Patrick Boyland has singled out Donny van de Beek for praise despite Everton losing 3-1 away at Newcastle United in the Premier League on Tuesday night.
The Lowdown: Bad result
After tasting victory against Brentford in the FA Cup, Frank Lampard was certainly brought back to reality when he saw his team lose to a fellow relegation rival.
Indeed, the result leaves them just one point above the Magpies now, and only three above the relegation zone, with another huge game against Leeds United set to come this weekend (Premier League).
The Latest: van de Beek a positive
While there were many negatives to come out of the match for the Goodison Park faithful, The Athletic journalist Boyland pointed out van de Beek as one silver lining when he came on:
“Van de Beek has at least made a bit of a difference in terms of Everton being able to retain some ball.
“Little threat to their play right now though.”
The Verdict: Start against Leeds
Van de Beek already showed enough quality in the half an hour after he came on to warrant a starting spot against the Whites at home on Saturday afternoon.
He yielded an impressive 93% pass accuracy, more than any of his teammates on the pitch, while his 43 touches of the ball were more than starters Richarlison and Jordan Pickford (SofaScore).
Indeed, as Boyland alludes to, any Ajax graduate is going to be clever with the ball, and the numbers in his short cameo suggest he could help the Blues dictate the tempo more against Marcelo Bielsa’s high-intensity set-up.
The Manchester United loanee was also successful with both of his long ball attempts at St James’ Park, suggesting that he is more than capable of bossing play from the middle of the park for the Merseyside club in what is another crucial match at the bottom of the table.
In other news, find out who the Toffees’ three worst players were here!