Paul Merson gushes over Everton defender Vitaliy Mykolenko v Crystal Palace
Paul Merson has been praising Everton defender Vitaliy Mykolenko for his performance in the 3-0 win over Crystal Palace on Saturday.
The Toffees returned to winning ways with an impressive attacking and defensive performance against the London club to climb up to 11th in the league.
There were few nervous performances in the build-up to the clash, but Frank Lampard addressed those worries with the relatively same personnel but a different system.
In the second half of the game, Merson said, “They’ve come out the traps here, Palace,” he said on Soccer Saturday (22/10, 16:13).
“All Palace at the moment. Great tackle from Coleman on Zaha. Unbelievable defending by Mykolenko on Eze.”
Here to stay
The Ukrainian was signed under Rafa Benitez to replace Lucas Digne and many were against this decision as the Frenchman was one of the best players.
It took some time, but Mykolenko has now come into his own and has become an undroppable under Frank Lampard.
He’s known to be an attack-minded full-back but has become a very good defensive player in the coming months as well.
His positional awareness for Everton is also another key aspect of his game and Merson is right to point out a key moment in the clash against Palace.
We imagine that the Ukrainian has been extremely hard to play against this season and his defensive work often goes understated.
The likes of James Tarkowski and Conor Coady get the plaudits for the defensive record but the 23-year-old also deserves credit for it.