View: Carlo Ancelotti’s guidance allowed Alex Iwobi to excel against Wolves
Everton earned back-to-back wins on Tuesday as an inspired Alex Iwobi guided the team to victory against Wolves.
The former Arsenal player is beginning to prove how important he is at Goodison Park, and has now acheived a WhoScored rating of seven or above in five of his last six league games.
It has been some turn around for the 24-year-old, whose struggling form led him to start just 19 league games last season.
Iwobi didn’t take long to excel against Wolves, either, striking home a well-taken opener in the sixth minute.
The shot was placed perfectly and had enough behind it to beat Rui Patricio, but it was the winger’s intelligence that created the opportunity, as seen below.
Iwobi fed the ball into James Rodriguez, who in turn found Lucas Digne, but with multiple options available to the Frenchman Iwobi made his decision for him due to the amount of space he found.
The Nigeria international didn’t stop there however, and was a constant threat in the first-half because of the clever positions he took up.
Much of his style may now be influenced by Carlo Ancelotti, but quick-thinking and pace on behalf of Iwobi has enabled him to become more dynamic.
The above image is an example of a one-two passing move that split Wolves open, allowing Iwobi to burst through on goal, though on this occasion his shot was saved.
A similar passing move in the second-half created a chance for the wide-man to add his second, and his growing partnership with James Rodriguez is beginning to produce results for Everton.
The pace of our attack makes this kind of move almost impossible to deal with, as we saw on Tuesday night.
However, the more opponents become aware of this tactic, the more they will do to stop it, and if Iwobi is crowded out he risks being nullified quite easily.
Fortunately at Molineux Andre Gomes produced a peach of a cross to find a winner through Michael Keane, so getting on the end of crosses is something Iwobi should add to his game.
The above shot shows Iwobi knows how to create space in the area, and if he can show the determination to attack the back post it will give defenders another player to mark, hopefully distracting them from Dominic Calvert-Lewin in the process.
It is very encouraging to see how Iwobi’s game has improved, and credit must go to both him and Ancelotti, as the Italian has clearly worked out how to get the best out of the £34million man.
In other Everton news, Kevin Campbell exclusively tells us about how much he admirers the Toffees’ left-flank.