Harrison Armstrong gets away with murder as second Everton exit now needed
Everton fans witnessed a game of two halves against Wolves in the Premier League on Wednesday.
David Moyes started Harrison Armstrong over Merlin Rohl, with the English youngster enjoying the opening 45 minutes, just like the rest of his teammates.
Wolves eventually got a point at the Hill Dickinson Stadium after a much-improved second half, with the Toffees completely clueless after the break.
While the former Preston North End loanee had some impressive moments in the opening 45 minutes, he looked out of his depth as the two teams returned to the pitch.
Everton fans can’t overlook Harrison Armstrong’s sloppy second half vs Wolves
With Thomas Kirk brandishing two red cards in the 1-1 draw between the Toffees and Wolves, most of the headlines around the game have obviously focused on the officials.
Michael Keane was sent off after pulling Tolu Arokodare’s hair in the 83rd minute, while Jack Grealish was given his marching orders soon after for sarcastically clapping after the referee blew his whistle after a foul on the England international.
Moyes has to take a lot of the blame for the Blues’ collapse, with one change from Rob Edwards at the break, replacing Jhon Arias with Andre, completely nullifying the Merseyside outfit’s dominance in the middle of the park at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.
While Armstrong and Tim Iroegbunam were arguably two of the best players on the pitch in the first half, their decision-making was abysmal in the second.
In the 19-year-old’s 87 minutes on the pitch, he had a passing accuracy of 73 per cent, lost possession 12 times, completed just one of his three dribbles and was dribbled past twice, as per Sofascore.
There also doesn’t seem to be a lot of focus on Armstrong’s role in letting Mateus Mane run into space unopposed behind the Toffees’ defence, as the midfielder should’ve arguably been tracking the Wolves attacker.
Harrison Armstrong not ready for Premier League at Hill Dickinson Stadium
Moyes admitted he’ll be looking to send Armstrong back to Preston in January if possible, and it would make sense to do so.
Despite some encouraging glimpses of the midfielder’s talent in the first half as Everton took the lead through Keane, the English youngster’s second-half performance showed he still needs to learn a lot.
It feels like Armstrong is getting away with murder against Wolves because there were other major talking points in the game.
Had Keane and Grealish not been sent off, there may have been more attention on the Englishman and Iroegbunam’s disastrous display after the break.