Everton at Minnesota United: Final | Loons win 4-0
Full time thoughts – Inchy’s side were well trained and did a great job of pressuring Everton, fully deserving their victory. For Lampard, there is still a lot to do. It’s just that we’re charitable this late at night. Good night Blues.
90′ – Final whistle, and not a minute too early, 4-0 the final score.
89 ‘ – Nice center in the surface of Nkounkou, but nobody reaches the end.
82′ – Blood challenge between Dele and Hayes, and the Loon went second. He is helped while Dele also looks in bad shape.
77′ – Benitez wide open on the right, his low cross is met by Danladi who passes in front of Mina and it’s 4-0. LOL.
74′ – Oh my God. Good job from Holgate and he fires a low kick through the box and the completely unmarked Dele somehow manages to get it wrong and wide, less than a yard away!!
70′ – Jackson’s hammered shot is well blocked by Godfrey and it goes just wide of the post. The resulting corner is cleared.
Warrington looked good but is now coming off for Isaac Price. I hope he is well.
65′ – Lewis Dobbin and Stanley Mills replace Gray and Gordon.
63′ – The Blues look better but once again in front of goal they look lost.
57 ‘ – Gordon falls very easily under pressure, in the box no less and the referee does not inflict a penalty. Stuff like that doesn’t make it look good.
53′ – A neat interplay in the box sees a Gordon shot into the goal blocked for a corner. The corner is over, Mina tries to recover but Minnesota ends up clearing.
The Blues have the hosts stuck in their box, but Gray flays his shot.
50′ – Now Dele with a good low cross in the box that Rondon can’t reach.
Gordon gets another cross to Rondon and the touch from a defender pushes him just out of reach of the attacker.
48′ – Dele chooses to play Gordon when he could have shot, Gordon’s cross is blocked for a corner. Gray to take, cleared and the hosts break, winning a corner.
Good center in the box and the diminutive Crellin is far from close, and a Minnesota header returns from below the bar! Phew.
46′ – The lucky rebound falls on an open gray behind the baseline and just needs a touch to score… and misses it.
Big changes for both teams as we have nearly 22 new players on the pitch. So far I’m still seeing Gordon & Gray, I’ll let you know when I see more.
Niels Nkounkou, Lewis Warrington, Mason Holgate, Jean-Philippe Gbamin, Dele, Yerry Mina, Ben Godfrey, Billy Crellin and Salomon Rondon are the changes.
Half-time thoughts – No surprise here really from Everton as the attack lacks cohesion, the midfielders are headless chickens and the defenders all look like they are seeing each other for the first time.
45′ – Half time, and the hosts lead 3-0. The scoreline flatters the Loons, but to their credit they took a chance when presented to them by the Blues’ chaotic defence.
44′ – Hlongwane’s shot deflects Keane for another corner. Pickford is livid in midfield. The wrong low turn is finally cleared by Patterson.
40′ – Hayes gets confused with Gordon and the Everton player wins another free kick from the same spot. An absurd short-passing streak leads to a Loons counter.
36′ – A more chaotic Everton defense and the Loons now lead 3-0. No words.
The United player on the left was wide open, his shot was deflected by Mykolenko, Pickford threw a desperate gauntlet and it fell perfectly for Hlongwane who easily beat Tarkowski on the goal line.
35 ‘ – A hoarse strike from Gray passes just above.
32′ – Inchy’s side do well to pass the ball under Everton pressure all over the pitch.
Phew, like that, the Loons now lead 2-0. Tarkowski made a critical error pushing for an interception leaving the Blues one man short and as the low cross comes in Keane misses his clearances and drives past Pickford.
28′ – It’s all Everton from goal as the Loons are happy to sit down and hit them on the counter.
Hayes knocks Gordon down just outside the box. Gray to take, finds DCL’s header but he can’t make enough contact to move it towards goal.
24 ‘ – Gordon is behind the defense on the left of Everton, but does not manage to drop the ball. It seems to have shifted to the left now.
Patterson loses the ball in a dangerous area but does well twice to dissuade his man from getting through.
20′ – Tarkowski chased by Loons dangerman Reynoso, who gets too close and feels the pain of the Everton defender’s studs. He limps off.
