Lukaku Stands Tall As Everton Turn Tables On Dynamo Kyiv
The Europa League decor went up at Goodison Park and Everton re-emerged from the hole they’ve been digging for themselves in the Premier League to win in Europe again. It took another stirring recovery from the concession of an early goal, a late penalty for handball and the eventual backing from the stands at Goodison Park – the Grand Old Lady morphed from a pit of angst to a bearpit in the second half – but the Blues will take a vital lead to Kyiv next week.
They would, of course, have preferred to have kept a clean sheet and removed away goals from Dynamo’s side of the equation, but the knowledge that one goal of their own in Kyiv’s Olympic Stadium next week would significantly enhance Everton’s chances of making the quarter finals of a European competition for the first time in 30 years.
Should they do so, it will largely be down to Romelu Lukaku. The size of the Belgian’s price tag means that he has borne the bulk of the expectation and criticism for the team’s struggles in the Premier League this season but his seven goals in as many Europa League games has already elevated him to the status of Everton’s all-time leading goalscorer in Europe. Tonight, it was his sheer will and determination that set up the equaliser for Steven Naismith and his composure from the spot that allowed him to stroke home the goal that won this leg of the tie from the spot.
There were plenty of plaudits to go around, though, as Martinez’s men shook off a frustratingly subdued start and grew into the contest with a performance that magnified in intensity and effectiveness until it peaked with about 20 minutes still to go. Phil Jagielka seemed to wear the frustrations of a wasted domestic season on his sleeve and, along with Lukaku and the seemingly omnipresent James McCarthy, he appeared to be dragging the Blues to victory through force of will with a towering display.
The captain might have had the opening goal, too, had Lukaku been a little more aware or less selfish when Oleksandr Shovkovskiy’s rush of blood to the head left him stranded 30 yards from goal having been dispossessed by the Everton striker and his goal empty. The Belgian went for glory and missed badly while Jagielka, for some reason the furthest Blue shirt forward, was tearing forward on the overlap to his left.
As wayward as Lukaku’s 33rd-minute effort may have been, it represented the first shot on goal from the home side after two uncharacteristically poor deliveries from corners by Luke Garbutt. At that stage, Martinez’s side was a goal down and on the receiving end of the now familiar mix of groans and boos from the home fans as the team struggled for cohesion and momentum.
The manner in which they had conceded the goal hadn’t helped. Antolin Alcaraz, playing in place of John Stones who was laid low with a virus, was at the centre of the defensive uncertainty that undermined Everton’s start to the game. His failure to clear ball in the second minute led to a dangerous cross from the Kyiv left that Tim Howard pushed back into danger and it was an ill-advised header by the Paraguayan that required an intervention by McCarthy to slash the ball behind for a corner 12 minutes later.
From that set-piece, with the Blues’ biggest men marking a clutch of Kyiv’s supposed danger men beyond the penalty spot, Oleg Gusev ghosted from the back post to the front, while his marker Ross Barkley was blocked off from following him by another white shirt. That left the midfielder free to sweep the ball home inside Howard’s near post from close range.
Everton eventually got their act together but not before Alcaraz had almost doubled the size of the mountain they were facing with an awful back-pass that almost put Dieumerci Mbokani in one-on-one in the box with Howard and the Amrican had pushed a low drive from Sergiy Sydorchuk around the post.
Lukaku had a direct free kick tipped over after Barkley had been felled in a dangerous area outside the Dynamo area and, from the resulting corner, Phil Jagielka had an excellent header cleared off the line and Alcaraz’s first-time shot was deflected inches over the crossbar.
The Blues remained on the offensive, though, with an increased tempo and directness that has been the hallmark of their Continental campaign and which galvanised a crowd that had grown audibly agitated at the sideways and backwards passing that littered the first half hour. As a result, they pulled level six minutes before the break. Lukaku out-muscled his marker and set off for the opposition penalty area in typical fashion, determinedly shrugging off three robust challenges before poking the ball forward to Naismith. The Scot made no mistake with the finish, side-footing expertly past Shovkovskiy.
