Jack Grealish message instantly after City Ground win says it all about Everton right now
Everton moved back into the race for European football with their win over Nottingham Forest.
Nottingham Forest were beaten 2-0 by Everton at the City Ground on Tuesday night, as David Moyes’ side put their frustrations behind them after the Toffees’ 0-0 draw with Burnley previously.
James Garner put in another star performance against Forest, as his clinically taken goal opened the scoring after 19 minutes, before his sublime turn and pinpoint pass played in Thierno Barry for the second, on what was a Man of the Match display back at his old stomping ground.
Everton now sit eighth and just four points behind Liverpool in fourth, whilst the gap to fifth and sixth-placed Chelsea and Manchester United respectively is just two points.
Everton camaraderie on full display in Jack Grealish message
Jack Grealish missed Everton’s game against Burnley, but was able to come off the bench with a little under 20 minutes to go against Forest, and helped play his part in a vital three points.
After the game, the Manchester City loanee took to his Instagram stories to share his thoughts on the win, and it highlights just how together this Everton team really is.
Grealish wrote: “Well done brothers. Some away performance that with so many players out. Away end was unreal. Great end to the year! UTFT!”
Indeed, Everton were missing a host of players for Nottingham Forest, with Michael Keane, Jarrad Branthwaite, Seamus Coleman and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall missing out through injury.
Meanwhile, Iliman Ndiaye and Idrissa Gueye are both at AFCON, meaning it was truly a team effort in order to get the win over former manager Sean Dyche’s side on Tuesday night.
Everton unity symbolised through two individual performances vs Nottingham Forest
With so many first-team regulars absent at The City Ground, Moyes needed to dig deep into his squad depth in order to fill some holes in his starting XI.
As such, two players in Merlin Rohl and Nathan Patterson were thrown into the lineup for the first time this season, and it would’ve been easy and understandable if the occasion passed them by.
However, no such thing happened, as attacking midfielder Rohl played the full 90 minutes, completing 82 per cent of his passes, whilst making 12 defensive contributions, taking 50 touches, and winning four out of his six aerial duels.
- Everton only registered 30 per cent possession against Nottingham Forest
- Moyes’ side took 11 shots, with only three of those being on target
- Everton have now taken an equal 14 points from both home and away games this season
Meanwhile, right-back Patterson made 10 defensive contributions, played five passes into the final third, won 100 per cent of his aerial duels and cleared the ball from danger six times.
These two performances, whilst not necessarily headline-making ones, were a brilliant insight into just how together this Everton side is, and how well-drilled Moyes has got his players so that when they are called upon out of pretty much nowhere, they are ready to step up and deliver for their team.
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