.

This has been a major transformation. Only three games into the season may seem too small a sample size to make any assumptions but there is nothing to assume. The numbers, stats and data all point to a massive improvement.

Take the fact that Jack Grealish has played 196 minutes and is already second on the Everton assist table since the start of last season. Really, since August 2024, his setting up brace against Brighton and again in the win over Wolves has put him on four and ahead of every Blues player but Dwight McNeil who recorded six assists in the previous campaign.

Then have a look at through balls, a key component of Everton’s victory in the Black Country. During the 2024/25 campaign when the Toffees managed just 42 goals, Jack Harrison, Jesper Lindstrom and Abdoulaye Doucoure produced a combined five through balls all season across 38 games. By the end of August, Grealish and Dewsbury-Hall have recorded the same figure in just three matches. Levels.

This is night and day. It shows just how ineffective Everton were going forward last year and how the current side is operating at a higher standard at such an early stage. The set-up is already working.

David Moyes has had a huge influence and been key in the attack functioning so efficiently. During his first spell at the club, the Scot assembled a side that could scrap and fight but they could seriously play too with Baines and Pienaar being aided by skilled players like Mikel Arteta and Leon Osman and individuals who could offer a different dimension going forward like Tim Cahill and Marouane Fellaini. Moyes has quality players at his disposal much sooner this time around and will be hopeful they can click consistently like they did here at Wolves.

The third goal in which Grealish set Dewsbury-Hall up so exquisitely stemmed from Vitalii Mykolenko taking up a high position in opposition territory to snuff out a poor ball played out from the back. A player so often camped in his own half previously was alert and alive to the play and snuck in to rob the ball. This was by design.

Confidence breeds confidence and Iliman Ndiaye will be another beneficiary of Everton’s fluid attack as defenders will be bamboozled as he slaloms in unison with Grealish and Dewsbury-Hall across the frontline. As centre-backs look to compose themselves from the hive of activity, the problem of Tyler Dibling coming on from the bench will cause even more dizziness.

The defensive side of the display against Wolves was not in tune with the football at the other end of the pitch as Everton gifted two goals which made for a totally unnecessary nervy end to the game. With that in mind, fans are eager to see Jarrad Branthwaite return to the fold and while he will no doubt bring steel and solidity to the defence, his ability on the ball should actually take the Blues up a level further still. Branthwaite’s braveness to play passes into feet to get Everton going will be emboldened by the positioning and movement of Dewsbury-Hall and Grealish.

The arrival of genuine quality has boosted the entire team. James Garner is thriving with a greater calibre player ahead of him and can be more expressive in his play while also focusing on his defensive duties more soundly. Everton have been elevated all over the field.

A fan of the West End, Dewsbury-Hall put on a show at Molineux and will no doubt become one of Everton’s entertainers.

“I’ve got a lot of friends in that business and there are more similarities than you’d probably think,” he once explained. “Their job is to entertain on stage and I’m here to entertain on the pitch, so I feel like there's a mutual respect and I can pick up a few tips and tricks from them, even though it’s a completely different way of life.”

The ultimate showman, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall plays with such swagger and scoring goals from midfield in white boots is pure Everton heritage. ‘Let’s have some fun Toffees’ was his message on signing and he’s certainly here for a good time.

Simon Stacpoole/Offside via Getty Images

Grealish, meanwhile, is a star attraction and has shown how he has a treble to his name. The quality of his play is worth the entry fee alone and every stride forward with the ball captures the imagination. You know something good is going to happen. This is the Everton territory of Peter Beardsley, Andrei Kanchelskis and James Rodriguez and Grealish is a maverick capable of moments of magic. Fans are enthralled.

Together, Grealish and Dewsbury-Hall have bags of personality and character on and off the field. You can’t help but get behind them and hitch a ride for the journey they could take you on.

These lads did not feature as much as they’d have liked last season and are now playing with a real freedom and expression. The shackles are off and the buzz is written all over their face. There is elation in every kick of the ball.

Dewsbury-Hall could not take the smile off his face after the match and Grealish being mobbed by the away end will have made him ten feet tall. If he hadn’t already realised he was adored after only three games, he did in that moment as a clamour of arms came protruding out of the Steve Bull Stand to pat him on the back and show he’s part of the Goodison Gang. The fact he got a headed assist merely proved he belonged and was at home. Beto was all of us as he warmly hugged Grealish after the loanee set up his first league goal of the campaign.

While Grealish and Dewsbury-Hall have been freed, Evertonians had too been stuck in their own unwanted solitude in recent seasons, standing on the wrong side of the glass and watching on as other sides wowed their supporters. Watching the team attack with such style on Saturday has been a long time coming. This union provides a new lease of life for Grealish, Dewsbury-Hall and the entire fanbase. The mutual respect and love which stems from performances seen at Wolves will forge a bond and could create something truly special.

This is what football is about. The match provides an escape, a thrill and a want to be entertained. When that need is met, it’s the pinnacle of the week; the best days of your life.

The arrival of Grealish and Dewsbury-Hall going on the Everton attack has come too late for the Goodison clatter of seats and rumble of shoes on wood and that’s sad. However, the anticipation and exhilarating feeling they’ll bring to Hill Dickinson Stadium will be the driving force behind this new era.

On signing for Everton, Grealish opted to take the number 18 shirt to follow in the footsteps of his heroes Wayne Rooney and Paul Gascoigne. It’s nearly 24 years ago since the latter received a standing ovation for a sumptuous performance in the FA Cup against Leyton Orient and there is no doubting Grealish will get similar recognition soon enough.

“I would love to be like Gazza,” he said after his first England start in 2020. “He played with such joy and that is what I want to do. One of the biggest compliments for people to say to you is that you make them happy watching football.”

On Saturday, Evertonians were beyond happy watching Grealish and Dewsbury-Hall play football. The pleasure is ours, Jack.

An Everton season ticket holder and football writer, you can subscribe to all of Ell Bretland's work at https://ellbretland.substack.com