It was Naismith’s second Europa League goal – third if you count his crucial involvement in the first goal in the home game against Wolfsburg, which was officially accredited as an own goal to Ricardo Rodriguez – and it encapsulated the dilemma over Martinez’s formation as it relates to his forward players. Naismith has been in iffy form of late – to be honest, he was far below his best tonight, too – and his presence alongside Barkley robs the team of width down the left but he pops up with important goals.
That weakness down the left flank, where once Leighton Baines and Steven Pienaar formed a lethally effective combination, was frequently noticeable in this contest where a number of over-lapping runs by Garbutt were ignored by both Naismith and Barkley – perhaps because they reflexively look to attack down the centre now or move the ball to the right. No surprise, then that as Everton finished the first half strongly it was from the right flank that another great opportunity to score opened up for Kevin Mirallas but he couldn’t pick out a blue jersey from the byline.
The Toffees had the bit between their teeth now and they started the second period with the same forward intent that had characterised the last 10 minutes of the first. Alcaraz tried his luck from 30-odd yards with a raking shot that the ‘keeper initially spilled before gathering at the second attempt, Naismith glanced a header just wide , Shovkovskiy fisted away Garbutt’s wicked free kick, Barkley had a shot blocked after a rare glimpse of attacking confidence from him, and Seamus Coleman drifted a header of his own just past the far post… all within 10 minutes of the restart.
Kyiv were largely on the back foot, spending long periods penned into their own half but Mbokani almost capitalised on hesitation by Howard from a corner but headed into the stantion behind the goal and Andriy Yarmolenko flashed a decent effort narrowly over from the edge of the box.
In between, Arouna Kone had come on for Everton to replace Mirallas who had, again, been a peripheral figure and the Ivorian saw a header saved from McCarthy’s cross after Coleman had gone down in a heap in the Dynamo area before Barry was played in neatly by Naismith but scuffed his shot disappointingly wide.
Two more moments involving Lukaku almost engineered a second goal, the first a low shot from the angle that the goalkeeper smothered and then a nice one-two exchange with Naismith that would have given the Scot a great chance to put Everton ahead but he couldn’t dig the ball out from between his feet and the chance was lost.
Having given their all since the half-hour mark, Martinez’s men began to flag a little as the game moved into the last 20 minutes. Christian Atsu was stripped and ready to come on at one point to offer more pace and energy but when the second change was made it was Osman who got the nod.
The veteran midfielder has shown his ability to make an impact off the bench in the past and he proved to be the crucial difference for the Blues this evening. He was picked out with a brillant reverse pass by McCarthy that sent him to the byline and when his attempted cross was blocked by the arm of Danio Silva, referee Carlos Velasco pointed to the spot.
Lukaku stepped up, stutter-stepped to prompt Shovkovskiy into diving to his right and then stroke his shot down the middle with enough power that it found net off the ‘keeper’s foot.
Perhaps due to fatigue or a desire not to get caught out at the back being too adverturous, the drive to increase the margin wasn’t quite there in the remaining seven minutes but had Osman been able to get more than just a faint glance on a late header from the irrepressible Lukaku’s cross, he might have capped an excellent cameo off the bench.
As it is, Everton will travel to Kyiv next Thursday with a one-goal aggregate lead and with the knowledge that Dynamo’s need to attack might play into their counter-attacking hands.
More importantly, the victory and the manner of it provided another potential catalyst to the Blues’ mis-firing domestic form. In many ways, the first third of this game felt like a Premier League fixture, right down to the poorly-conceded set-piece that echoed Olivier Giroud’s goal off a corner at Arsenal 10 days ago. Unlike at the Emirates or at Stoke the following Wednesday, Everton found the resolve, the impetus and the wherewithal to not only claw their way back but find a way to win.
The raucous atmosphere that developed over the course of the contest certainly helped. Once the effort on the field had become visible, Everton were roared on by a vociferous Goodison crowd that, if the like of which shows up again on Sunday, should ensure the points needed to secure safety from relegation will come from the six remaining home games.
If that particular corner has finally been turned, we’ll find out against Newcastle at the weekend but, for now, the players have ensure that their European dream lives on.
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