City exploit Everton's defensive disarray to record one last Goodison win
Everton 0 – 2 Manchester City
Everton's hopes of grinding out another hugely creditable goalless draw against one of the best teams in the division fell apart following the second-half departures of James Tarkowski and Idrissa Gueye.
Almost as if Pep Guardiola were exacting punishing and unrelenting retribution on Everton for inflicting upon him the joint heaviest defeat of his managerial career, Manchester City have made Goodison Park something of a home away from home over the past eight years.
Granted they might well have been held to a draw in February 2022 when one of the most egregious derelictions of duty imaginable by a Video Assistant Referee allowed Rodri to get away with a blatant handball but, including the League Cup quarter-final in March 2021, Guardiola’s team have won every game they have played at the Grand Old Lady since Ronald Koeman’s men hammered them 4-0 in January 2017.
In that time, the Toffees have scored just four goals against City at home; today, the width of a post and a reflex save by Stefan Ortega kept them scoreless but their hopes of at least grinding out another hugely creditable goalless draw against one of the best teams in the division fell apart with the second-half departures of James Tarkowski and Idrissa Gueye.
A tight game was goalless and finely balanced when the team captain was forced off seven minutes into the second half with a hamstring injury and the Blues’ midfield machine, carrying a booking since the 62nd minute and suffering from cramp, was withdrawn with 11 to go. The effect of both changes was the almost complete loss of the defensive solidity that had characterised a dogged Everton display to that point, with the midfield shape falling apart and Michael Keane, Tarkowski’s questionable replacement, sowing uncertainty into a hitherto impervious rearguard.
That David Moyes didn’t opt to move the impressive Jake O’Brien inside and bring on a natural right-back in the form of Nathan Patterson is something the manager will ponder as he surveys the aftermath of his third Premier League defeat since returning as Everton boss. Perhaps erring on the side of experience or wanting to give the veteran defender one last chance to try and earn a new contract with the Blues, Moyes went with Keane and will hopefully have reached a definitive verdict that the 32-year-old needs to be moved on this summer.
Visibly ring-rusty from weeks on the sidelines as he approaches the end of a nine-year career at Goodison, Keane was a calamitous introduction. He was fortunate not to be responsible for the visitors breaking the deadlock in the 72nd and 82nd minutes before being caught lead-footed at his near post and oblivious to the threat behind him in the 84th as Nico O'Reilly stole in in front of him to put City ahead.
Mateo Kovacic added a second in stoppage time to put a very harsh complexion on the scoreline from the hosts’ perspective but Everton’s resistance had been definitively broken by the opener and there was unlikely to have been a way back anyway.
In what will have been one of Armando Broja’s last few chances to prove he is worthy a permanent move at the end of the season, the Chelsea man was handed another start at the expense of Beto in what was an unchanged side from the one that lined up against Nottingham Forest last weekend.
Broja had yet to register a shot on target for Everton before today and his wait goes on after leading the line for another hour today. Instead, it was Moyes’s centre-halves and a welcome return to the Toffees’ threat from set-pieces that almost put them ahead with chances in either half.
Everton had started with the requisite organisation and tenacity that would give them the platform to perhaps edge the contest over the 90 minutes but, unsurprisingly, they lacked the quality to make inroads through City’s back line.
The excellent Vitalii Mykolenko flighted a lovely ball to the back post early on but when Abdoulaye Doucouré got in Jack Harrison’s way, the chance to create something evaporated while, at the other end, Matheus Nunes forced the first save of note of the game with a low drive that Jordan Pickford palmed behind.
Clear-cut opportunities were at a premium but with half an hour gone, James Garner curled a free-kick into the danger zone where Tarkowski did well to hold off Bernardo Silva and steer a header goal-wards but was dismayed to see the ball bounce off the woodwork before being hacked clear.
Then, shortly before half-time, Kevin de Bruyne collected Nunes’s cut-back and lined up one of his trademark side-foot shots searching out the bottom corner but O’Brien did brilliantly to stoop and get a head on it to divert it behind for a corner.
Moyes will, no doubt, have been satisfied with his team’s effort over the first 45 minutes and his charges almost grabbed the lead two minutes into the second half. After Iliman Ndiaye had been fouled by Bernardo Silva, Tarkowski nodded a deep free-kick on where Jarrad Branthwaite had ghosted in untracked but his attempt to steer a header beyond the keeper was thwarted when Ortega thrust a glove into its path and batted it away.
A minute later, Ndiaye couldn’t get purchase on a Harrison cross and Doucouré’s follow-up shot was blocked behind while Broja had two chances to out-muscle Joško Gvardiol on his way to goal but lost the battle to the Croatian on both occasions. Meanwhile, exhibiting the kind of tricky footwork the bulk of his Blues career suggests he doesn't really possess, Doucouré expertly engineered space for a strong left-footed shot but Ortega parried it away for a corner.
Everton had lost Tarkowski by this point, the stalwart defender having pulled a hamstring reaching for a ball that was dropping over his head and been replaced by Keane. The implications of that, combined with the departure of Gueye after he had taken a yellow card for a professional foul on the counter-attacking Savinho, would be felt in the closing stages but, initially, chances still felt the Blues’ way.
