Sky Sports pundit surprised as Dwight McNeil dropped by Everton after first goal
We’re delighted to welcome former Everton striker Kevin Campbell as our exclusive columnist. Each week the former Toffees captain will be giving his views on the biggest talking points at Goodison Park…
Kevin Campbell was “surprised” to see summer signing Dwight McNeil dropped from the Everton starting line up for the defeat to Manchester United.
The former Burnley winger has had a relatively slow start to his Toffees career, but looked like he might have found the spark he needed when he smashed home his first goal for the club to win the game at Southampton on 1 October.
Therefore Sky Sports pundit Campbell didn’t expect to see him return to the bench immediately, and feels it has to have been down to Frank Lampard wanting pace to attack the visitors at Goodison Park on Sunday (9 October).
“Am I surprised? Yeah I am surprised,” he said, speaking exclusively to Goodison News.
“But obviously there was a reason why Frank Lampard made the adjustment, because he sees something.
“It paid off [to start with] because Everton took the lead, so you look at stuff like that. It’s at Goodison, maybe he wants a bit more pace in the team because Dwight McNeil isn’t a flyer.
“He’s a good player but he isn’t a flyer, so to get Anthony Gordon on the pitch to start he’s probably thinking, ‘I can cause them as many problems as they cause us’.
“Obviously it didn’t quite materialise like that, but maybe that was his thinking.”
Gordon had been rested for the win on the south coast, and his starring role so far this season meant it was difficult to keep him out of the line-up for the United loss, especially with Demarai Gray arguably man of the match at St Mary’s.
Lampard may wish he had done however, since the 21-year-old turned in one of his poorer performances since becoming a regular starter, and was also booked to get himself suspended for the trip to Tottenham on Saturday (15 October).
With Dominic Calvert-Lewin not yet ready to start, McNeil is sure to take the academy product’s place and will have to hope he can pick up his momentum despite the interruption at the weekend, which would be boosted if the number nine can also make an appearance off the bench.