‘We would have got punished’ – Everton star not pleased with showing v Fulham
Everton striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin has said that the Toffees did not play well in the second half against Fulham on Sunday.
Carlo Ancelotti’s side won 3-2 at Craven Cottage, but needed to rely on Fulham missing a penalty in order to seal the win.
Speaking after the match, Calvert-Lewin said that they would have been punished on a different day.
“In the second half, I don’t think we played very well,” he told Everton’s official website.
“In the first half, we did well to get the lead and we should have continued that [level of performance]. On another day, perhaps we would have got punished for not playing well enough in the second half.
“But the most important thing was to get back to winning ways, and we build from here. We have to kick on and make sure we’re better next week [against Leeds United].”
Calvert-Lewin was in typically prolific form on Sunday and now has 10 goals from his opening nine Premier League matches of the season.
However, his side were not at their best and allowed Fulham to take 13 shots to their nine, generating 1.3 expected goals in the process (via FBRef). Had Ivan Cavaleiro put away his penalty, Everton would not have won the game and that is despite going 3-1 up in the first half.
Going forward they are very dangerous and James Rodriguez and Richarlison looked especially creative in their new 3-4-3 formation. Their added freedom allowed them to provide plenty of opportunities for Calvert-Lewin, who took three shots on the day, while Alex Iwobi and Lucas Digne were incredibly dangerous from their wing-back positions (via FBRef).
However, they are looking increasingly poor defensively and Yerry Mina’s form is becoming an issue. His passing was uncharacteristically inaccurate on Sunday (via WhoScored), while Ben Godfrey was clumsy in giving away the penalty.
Ancelotti has clearly identified the issue and switched to the back three in a bid to rectify it, but there remains work to be done.
In other Everton news, here is how Allan made an impact since arriving over the summer