Sean Dyche must haul off Vitaliy Mykolenko after first-half shocker in Everton v Manchester United
Everton manager Sean Dyche must consider bringing off Vitaliy Mykolenko at half-time after the full-back’s struggles in the first half against Manchester United.
The Toffees were well fired up heading into Sunday’s (26 November) Premier League contest at Goodison Park, but it took just three minutes for the mood to change.
Alejandro Garnacho scored what will surely be the Goal of the Season – and one of the greatest goals in the competition’s history – with an overhead kick from a long way out.
While Garnacho was rightly praised for his sublime goal, which had many similarities with Wayne Rooney’s against Manchester City 12 years ago, he should never have been allowed to get the shot away.
Diogo Dalot put a cross into the box from the right under absolutely no pressure from Mykolenko, who for some reason did not feel the need to charge towards the United full-back.
Mykolenko has played a big part in Everton’s upturn in form over the past month, but this was a terrible piece of defending in a half in which he struggled throughout.
Indeed, as per Sofascore, Mykolenko won none of his three duels in the opening 45 minutes against United, while he lost possession five times.
The Ukraine international also misplaced five of his 17 passes for a success rate of 71%. For context, Ashley Young on the other flank completed 82% of his passes.
Perhaps most damningly of all, Mykolenko did not register a single cross. This poor performances comes at a bad time, as skipper Seamus Coleman is back in the squad after recovering from a long-term injury.
Dyche could therefore bring on the club captain and shift Young to the opposite flank, or instead turn to the more-than-capable Nathan Patterson. Either way, Mykolenko could do with being put out of his misery.
In other Everton news, “incredible” footage has emerged of the protests from prior to the game.