Beto, on for Broja, spurned one opening by selfishly getting off a tame shot rather than teeing up the onrushing Doucouré and Ndiaye flashed an attempted curler wide while, for City, İlkay Gündoğan and Savinho had tested Pickford with efforts from central positions around the edge of the box.
As long as the game had been played more on Everton’s terms — tight, with the onus on City trying to engineer chances on the overlap from wide — the better things had looked for Moyes’s men but the more frenetic and open things became, the more it suited Guardiola’s side.
As such, the triple change that Moyes made with 11 minutes left, where Harrison Ndiaye and Gueye made way for Dwight McNeil, Charly Alcaraz and Tim Iroegbunam, dismantled what remained of a tightly-regimented defensive shape and the reigning Champions capitalised.
Omar Marmoush had almost been let in by a dreadful error by Keane who allowed a high ball to bounce in front of him and was bailed out by his goalkeeper who made a smart save to deny the Egyptian. But another couple of minutes later it was 1–0 to City.
Not for the first time, Nunes was allowed to get to the byline and with a host of blue jerseys static in the centre, O’Reilly ghosted in to slide home from close range in the 84th minute.
Eight minutes later, with Everton beaten and the result beyond doubt, the visitors rubbed salt into the wounds when Jeremy Doku found Gündoğan in the box and he laid the ball off for Kovacic to crash home a second.
Again, the final score was brutal on a Toffees team that had more than been in the game for three quarters of this contest but, as has been the case so often in this fixture, there was always a fear that they could grind Everton down or produce a telling moment thanks to their embarrassment of riches on the bench.
Whether they would have ever made the breakthrough had Tarkowski and Gueye remained on the pitch we’ll never know and the competitive performance that preceded the late collapse will come as scant consolation to Evertonians.
In the ongoing squad analysis process ahead of a big summer of rebuilding, however, it could well be instructive — again given the disappointing showings from the likes of Broja and Keane and poor cameos from Iroegbunam and Alcaraz.
In that sense, Moyes and his team will have yet more food for thought. For Blues fans, however, the hope is that the days of routinely being outclassed by City will eventually come to an end. Unfortunately, it might yet take a while…
Reader Responses
Selected thoughts from readers19/04/2025 22:05:22
Excellent report Lyndon. I agree with everything that you wrote. Broja has little to offer - slow and does not read the game so we will need to find a striker. Alcaraz has played well before so I would not abandon him for today's poor effort, same for Tim, but they both have something to prove in the last five matches. We definitely need to persuade Idrissa to sign another contract. Michael Keane appears to be finished as a premiership player. He is no longer worth a place on the bench.
19/04/2025 22:44:13
For an hour or so we held our own against a resurgent City team which looked much stronger than the team we had drawn against at the Etihad in December. Their play suggested perhaps they are indeed a better team, in the fullest sense of the word, without Haaland as the spearhead of their attack. The loss of Tarkowski was a key moment with our team suddenly looking totally bereft. The previous manager was often criticised for not making enough use of his bench. The last fifteen minutes today suggested maximum use merely adds confusion when a team is already under pressure.
Our best players today were Harrison and Mykolenko. I gave the man of the match billing to Harrison who was involved in most of our attacking play, especially in the first half. Pickford made several fine saves while Garner, Gana and Doucouré were as industrious as usual. I was disappointed with Ndiaye who had one of his least productive games. All of our substitutes failed, their only impact being negative.
Moyes is but the latest in a long line of managers to find that winning our games at Goodison is difficult. Since his return we have won three away matches against only two at home, those against a limp Spurs and a woeful Leicester. Arguably the brand of football has improved but at home it remains ineffective against the strongest teams. This milestone campaign will see us fail to beat any team in the top half of the table at Goodison. Creditable draws have been the peak of our achievement against the best. Yet again the fine performance and the late win at Forest may prove to be a false indication of the squad’s true potential.
19/04/2025 23:02:54
Interesting but sobering stat that, John, but perhaps indicative of our lack of quality when the onus is on us to attack and create going forward rather than trying to remain compact and capitalise on the break or from a set-piece (although, ironically, that’s where our best chances came from today due to the strength of the opposition).
The key factor for me is that we’ve had to sell all of our potential match-winners or they’ve been injured — the likes of Richarlison, Gordon, Calvert-Lewin, etc have weighed in with winning goals at Goodison against the clubs who usually make up the top half or top six teams in recent years.
Hopefully we can remedy that this summer by adding genuine quality in attacking areas.
20/04/2025 00:59:14
6, or 7 of our players on the pitch today, I will ( imo!), deem not good enough for the model we are trying to mould, to grace our iconic Stadium, when we eventually move there.
the sleeping Giant has come out of REM, but it will take better Quality before it finally awakes !
players played out of position, Under- performing cast offs, try before you buy, aging has beens, or, Journeymen, looking for a last Payday.
That has to be a thing of the past.
We need to find players that we want and not players that are offered to us.
Players who want to play for us, by desire.
We don’t want to play every game, like it’s a KO Cup Competition!
