Things are getting serious now for Everton as they prepare for their final pre-season test before kicking off their season against Crystal Palace in a week’s time. Coming off the back of a promising 3-1 win over Newcastle on Wednesday evening, the Blues will get an opportunity to play in front of a home crowd at the Hill Dickinson Stadium for the first time this summer, against French side Lille.
Everton’s latest victory was, by far, their best performance of pre-season. Thierno Barry notched his third goal of pre-season, Iliman Ndiaye got a goal on his first start since last season from the penalty spot, and Tyrique George even managed to get on the scoresheet for the first time in an Everton shirt. The confidence that will come from such a result over Premier League opposition cannot be understated, and it feels like this Everton squad, particularly the young attackers, simply needed a jolt of confidence going into the new season. With Jordan Pickford, James Garner, Christian Norgaard, and Brennan Johnson still to join the squad, as well as hopefully a new right-back, the future certainly looks more positive than it did a couple of weeks ago.
Lille may be the toughest team Everton will have had to face all pre-season; last season, they recorded the highest league finish of all of their opponents, placing third in Ligue 1 which means that this will be the second Champions League opposition of pre-season for the Toffees. Lille appear to be a more exciting team than Stuttgart, however, boasting a squad with a good mix of youth and experience.
Team News
Jarrad Branthwaite missed the win over Newcastle due to his planned recovery after last season’s injury.
New signing Brennan Johnson is expected to be involved for the first time in an Everton shirt.
Christian Norgaard is still suffering from an injury suffered earlier in pre-season, with Arsenal.
Tim Iroegbunam remains injured after being forced off early on against Stuttgart.
James Garner remains sidelined after surgery.
Everton Key Player
Iliman Ndiaye – It has been an interesting summer regarding Ndiaye, to say the least. Whilst on his extended post-World Cup break, Everton’s key asset was heavily linked with a move to Al-Hilal, in Saudi Arabia, and these rumours failed to die down for around two weeks. During this time, his father insisted his son would not move to the Middle East, and in the past few days it has come out that Ndiaye has turned down the proposal. Despite this being an overall positive for Everton, the money from that sale could have been used to completely change the look of the squad.
Ndiaye, overall, has been poor since returning from AFCON earlier this year, scoring two goals and assisting just once. This is a huge season for him; it is time for him to prove why he is so highly rated by fans of previous clubs, Everton fans, and neutrals alike, as, despite being one of the best wingers on the eye on the planet, he has always flattered to deceive in terms of his output. For someone who says they dream of Champions League football, three assists in his two seasons at Everton is not good enough, despite being an absolute joy to watch when he is at his very best. With young, hungry competition now in those wide positions, it’s going to be interesting to see how Ndiaye fares this season in attempting to keep his place.
One To Watch For Lille
Olivier Giroud – Lille have such a fun squad on paper – Ayyoub Bouaddi, Ethan Mbappe, Nathan Ngoy, to name a few. However, with Bouaddi being the only player I am massively familiar with in this squad due to his impressive World Cup with Morocco – which seems to have earned him a move to Manchester City – I would like to focus on one of my favourite strikers of all time, instead.
Giroud turns 40 next month. 40. And he is still scoring goals in Europe’s top leagues and is a Champions League footballer. After a season in American with LAFC, Giroud hit double figures in terms of goals in all competitions last season, which is, undoubtedly, a serious achievement for someone of his age. But don’t forget: this is a man who scored over 100 goals for Arsenal, and was France’s all-time top scorer for a while, ahead of the likes of Michel Platini and Thierry Henry.
There is something so satisfying about older strikers who continue to score goals at the top level; Edin Dzeko is another who springs to mind. Tall, immobile strikers who know where the net is will always be one of my favourite categories of players so, whether he starts or not, I will certainly enjoy what is, most likely, Olivier Giroud’s final match against Everton in his career.
Final Thoughts
In theory, this should be the best indication of how Everton’s upcoming season will go. You would expect that a full strength team, particularly defence, will start with Jordan Pickford behind them. What David Moyes sees as his ‘full strength’ and first-choice defence remains to be seen; I assume he will go with what he knows best, which is Jake O’Brien at right back with Branthwaite and Tarkowski in the heart of the defence.
Of course, it would have been nice to have wrapped up the main body of the transfer business by now, so that all of the new signings could have a chance to gel in one final friendly. That is not how the transfer window works, however, as more favourable deals come up towards the latter stages of the window as the dominoes begin to fall. In an ideal world, the rules would change so that the window closes before the season kicks off.
In terms of a prediction, I will go with a 1-1 draw. If Everton are at full strength, it will be an interesting challenge for them as Lille are no slouches. I would be over the moon if Thierno Barry could get himself another goal. Overall, a strong performance should be expected from the Toffees.
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