Everton player ratings v Luton Town in FA Cup: Dominic Calvert-Lewin stinks, Amadou Onana shines
Everton and Luton Town will now not play each other again in a replay with Rob Edwards’ side picking up a win in the FA Cup clash at Goodison Park.
The Toffees welcomed their Premier League rivals on Saturday, 27 January, and the scoreline at full-time was 2-1.
Vitaliy Mykolenko’s own goal led to Luton taking the lead and Jack Harrison managed to restore parity in the clash with a well-struck left-footed effort but Cauley Woodrow had the last laugh with a late winner.
Here are our player ratings from the game:
Joao Virginia – 6
A solid performance from the Everton goalkeeper who stepped up once again when Jordan Pickford was rested. While it’s not that he’s good enough to be a number one, he’s perhaps as good a number two as Sean Dyche would’ve wanted. He made a couple of key saves in the game and his distribution was also decent.
Nathan Patterson – 5
Made a clearance off the line in the second half, but apart from that, his performance throughout the game was dismal, to say the least. However, throughout the game, he appeared to lack the positional know-how. He even made a number of questionable passes and that certainly will not have impressed Dyche.
James Tarkowski – 6
Played a pretty rough game and was fortunate to not be booked in the game. It was a proper old-school centre-back display from the Everton defender. There were a couple of errors, but he did well to make up for them with his aerial presence and did not let the Luton attackers have too much room.
Jarrad Branthwaite – 4
His slip put Everton in all kinds of trouble and needed Virignia to bail them out. Given how well the centre-back has performed this season, it was probably his worst display. He got bullied aerially, looked off the pace with his passes and it just did not look like he was up for it on the day.
Vitaliy Mykolenko – 6
Was obviously unfortunate to be credited with the own goal, but he did not let it affect his performance throughout the game. He was strong at winning duels, both aerially and on the ground and almost shut down the Luton right wing and they looked to attack more from the other side.
Jack Harrison – 6
An impressive goal from the Englishman who always looked to get into central attacking positions to make something happen. However, his ball retention was questionable and off the ball, he was highly ineffective in regaining possession.
Amadou Onana – 8
Won eight out of 11 ground duels, completed most of his long pass attempts and amassed a pass accuracy north of 80 per cent. He was solid on and off the ball and did not let Luton dictate terms from the middle of the park. If clubs wanted to see why Everton value him so highly, this was just the perfect way to display that.
James Garner – 7
Was an ideal partner to the Belgian in the middle of the park but did not have the same kind of range as Onana. He was even unsuccessful with most of his crosses into the penalty area and he could’ve done better with the likes of Calvert-Lewin and Beto in there. His accuracy too was above 80 per cent and Dyche will be pleased with the Everton midfielder’s display.
Dwight McNeil – 6
Had a few moments where he looked threatening and combined well with players around him but it was nothing really worth writing home about. The home support would rather he would’ve gotten closer to goal and been more of a menace in front of goal than on the wings.
Beto – 5
Credited with the assist for Harrison’s goal and his all round play was certainly impressive. He had a good chance to put Everton in the lead in the 72nd minute and he took a very good shot to curl the ball into the top corner, but it was well blocked by the Luton defenders. Another chance fell to him in the 80th minute but he was wasteful once again. Did not hold his nerves in front of goal.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin – 3
Nowhere near his best in what was a disappointing display from the England international. This was one of the worst defences in the Premier League and he should’ve taken his chances and given the defenders a few problems but that did not happen. He lost five out of his seven aerial duel attempts and never looked like he was the one to make the difference for his side. Was rightly withdrawn for Youssef Chermiti with 15 minutes to go. He might be loved by the fans, but they’re not going to be onside for too long with performances like these.
Subs
Youssef Chermiti – 5
Arnaut Danjuma – 4
In other Everton news, a firesale update has emerged at Goodison Park amid the takeover, sanctions and Arsenal and Manchester United waiting to capitalise.
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