Everton’s modern history in the League Cup is littered with much-changed line-ups, ineffective performances and embarrassing exits in the early stages. Some of them came under the stewardship of David Moyes but there is a sense that since the Scot returned to the club from an 11-year journey that took him from Manchester to East London via Spain and Wearside, he is driven to push the Blues closer to ending what is now a 30-year trophy drought.

The team selection for what should have been — and ultimately was — a routine second round tie against League One Mansfield Town was reflective of a manager taking seriously not only a potential avenue towards long-awaited silverware but also Europe. Newcastle’s success in this competition last season is serving as an example to teams like Everton so it was pleasing to see such a strong line-up.

Despite not having has a full pre-season but then playing 90 minutes against Brighton on Sunday, Jack Grealish was named in the starting XI alongside another of the new signings, Thierno Barry. Illustrating the depth that the Toffees now possess, particularly in forward areas, Dwight McNeil and Charly Alcaraz rounded out attacking midfield while the return to fitness of Vitalii Mykolenko and Séamus Coleman meant that James Garner could move back into his more natural midfield role.

If there is normally a nod at this stage of the tournament to young academy graduates, this time it was Harrison Armstrong who made the cut, although the 18-year-old played with such composure and maturity that this was hardly the manager throwing a youngster a rare chance to shine. Armstrong has very evidently reached the point where is far too good for the Under-21s and is in need of, perhaps, just one more season on loan in the Championship (or abroad) before he can start gracing Everton’s first team on a regular basis.

While the team was a strong one, in the first half the pattern of the match followed a well-thumbed script. The hosts were dominant for all but the final 10 minutes before the break but, Alcaraz aside, they often flattered to deceive in the final third, where even Grealish was guilty of waste when the ball arrived at his feet in a central position but he skied it into the North Stand from 14 yards out.

That came after Alcaraz had tested Liam Roberts with a powerful drive from just over 20 yards that the goalkeeper palmed wide for a corner.

McNeil, who did his hopes of winning back a starting role few favours with a ropey display tried to catch the goalkeeper out with a cheeky free-kick that was helped over the crossbar by Roberts. Meanwhile, although the impressive Harrison should have laid a first goal on for Barry when he elected to shoot rather than square the ball across the Stags’ stranded back line, it was Alcaraz who was the standout performer in Blue on the night.

And, after Mansfield had ended the first period with a spell of concerted though ultimately fruitless pressure, all three of those last-named players combined to put Everton ahead five minutes into the second. A neat lay-off from Barry — not his first of the evening either — found Harrison in the box and with some tide footwork he twisted away from his marker before passing back to Alcaraz who curled a beautiful shot around the last defender and inside the post from just outside the area.

Then, after Barry had made way for Beto and Tyler Dibling had come on for Grealish to make his debut, the Portuguese wasted two excellent chances, first with a weak finish straight at the goalie after a mix-up in the Mansfield defence and then with an off-target header off a deep cross from the left.

The visitors might have levelled the tie had Luke Bolton’s curling effort not been diverted away by the head of Michael Keane because the substitute’s effort appeared destined for the top corner of Mark Travers’ net.

Moyes’s men made sure of progress to the next phase, however, after substitute Iliman Ndiaye had rippled the side-netting off Armstrong’s superb through-ball. With almost 89 minutes on the clock, Garner split the Mansfield defence with a lovely pass to pick out the run of Armstrong and he set Beto up for a simple finish that made it 2-0.

The Toffees move on to the third round where they have been handed a tie away at Wolves.


Reader Responses

Selected thoughts from readers
Certain off-topic comments may be removed to keep the discussion on track

1  Darren Hind
29/08/2025    02:37:06

Thank you Lyndon

A good report, but I'm afraid I don't agree with you in your belief that we should send Armstrong out on loan. I think our squad is still a painfully thin one and we are only a couple of injuries away from crisis. Even in midfield.

It must be very difficult for an eighteen year old to resist the temptation to shoot when the headlines are flashing through his mind and I think we can forgive Armstrong for going for goal despite a team mate being in a much better position. Barry will still be secretly frustrated that he hasn't yet got off the mark, but it was pleasing to see young Harrison was able to resist temptation to shoot at the second time of asking and pick out Beto for the tap in Barry should have had an hour earlier. It would be nice to think that among his many attributes, being a fast learner is one of them. I'd like to see him to learn his trade and become a more complete professional here.

I don't know how much we paid for Chermiti, Barry and Beto. I suspect it was around seventy million. Not much by today's standards. but there isn't a footballer among them. It was frustrating to see decent approach work repeatedly break down around the opposition box due to not having an assured touch up top. The irony being, we have just lost a forward who could link play, yet all we could do was spend years launching long balls in his general direction because we didnt have players capable of decent approach play...With Chermiti seemingly on his way. We have to hope that both Barry and Beto can make up for their lack of finesse with raw effort and a better goal return.

We got the job done and although McNeil looks miles off the pace at the moment I thought there were some decent performances against what was always going to be a very stubborn Mansfield team.

I'll take it

2  Peter Fancy
29/08/2025    09:22:02

Darren - Totally agree that we should not send Harrison Armstrong out on loan. He was superb and looks the real deal. One of our issues over recent seasons is that we have not had the depth to use substitutes properly and I would be happy to see Armstrong used in the last twenty minutes or so in games to reduce the workload on other midfielders. We will also need him when Gana is off on international duty.
Totally disagree about Barry though - I have been very impressed with his displays so far and he is light years ahead of Beto in terms of touch and awareness. He played a huge part in the build up to both goals against Brighton and should have had his first goal against Mansfield. I really don’t understand young players being written off after a couple of appearances when they are hardly even through the door.

