Everton 2-0 Huddersfield: Sam Allardyce enjoys winning start
Sunday 3 December 2017 07:37, UK
Sam Allardyce enjoyed a winning start as Everton manager as Huddersfield were brushed aside 2-0 at Goodison Park.
No permanent Everton boss has lost their opening game in charge during the Premier League era, and there was little sign of that trend ending after Gylfi Sigurdsson stroked the hosts in front shortly after the interval (47).
Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who had set up the Icelandic midfielder with a brilliant flick, duly doubled Everton's lead with his shot deflecting in off Mathias Jorgensen (73) as the Toffees made it two straight league wins.
Allardyce sees his new side rise into the top half of the table, but for Huddersfield it is four straight league defeats and the Terriers are now just five points above the relegation zone.
During an opening 45 minutes low on quality, it was the visitors who had the best chance as Tom Ince's low corner nearly fell to Laurent Depoitre after Ashley Williams failed to clear, but Jordan Pickford was quick off his line to smother the danger.
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Everton lacked the fluency in their play seen in the 4-0 win over West Ham on Wednesday night, as the same starting line-up failed to create any clear-cut openings in front of their new manager - Jonas Lossl's comfortable save from Cuco Martina's instinctive shot was the closest the hosts came to troubling the scoring in the first half after 25 minutes.
Two minutes after the restart, Aaron Lennon cut inside to find Calvert-Lewin, and the 20-year-old showed brilliant awareness to hook the ball into the path of the onrushing Sigurdsson who stroked his first-time shot beyond the committed Lossl.
The Icelandic midfielder is slowly adapting to life on Merseyside with his latest goal involvement meaning he has scored two and assisted two in his last four games, having contributed none in his opening 10 outings.
Huddersfield boss David Wagner brought Steve Mounie on for Scott Malone as his side went in search of a first away goal since the opening-day victory over Crystal Palace, but Everton put the game to bed with a swift counter-attack.
Idrissa Gueye won the ball in midfield and immediately sought Wayne Rooney, with Everton's captain for the day producing a perfectly-weighted through ball for Calvert-Lewin to finish albeit with a slice of good fortune.
The forward's left-footed strike clipped off the shins of Jorgensen and looped over Lossl into the net to cap a fine individual performance as Everton saw out the remainder of the match with ease.
Opta stats
- Sam Allardyce has won five of his seven first Premier League matches in charge of his seven previous clubs (D1 L1).
- Huddersfield have lost four consecutive league games for the first time since November 2000.
- Gylfi Sigurdsson has been directly involved in four goals in his last four PL games for Everton (two goals, two assists), after none in his first 10 for the club.
- Dominic Calvert-Lewin has had a hand in 10 goals in all competitions this season for Everton (6 goals, 4 assists) a joint-club high alongside Wayne Rooney.
- Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored and assisted in a game for the Toffees for the first time in any competition.
- Rooney has scored five and assisted one in his last six top-flight games, after just two goal involvements in his previous seven this season.
Man of the match - Dominic Calvert-Lewin
Calvert-Lewin was forced to feed off scraps in an uneventful opening 45 minutes as the young Englishman was too often crowded out by Christopher Schindler and Mathias Jorgensen but he earned his luck in the second period.
The forward's brilliant flick from Aaron Lennon's pass for Sigurdsson to break the deadlock was the game's one real moment of quality and Calvert-Lewin had only one thing on his mind when Idrissa Gueye snapped into a challenge.
The 20-year-old freed himself enough from Jorgensen to get his shot away from Wayne Rooney's pass with the ball ballooning off the defender into the net for his sixth goal of the season. With four assists also to his name, no player has been involved in more goals this season for Everton in all competitions.
The managers
Everton boss Sam Allardyce: "Nice weekend for the start. If I look back at my time at Crystal Palace, we drew at Watford where we should've won it but missed a penalty to go 2-0 up. It took me six games to win my first match.
"With Wednesday under our belts in David [Unsworth]'s last game [a 4-0 win over West Ham], I watched that and the lads have come in and done the job today. It wasn't as pleasing on the eye as that game, but I think the lads were a bit fatigued. The quality shone through."
Huddersfield manager David Wagner: "This was a very disappointing afternoon from our point of view. There wasn't a lot in this game; both teams showed good fighting attitude but both showed a lack of creativity and quality in the final third.
"Today we were not able to show the talent that this group has, especially in the final third, and this is what we have to get back in order to have trust and believe in ourselves in the Premier League. We have shown it in the past and we will work hard to show it again next weekend."
Pundit reaction
Charlie Nicholas: "Holgate was decent today, but Huddersfield didn't have a great threat. Sam will be happy with the overall result but it was as poor an opening 45 minutes as I've ever seen.
"They had an extraordinary start to the second half but they had a big slice of luck for the second goal, with a big deflection over the keeper.
"Sam's positives will be the defensive structure and I think Sigurdsson was the star turn. Lennon was decent today, linking up for the first goal, and the fans appreciated his performance."
What's next?
Everton head to Cyprus for the dead rubber against Apollon Limassol in the Europa League on Thursday, ahead of the Merseyside derby against Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday. Huddersfield, meanwhile, entertain Brighton at the John Smith's Stadium next Saturday.