18 ‘ – A quick change of direction allows Minnesota to obtain a corner, taken aback and partly cleared.
A point-blank shot from Reynoso comes out of Davies’ arm and the ref says penalty! He couldn’t do much about it that close, but it was away from his body. Send Pickford the wrong way and the hosts lead 1-0.
16 ‘ – Gordon shoots above then DCL with all the time in the world sends his right left foot on the goalkeeper.
14′ – Loons’ long ball and Keane’s error! His poor touch allows Hlongwane to recover the ball in the area but his shot is blocked by a superb tackle from Tarkowski, and the rebound is saved by Pickford for a corner which the Blues end up recovering.
10′ – Deflected shot leading to a Loons corner. Tricky corner in the six-yard box, Pickford does well to strike and Iwobi clears.
A big save from Pickford prevents a half-volley from entering, and the resulting corner is well past.
6′ – End-to-end action here. Two crosses into the box that required a touch towards goal. Blues look decent so far.
Gray fires a shot on goal from distance, straight at the keeper.
4′ – Iwobi starts the game and almost ends it with a goal too! He races to the left and crosses, Doucoure sets up Gordon for the low cross shot which is inches from DCL and Iwobi, for a corner which is cleared.
3′ – Mykolenko grants a corner after having protected his man well, badly picked up and cleared.
1′ – Gordon sets us off!
Definitely a 4-3-3, with Gordon on the right, Gray on the left.
It’s not far from Lampard’s strongest line-up – which is worrying in itself – and the line-up we hope to see once the regular season begins. Great chance for Iwobi to show today that he can dictate the pace of a match.
Interestingly, ESPN lined up the Blues in a 4-4-2 with Gordon leading with DCL, although they mixed up Patterson and Mykolenko.
Frank Lampard has picked his starting XI and it looks like a 4-3-3, with Tarkowski and Mina in the middle of the backline, and Patterson and Mykolenko as full-backs. Davies crosses a midfield with Doucoure and Iwobi, and Gray and Gordon flanking Calvert-Lewin in the lead.
Everton
Minnesota United
Everton continue their pre-season preparations in the United States with a second friendly tonight, this time against MLS Minnesota United in Minneapolis.
The Blues lost their opener to Arsenal but should look much more consistent tonight. Manager Frank Lampard continued to test the squad as they sought to improve their fitness but was unable to add to his roster with defender James Tarkowski the only new signing .
Tonight’s hosts are led by former Blue Adrian Heath and sit fourth in the MLS Western Conference, well-placed for a playoff berth. The Loons were eliminated by possible finalists Portland Woods in the first round of the last post-season.
Andre Gomes and Nathan Broadhead have not been seen in training videos and photos released by the club, while goalkeeper Asmir Begovic continues to recover from a sprained ankle which forced him to wear a protective boot.
Lampard is likely to make some changes to the XI which started on Saturday and could change the entire line-up once again for the second half to ensure everyone has enough playing time. Fans will be eager to see an improvement in possession and movement today, and it will be interesting to see if the manager starts again with a 3-4-3/5-4-1.
For the Loons who are halfway through their season, the injury list is a bit longer – K. Arriaga – Ankle, H. Dotson – Knee (out for the season), R. Metanire – Thigh, T. Oluwaseyi – Thigh, W Trapp – Thigh & P. Weah – Knee.
Competition: Friendly pre-season summer 2022 #2
Start date and time: Wednesday, July 20 at 5:00 p.m. PT / 8:00 p.m. ET / 1:00 a.m. BST* (Thursday)
Stadium: Allianz Field, Minneapolis, MN, USA
Ability: 19,400
Time: 86°F/30°C, clear, 20% chance of precipitation, winds 18 mph
TV: ESPN+ – United States; N / A – UK
Radio: Everton TV
Direct: Everton TV
Game thread: Live blog above starting one hour before match time
*Royal Blue Mersey has affiliate partnerships and may earn commissions for products purchased through the affiliate links provided.
Information from LiveSoccerTV.com
The two teams have never faced each other – the Loons are coming off a 2-0 win against the bottom DC United where former Blue Wayne Rooney has just taken over, as the Blues slipped to a 2-0 loss to Arsenal at the weekend.
