Ndiaye ‘s Penalty: The Turning Point? Everton Secure Important Victory
Ndiaye ’s first-half penalty secured a victory for Everton that came straight out of chapter one of the Moyes managerial instruction manual. Everton boss Moyes celebrated his 700th Premier League game as a manager with a 1-0 win at Brighton, leaving the league’s youngest coach Fabian Hurzeler scratching his head and wondering what had just happened.
Brighton had all the possession, all of the passes and all of the shots but neither the goals nor the points.
Everton relished the waves of Brighton pressure that crashed on their shores, throwing heads and any body part possible in the way of cross after cross and shot after shot.
They never lost their shape, they never lost their composure, they never lost their desire.
Moyes, in his usual understated manner, this week described becoming only the third manager after Arsene Wenger and reaching 700 Premier League games as a ‘fair achievement’. He doubts he will rack up the extra 100 or more he needs to catch those above him but keep putting results like this together and don’t count it out.
For many of us, it only feels like five minutes ago that it was a 39-year-old fresh-faced Moyes who was the youngest Premier League manager when he walked into Everton for the first time in 2002.
How different Moyes looks now, grey hair having long replaced the auburn, and how different this club looks too. This was a side, before today, that had won just one of their last 21 away games in the league.
The Scot would have been concerned that might become 22 when he was forced into an early change after striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who had ended a run of 16 games without a goal with his finish in the win over Tottenham last time out, appeared to jar his leg after an aerial challenge with Lewis Dunk.
Other than losing his striker, the game went just as Moyes would have wanted. Brighton had lots of the ball as expected, and moved it in their usual sharp manner, but did nothing of note as the well-set, well-drilled Toffees gave not an inch.
Tariq Lamptey fizzed a ball across an empty goal face, Joao Pedro ended a neat passing move by thumping a shot into a crowd of bodies and Carlos Baleba dragged a speculative long-range effort wide.
Moyes may as well have pressed his fingertips together like Mr Burns in The Simpsons and whispered ‘Eeeeexcellent’ to himself with a sinister grin on his face as he waited for his Everton side to pounce when the chance came.
That’s just what they did.