We need stability, consistency and our own Rhythm.
i can understand offering Gana a year extension, as he’s been Consistently good over the Season.
In fact, he’s been one of our Standout performers.
But, there’s rumours about offering Doucoure an extension … seriously ! He’s had a few good games, but that shouldn’t warrant an extension.
We need to be ruthless now.
20/04/2025 09:56:30
Emlyn Prydderch 2
it’s a long Time since Michael Keane has been Finished, as a PL player.
It’s hard to believe, that he’s only 2 years short of a Decade with us!!
It’s even harder to Believe that DCL, is one year short of a Decade !
Back in my day, ten years playing service was rewarded with a Testimonal, which I thought was reserved for Club Legends!
20/04/2025 10:22:31
Ruthless, but not stupid, Paul. ‘Try before you buy’ is a legitimate tool especially for a club with very limited resources, no European football on offer and a huge recruitment gap to fill. As Lyndon notes we need to add genuine attacking talent. That may entail taking a chance on young, hungry players including some who have struggled to settle at richer clubs.
Loan deals simply reduce the club’s exposure to risk. Pienaar and Lukaku are the two most obvious examples of making ‘try before you buy’ work for the benefit of the club as well as the players themselves.
20/04/2025 11:50:49
Without guile in the midfield there is no real excitement watching Everton…oh for another player like James Rodriguez pulling the strings
20/04/2025 13:29:12
john Rafferty 7
You have a very valid point and I am ranting out of frustration.
You mentioned two players, Pienaar and Lukaku, as examples.
But those two players also highlighted our tendency to encourage, coach and nurture players to another level, only for those players to be sold on and no equal replacement to be found.
lukaku and Pienaar being prime examples.
One to Spurs and the other to United.
Pienaar coming back, when he was surplus to requirements.
A similar case with Gana, although, we made a Tidy Profit, he’s really only showing up this Season.
if this trend continues, we may see the return of Richarlison!
With the new owners and some more spending room ( revenue from naming rights), I would like us to change the Ethos.
20/04/2025 15:38:44
Paul, much as I admired Richarlison in his four seasons with us, I would hope the club has learned enough not to bring back a player with an awful injury record in his time with Spurs.
20/04/2025 19:47:58
john 10
Regarding Richy, That’s exactly what I was thinking.
I forgot to mention Rooney!😀
20/04/2025 20:52:36
Lyndon, it wasn't just allowing the ball to bounce (no bounce being something you are taught at 10 years old), but the half hearted attempt to nod the ball back to Pickford, which simply played in the City player in on goal. Fortunately, on that occasion, his keeper bailed him out.
There was one before that, where he got caught too high up the pitch and trotted back. We had a back three of O'Brien, Branthwaite and Mykolenko holding the line as Keane stopped and watched from somewhere around the edge of our box.
I did initially think this morning that Pickford could have done more for the first, but once again, with the benefit of hindsight and watching on Match of the Day, once again, Keane in particular, stops allowing the goal scorer to run across and in front of him with a free pass.
John, I'll agree with you on Mykolenko.
21/04/2025 21:17:28
Great report as always Lyndon. I don't take your excellence for granted, but do appreciate it.
May the finishing of our forwards be as accurate and professional as the writing on this site next season in our fabulous new home.
It was a sobering result after the high of felling the Trees last week.
It was also sobering to me, in that Moyes got the Tarky replacement so wrong.
With Keane out of contract and O'Brien being up to speed with the game, with a dedicated RB choice on the bench, to not give Jake chance to build a centre half pairing with Jarrad was a missed opportunity and a tactical error. Hindsight is wonderful of course, but if fans felt that at the time, why didn't the manager?
22/04/2025 10:32:40
Excellent report Lyndon, the sinking feeling when Tarkowski went down was exacerbated when it was Keane who came on, perhaps he felt O'Brien was doing a great job as full back and didn't want to change and thought a like for like would be less disruptive. Sadly he was wrong, perhaps many of us could of told him having witnessed the same so often. It is perhaps a sad curtain call but he really does have to move on for his well being and our nerves!
It shows too just how much needs to change before we can once more mix it at the top.
22/04/2025 13:49:27
O’Brien and Branthwaite need to be given the rest of the season to forge a partnership. Chermiti should be given the rest of the season up front to see if he’s up to scratch. DCL, Beto and Broja all look a bit hit and miss to me.
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19/04/2025 21:18:05
Another excellent article Lyndon. As soon as Michael Keane came on, those of us who have suffered his awful career at EFC, knew what was coming. It was hard to fathom what possessed DM to make this decision. Broja is just not the player we might have expected from Chelsea. No more experiments with him please.
Dwight McNeill cannot play down the right, Alcaraz can only play down the middle and Tim is another signing by our soon departing Director of Football who is not displaying Premiership ability. DM has a huge amount of work to do this summer to end up with a balanced squad which can compete next season. There are some important building blocks but when you compare the City bench to our group of misfits it really does make you realise how far we have to go.
Watching Villa hammer Newcastle and to see the squad they have built shows it can be done but it depends on our new owner's resolve and bank balance!!!