Goodison Analysis: An almost-perfect night for Calvert-Lewin with England
England beat San Marino easily on Thursday night, rolling out 5-0 winners – and the final score should have been even higher.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin played the first 63 minutes, doubled his international tally to four and should have had a hat-trick.
His night started off pretty badly with an embarrassing miss that gets worse the more you watch it.
You could say he took his eye off the ball, except he didn’t. He watched it all the way before it went past his right foot, banged off his left leg and went backwards.
It was a tap-in.
However, things got better for him after that.
International breaks can be bad for club players who are in need of a rest after a gruelling winter schedule.
However, playing against San Marino and scoring twice is probably the best thing that could have happened.
You’re not going to get many easier games.
The second goal was 100% Calvert-Lewin and while the commentator on Sky said that it was an easy header, that takes away a lot of what DCL did.
The cross was a peach but Calvert-Lewin was strong and determined and got ahead and above the defender.
We’ve seen this a number of times this season – Calvert-Lewin is no flat-track bully with his head.
The third… Okay, the third was easy and when you look at the still below it’s hard to figure out how he had so much space where he was.
He even seemed embarrassed himself when he put the ball in the net, and that and the lack of crowd noises made it a really surreal goal.
Hopefully, he gets rested now for the next two games or plays a cameo role and scores another.
A confident and rested Calvert-Lewin is just what we need as we play the Premier League run-in that will determine if we play in Europe, which in turn could dictate the level of player that we can sign in the summer.
As far as this international break goes, it’s a case of so far, so good.
In other Everton news, Dutch legend Ruud Gullit has blamed Everton for mishandling Davy Klaassen during his time at the club.