Sky Sports pundit: Demarai Gray and Amadou Onana the Everton issue in a nutshell at Tottenham
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…
Amadou Onana and Demarai Gray’s misses in the first half at Tottenham were the Everton problem “in a nutshell”, according to Kevin Campbell.
The Toffees went toe to toe with the high-flying home side on Sunday (16 October) and had two wonderful chances to take the lead, but both times the Everton players fired over the bar before they eventually succumbed to Antonio Conte’s side in after the break after a Jordan Pickford error.
Campbell, a Sky Sports pundit, knew it was vital to take at least one of those chances if Frank Lampard’s side was going to get a result from a tough away trip, and sees finishing their chances as an age-old issue for this team.
He exclusively told Goodison News: “You’ve got to take one. This is the thing, you’ve got to take one because you’ve got to get your noses in front. Then the dynamic of the game changes.
“But when you miss two guilt-edged chances, Spurs huffed and puffed, and Everton’s game plan was working up until half time.
“Second half they can adjust a little bit. They’ll look at it, adjust, and they’re the home team, they’re going to put it on you a bit more in the second half because they’re at home.
“And that’s what happened. And Everton at the end of the day couldn’t live with Spurs, and the margins are very fine.
“We’ve seen this happen to Everton in the past, where the defence is ok, the midfield’s ok, but they don’t score enough.
“And when there’s key moments and you don’t take your chances, you end up losing the game. That’s it in a nutshell for Everton.”
In fairness to Gray his chance was trickier than Onana’s but Lampard would have expected both to go in, with his players having done the hard work of getting in those positions in the first place.
While there have been marked improvements throughout the team since the dark days of last season, the key weakness is an ability to be clinical in front of goal.
Once Dominic Calvert-Lewin is up to full speed that will surely improve, but that is not something Lampard has ever been able to rely on regularly, and while Neal Maupay is undoubtedly a step up from Salomon Rondon it does feel like another scorer is needed.