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Everton 3 Sunderland 0: Dominic Calvert-Lewin gives Goodison Park reason to cheer
There will be no more soothing sight at Goodison Park this season than that of a striker outpacing an opposing defence and slamming into the top corner.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin demonstrated what Everton fans feared they would not be seeing for a while, certainly during the last fortnight of plodding football.
The 20-year-old’s matchwinning performance against Sunderland was as reassuring as it was excellent. The manner in which the youngster took on responsibility and grew in confidence after the first of his two goals offers Ronald Koeman an option he must have worried was not there. Perhaps Calvert-Lewin call fill the void.
The calibre of opposition will be taken into account, of course, but there was no doubting the quality of the strikes helping Everton to a 3-0 win. Only a header against the post prevented a Calvert-Lewin hat-trick before he was replaced on 66 minutes – a clue the striker starts this weekend.
“Sometimes you see he is still a young player and you need to protect him. He will be stronger, faster and better. The first was a really important goal,” said Koeman.
“There will be more to come from him.”
Former Everton outcast Oumar Niasse struck the third on 84 minutes. You know how it goes; you wait weeks for a goalscorer to come along, and then suddenly two come along at once.
Koeman needed a win; any win. After a sequence of damaging results, albeit against formidable opponents in the Premier League, dispatching a timid Sunderland side was compulsory.
Calvert-Lewin broke through with a neat finish six minutes before half-time, Davy Klaassen claiming an assist by nudging Nikola Vlasic's pass into the England youngster’s path.
That erased restlessness in a sparse Goodison crowd, and when the young striker smashed in his second on 51 minutes the passage into the next round was secure, before Niasse celebrated the end of his exile with a high class finish.
“Everyone knows it was a difficult situation for him (last season) but it is about taking your chance. He showed tonight he is part of the team,” said Koeman on Niasse, who added the plan was always to rest Wayne Rooney regardless of his court appearance on Monday.
Victory in the first in a sequence of home games should relieve growing pressure on the Dutch coach.
“If you don’t win it is difficult but now we have started to win and we have three more home games to go,” said Koeman.
“If we win I go into the international with a smile and on my face. If not I will have a different face.”