Italian media slams Everton defender Vitaliy Mykolenko performance in Ukraine defeat v Italy
Italian media were quick to slam Everton defender Vitaliy Mykolenko’s performance for his appearance in Ukraine’s 2-1 defeat to Italy on Tuesday (12 September).
The 24-year-old started the Euro 2024 qualifier at the San Siro, earning a 5/10 rating from Gazzetta Dello Sport (13 September, page 5) for his performance.
The Italian publication pulled no punches about the performance of the Toffees defender, who they believe was “tortured” throughout the game by Aston Villa midfielder Nicolo Zaniolo and described much of his defending as “disjointed”.
Mykolenko picked up a booking during the game and was seemingly lucky to not give away a penalty, having appeared to foul Riccardo Orsolini late in the contest as the defender seemed to connect with more of the Italian attacker than the ball.
However, he played a second 90 minutes in yellow and blue in the space of only three days, having made his only appearance for the Toffees this season in their 2-1 win over Doncaster Rovers in the Carabao Cup.
Not turning heads
The international break may have served as an opportunity for Mykolenko to force his way back into Sean Dyche’s thinking after a difficult start to the season that hasn’t even seen him make an appearance off the bench in any of the Toffees’ opening four Premier League games.
While facing Zaniolo when he is at his absolute best is by no means an easy task, the 24-year-old looked unable to even lay a glove on his opponent, losing eight duels in the game, the most of any player in the match and committing four fouls [Fotmob].
Ashley Young has been Dyche’s preferred option at left-back, having joined the ranks at Goodison Park as a free-agent this summer and although the former Manchester United man has been fairly unremarkable on Merseyside, he’s offered a steadiness Mykolenko hasn’t been able to.
When the Toffees travel to Arsenal on Sunday (17 September), you would expect to see Young once again lining up on the left side of defence as it is extremely unlikely Mykolenko’s international displays would have made Dyche consider changing his side.
In other Everton news, the Toffees need to find their finishing touch after it was revealed their xG is one of the highest in the Premier League