3  Si Shaw
29/08/2025    13:39:06

Nice report Lyndon. Armstrong is a proper footballer…it was apparent last season with a precision pass to enable Beto to score (can’t remember the opposition). He should be on the bench and used as often as possible. Still not convinced by Beto and Barry needs more time. I seriously think Ndiaye might be the answer as a ‘false 9’.

4  Dennis Stevens
29/08/2025    14:36:30

Please don't keep referring to Armstrong by his first name in your match reports, Lyndon. It brings me out in a cold sweat for a moment, thinking that it's Jack Harrison that you're mentioning!

5  Paul Birmingham
29/08/2025    15:05:36

Good honest report Lyndon.

Sone good signs overall and especially attacking build up play.

Goof to see healthy competition for the midfield and hopefully a couple more signings may arrive, lets see.

Wolves, away if Everton can start being lethal in the box, Everton can definitely beat them.

6  John Raftery
29/08/2025    21:41:07

Unless we bring in another midfielder by Monday evening I agree Harrison Armstrong will be required at least until January. James Garner has a history of back injuries, Gana is a year older and Tim Iroegbunam, himself injured for several months last season, is a likely candidate for suspension having already earned two yellow cards in two league appearances.

Apart from the impact of injuries and suspensions we will lose Gana and Ndiaye to AFCON which starts four days before Christmas. If we have a long run in the Carabao Cup we will need all hands to the pump in December and January.

If by chance it’s apparent in late January he needs more games than he’s been playing he could then go out on loan for the rest of the season. He won’t be short of offers. At 18 years old Harrison Armstrong is an outstanding prospect.

7  Paul Conway
29/08/2025    23:38:24

I honestly think that we need a good old fashioned English striker, in the Harry Kane, Chris Wood, Bob Latchford. Joe Royle Mould, given the Quality that could provide the Ammo, From all forward positions at the moment.

When DCL first came on board, I honestly thought that he had the required profile.

But, he was surrounded by technically inept players, compared to what we have at the moment

.

It’s such a pity ( I hope I’m proved wrong), that we spent 27 million on Barry, unproven on the PL. where we could have paid 13-520ml ( I’m calculating wages to DCL over a two year period. ) to DCL for a two year extension.

If Barry’s form continues in this vein, we’ll be lucky to get half of what we paid for him, in two years time, ( not counting his wages), whereby, with DCL on board, we would have forfeited the same amount.. with probably an abundance of goals thrown in… giving the quality of his teammates

But, right now I’m asking myself, why is McNeil still here!

8  Darren Hind
30/08/2025    06:27:26

I'm not writing Barry off, Peter. Far from it.

He's already headed a couple of semi-chance's over, but I put that down to early season timing. I suspect there is more to come.

I hadnt seen him play before he got here, but all reports and footage would suggest he will be a handful given the right service from the flanks. If you can score headers in Spain, where the dark arts employed to stop clear headers are a little more subtle than the all-in wrestling you see here. You can score them anywhere. I'm very hopeful.

That said. The boy is simply not a "Footballer"...And yes you can tell after a couple of games. Let me put it this way; You only have to see a steeple chaser once to know he wont be winning the Derby...but that doesnt mean he cant be win the Gold cup some day...Or the Grand National. Success can come in many guises.

History has shown us that you don't need to be a "footballer" to score lots of goals. I'm expecting plenty from our new boy.

9  Peter Fancy
30/08/2025    07:11:50

Stating that a professional u21 international footballer is not a footballer seems pretty derogatory to me. Seems like everyone is very quick to dismiss players after a game or two these days. Suggests they can’t play football I.e. the job they are paid to do! It’s like the people saying that we should get rid of McNeil now we have signed a couple of players, like we have a squad big enough to support this! They also seem to have very short memories as McNeil was one of the players who played a big part in keeping us up the last few years whilst going through a difficult time personally. Those who would have gotten rid of Beto in January would have lost out on those goals he scored which got us to safety very quickly.

I would rather support all players that are ours (aren’t we ‘supporters’ after all) than saying they can’t play football or aren’t good enough for a team that has been scraping the bottom of the league for a number of years. A team they helped survive the worst period in our history.

10  Peter Fancy
30/08/2025    08:08:30

As for those who are saying we should have kept DCL - really? He will be injured soon enough but in the meantime he has carried on where he left off with us - every goal he shoots towards seems to have a Perspex sheet in front of it…

11  Paul Conway
30/08/2025    08:42:36

Peter Fancy 9/10
We can’t hang onto players for Sentimental reasons.

my reference to DCL , wasn’t Sentimentality, due to the fact that he saved us, with his goal, it was for more pragmatic reasons.
And may I state.. it was purely my opinion.

Some people get very sensitive about other people’s opinions, whilst stating their own as being conclusive.
Take, Chermitti for example, a player I have ( and many others), being critical of.

He is well down the pecking order and is obviously not showing much in training.
Moyes stated in his Presser, that he’ll be probably going out on loan.

How long will we have to wait for him to come good? Will he be sold eventually, simply because he’s not good enough?

Whatever way it pans out, we need players to improve us.
players deemed good enough, to grace the Turf, of our new Home.

There has been enough Sentiment shown by this Club in the past, to bring us to the brink of oblivion.

12  Paul Conway
30/08/2025    11:05:46

I Forgot to mention.. Should he play, there’s nothing I would like Better, than to see Barry stick the Ball in the net today.. as many times as he wants!

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