Just about every fanbase in the Premier league has hope at the dawn of a new season. Anything is possible when everyone is sitting at zero points. For Everton, there was a lot of positivity headed into the first couple matches of the season. A squad with more attacking options and they were able to keep some important players while also shipping out some deadwood. Everton were even able to get a couple of deadline day additions in right before the window closed. First of those deadline day signings was Orel Mangala. Mangala comes to Everton on loan from Lyon. Mangala does have a bit of Premier League experience playing at Nottingham Forest previous making 53 appearances. Everton needed another midfielder with Gana starting to show some signs of slowing down a bit. The second deadline day signing came basically right as the window was shutting. Armando Broja came in from Chelsea also on loan. Broja has been a long time target for the blues and the club finally got him in. The Albanian has made 66 Premier League appearances for Southampton, Chelsea, and Fulham. His best Season came at Southampton back in the 2021/2022 season. He netted 9 goals in all competitions and had stretches where he looked like a constant threat to score. He won’t be fit for at least another month though so it’s not an immediate add to the squad. The incomings at the end of August weren’t the only good thing to happen at the end of the window.
Neal Maupay is finally gone from the club. A bizarre transfer that should of never happened, he only scored 1 goal in his time at Everton and he was just never a fit. Obviously the Andy Dufresne social media post didn’t go over well, and he won’t be missed by many on Merseyside. Mason Holgate also made his final loan move away from Everton. Holgate just never really reached a Premier League level. He had some bright spots at times, but never really put it all together. He did have one memorable moment that sticks out. During a Merseyside Derby he shoved Roberto Firmino into the crowd at Anfield. If that is your lasting memory at the club you probably haven’t hit the levels you wanted to at the club. Holgate at least put in 100 percent effort every time he stepped on the pitch so, wish him luck at whatever club he might play at next.
While all of this was going on at the end of the window the first 3 matches of the season were also happening, although by the end of the month, every Everton supporter was thankful for the first international break. First up was Brighton at home. This was a classic Everton match. Everton were hot out of the gate. They were creating chances, they were putting in good tackles, they were organized defensively. AT least for the first 25 minutes. It was an attack down the right side for Brighton, Mykolenko got rinsed by Yankuba Minteh, he played a great ball across the box to Kaoru Mitoma and it was an easy tap in. Everton did show a little fight after that goal went in there was a penalty shout with Dominic Calvert-Lewin getting taken down in the box, but VAR determined there was no foul on the play. After that moment Brighton just tore into Everton. Danny Welbeck scored the second not long after the penalty was denied, and he went basically unchallenged before he got his shot away. From that point on Brighton mostly just coasted with Everton creating next to no chances the rest of the match. The Cherry on top was Ashley Young getting sent off 10 minutes after Brighton scored the second. The match really crumbled after that and Everton were embarrassed. Brighton scored a third goal with only a few minutes left, and it would of been 4 in stoppage time if it weren’t for an offsides.
All the good vibes headed into to the season were dashed emphatically in 90 minutes. Then came the match at Spurs. Everyone knew what was coming after watching what happened against Brighton the previous weekend. The goal was just keep the score down and try not to ship 3 or 4 more goals. Well, that didn’t work out either. Everton did defend a little better for stretches of that match, but Spurs were always going to score at least 3 that day. In the end it ended up a 4-0 defeat and it was two matches played and 7 goals allowed without even really looking like scoring.
Everton did get a little boost of confidence in their cup match against Doncaster Rovers. They wasted some chances in the first half, but turned it on in the second half and the gap in quality really showed though. Iliman Ndiaye really shined in this match. He scored a great solo goal to put Everton up 2-0, and he was excellent all match long. Everton won the match 3-0,and will play Southampton at home in the next round. The last match in August was Bournemouth at home. A match that on paper was very winnable for Everton.
Off the back of his shinning performance in the cup, Iliman Ndiaye was handed his first Premier League start for Everton. He made the most of his first start in blue as he ran the show for Everton. Great runs forwards, playing great passes all over the pitch, creating chances, winning the ball back with good tackles, he was absolutely everywhere, head and shoulders the best player on the pitch. Him and Tim Iroegbunam had Everton singing along. Score was 0-0 at halftime but Everton were pounding on the door. Finally in the second half the first goal of the season. A good knock down in the box by Calver-Lewin and Michael Keane put his right foot through it and it went in. Not even 10 minutes later Dwight McNeil played a great through ball to Calvert-Lewin and he finished with a smart little dink over the charging keeper. Everton were creating chance after chance after chance. Easily could have scored 4 or 5 goals that day. In the end, the would rue not scoring 4 or 5 goals. As soon as Ndiaye came off the pitch with 7 minutes left Bournemouth came alive. They started looking much more dangerous going forward and ended up scoring with just 3 minutes left in the match. 3 minutes later as Everton still looked a little shell shocked Bournemouth equalized. A real gut punch to come away with a draw when it looked like the 3 point were wrapped up for the whole match. Everton looked like they gave up after the second Bournemouth goal went in. Pickford made a few excellent saves to try and save at least a point for Everton, but once again Bournemouth scored, and Everton snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. A historic collapse in the Premier League era. No team had ever lost after being up by two goals that late into a match before. It really is a shame because there were so many positives before the collapse. Obviously Ndiaye was incredible, Iroegbunam had another good performance, Jack Harrison had an excellent match, