Frank Lampard registered his first Premier League win as the Everton boss, with the Toffees beating Leeds United 3-0 at Goodison Park on Saturday.
A red-hot first-half display helped Everton grab a precious 3-0 victory over Leeds United at Goodison Park on Saturday to hand Frank Lampard his second successive home victory in all competitions since taking charge at the end of last month. The Toffees came out firing on all cylinders, and Seamus Coleman bundled home from inside the 12-yard box to give Everton a tenth-minute lead.
Everton kept pushing forward, and Michael Keane doubled their advantage five minutes later, heading home from an Anthony Gordon corner. The visitors made multiple changes at the break but could not turn the tide as Everton showed little sign of dwindling away in the second-half, and Gordon sealed the victory in the 78th minute when Richarlison’s left-footed shot from the edge of the box deflected off him and squeaked past Illan Meslier.
The win eased relegation fears and moved 16th-placed Everton to 22 points, five points clear of the drop zone. Leeds are just a point ahead in 15th but have played a game more than the hosts. The Hard Tackle will now run the rule over both sets of players.
Everton
Jordan Pickford: 6/10
Apart from two rasping efforts by Rodrigo that shook his crossbar, it was probably Pickford’s most comfortable evening between the sticks as he was mostly untroubled by Leeds, who could not even muster a shot on target.
Seamus Coleman: 8/10
Seamus Coleman has scored a Premier League goal for the first time since May 2019 against Burnley.
The Frank Lampard effect. ? pic.twitter.com/FMtx9F5Qlf
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) February 12, 2022
Coleman rolled back the years by slamming home from close range with a diving header. The Everton captain ran up and down the pitch tirelessly, and was pretty solid defensively. The 33-year-old led by example and his sheer longevity and loyalty to the Toffees is commendable.
Mason Holgate: 6/10
Mason Holgate produced a superbly-timed last-ditch tackle in the penalty area and was alert to make several vital interceptions. Looked a bit shaky with some of his passes at times, but overall, it was one of his better displays in a long while as he kept things tidy at the back.
Michael Keane: 8/10
Keane scored a brilliant header to double Everton’s advantage and appeared to be resolute while trying to nullify the effect of the Leeds attackers. A very solid performance from the English centre-half, which would be a huge morale booster after coming under intense criticism in recent weeks.
Jonjoe Kenny: 8/10
The makeshift left-back Kenny was handed the difficult task of containing Raphinha. He kept the Leeds talisman at bay and also offered a threat going forward down the left flank. Played his part in the opener with a superb piece of skill and an audacious turn later in the first half. He finished the game with seven recoveries and three interceptions, rounding off a stellar performance.
Anthony Gordon: 9/10
A persistent threat. Gordon was unstoppable, and his rapid progression over the last three months has been astounding. He was bright, thunderous and heavily involved down the left flank. Perhaps he should have scored with an early chance but assisted Michael Keane’s headed goal with a delightful cross through a corner. Also, he got a fortunate goal through Richarlison’s effort to cap off his display.
Anthony Gordon has so much drive and ability he was always going to rise. Rise accelerated by Frank Lampard, perfect manager for him, backs and guides him, sees his versatility + FL knows a thing or 2 about runs from midfield. Assist, goal for AG today. And he's only 20. #EFC
— Henry Winter (@henrywinter) February 12, 2022
Allan: 6/10
Although Allan was caught out of position several times, it was a better showing from the Brazilian enforcer after a shaky performance in midweek. He kept things simple and neat in the middle of the park and broke up the Leeds attacks to a fair extent. He played a key role in Everton’s third goal as he surged forward with the ball before laying a pass to Richarlison.
Donny van de Beek: 7/10
A spectacular display from the Manchester United loanee, who ran the show from the opening whistle in the engine room. Donny van de Beek showed excellent technical quality, control, composure and vision on the ball, forcing the opener with an excellent pass and intelligent decision making. His off the ball work was also to be recognised as he never stopped running.
Alex Iwobi: 7.5/10
Arguably Iwobi’s best game in an Everton shirt as he caused a lot of problems for Leeds’s defenders with his devilish pace to cut inside to his right-foot. While he saw a lot of the ball in the opening stages of the game, his end product remained disappointing.
Still, his work rate was unquestionable as he diligently tracked back and performed his defensive duties admirably. The Nigerian also played a match-high five key passes and threw himself on the ground with 3 tackles completed.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin: 6/10
Returning from a long layoff, Calvert-Lewin appeared to be a tad leggy. The Everton hitman was eager to make an impression and though he could not find the back of the net, he did make some intelligent runs in-behind, and provided a focal point to the Everton attack that they had been sorely lacking in the past few weeks.
Richarlison: 7/10
Sorry, @richarlison97. Our third goal has been credited to @anthonygordon.
But you already knew that, didn't you, Ant? ? pic.twitter.com/wYrExmsKUh
— Everton (@Everton) February 12, 2022
Richarlison was outstanding throughout the game. The Brazilian attacker created three key passes and came close to scoring, but his effort was blocked. He was a constant nuisance for Leeds with his industrious pressing, forcing them into making mistakes. Deserved his brilliantly struck left-footed goal before it was awarded to Anthony Gordon, who had got the slightest of deflections.
SUBSTITUTES
Dele Alli: 5/10
Alli sent in an appealing cross that was met by Rondon, but Illan Meslier made a fantastic close range stop.
Anwar El Ghazi: N/A
Did not play enough to warrant a rating.
Salomon Rondon: N/A
Almost put the icing on the cake with a flying and crisply struck mid-air volley that Meslier responded to quickly. An audacious attempt from Rondon.
Leeds United
Illan Meslier: 6/10
Despite conceding three goals, Meslier was one of the very few solid performers for the Whites. He was left exposed at times and had no chance to stop the goals. In fact, the Frenchman made a few decent saves to keep the scoreline respectable at 3-0.
90' What a save! Dele's ball is sublime, Rondon connects with power on the volley but Meslier reacts instantly to tip it over.
? 3-0 ⚪️ #EVELEE
— Everton (@Everton) February 12, 2022
Diego Llorente: 5/10
The Spaniard had a difficult afternoon at Goodison Park. He handled Dominic Calvert-Lewin well and did get a foot between the ball and the Everton talisman to prevent him from scoring. However, he unintentionally set Coleman up quite nicely in the process. He was prolific in the air and won each of his three aerial duels while also completed 2 tackles and a team-high 5 interceptions.
Robin Koch: 4/10
Never looked comfortable throughout the game, Koch failed to provide any sense of stability at any point in the game. He lacked agility, pace and was slow to deal with the danger around him. Barring a superb tackle, the German had a horror show, with Anthony Gordon and Richarlison getting easily past him on several occasions.
Pascal Struijk: 4/10
Struijk was not terrible but struggled to deal with Richarlison and Calvert-Lewin. He was dragged out of position on different occasions and could not place his passes to build from the back, which got Leeds under even more pressure.
Luke Ayling: 5/10
Ayling was tad lucky to escape a deserved booking when he caught Holgate with a high boot. He made one timely early tackle, but that was about it. He was decent defensively and completed a match-high 9 tackles, although he offered next to nothing offensively, with rash passes becoming a narrative during the game.
Rodrigo Moreno: 6/10
45' Crossbar again! Rodrigo fires a shot from the edge of the area, but is once more denied by the woodwork. 2-0
— Leeds United (@LUFC) February 12, 2022
If there was any Leeds player who can come out with some credit for his performance, that would be Rodrigo. He was their brightest spark going forward and rattled the crossbar twice. The Spanish attacker picked out promising positions and tried to make things happen, but nothing of notice came of it.
Mateusz Klich: 3/10
Mateusz Klich also had a poor game for the Yorkshire outfit. He was run ragged in a more defensive deeper role and never adjusted to the game’s tempo. He made a very little impact before being removed during the interval as Leeds were comfortably defeated in the midfield battle.
Stuart Dallas: N/A
Dallas barely lasted ten minutes on the pitch before he limped off with an early injury. Another addition to an already big treatment room.
Raphinha: 3/10
Another poor display from the Brazilian as he failed to get involved on the right wing and was not effective at all, even appearing like a complete passenger at times. He did produce some useless flicks and tricks before being hooked off at the break as Bielsa wanted to inject some freshness.
Daniel James: 3/10
? "We all believe in ourselves, it just wasn't our day today" pic.twitter.com/qc3P5oNKLM
— Leeds United (@LUFC) February 12, 2022
After a goal-scoring display against Aston Villa, much was expected from James, but he failed to build on his positive display. He was chasing shadows all day long, and nothing ever clicked for him in the isolated lone striker role.
Jack Harrison: 5/10
Harrison was kept quiet throughout the game as he barely put pressure on Everton’s fragile defence. He contributed defensively, though, battled hard and ran about to complete four successful tackles.
SUBSTITUTES
Leo Hjelde: 6/10
Alex Iwobi had an inexperienced Hjelde on his toes. The youngster may be a decent defender on his day but really looked out of place as a wing-back in this game. Still, the 18-year-old grew later on in the game and produced a couple of goal-saving blocks to deny Richarlison and Iwobi.
Tyler Roberts: 4/10
Roberts struggled to offer any greater threat than James offered down the middle and was anonymous and very isolated in attack.
Adam Forshaw: 5/10
Forshaw shored up a porous midfield after the interval. He brought some control and produced nice passes but looked rusty and was easily overrun through the middle. He could not change the flow of the game.
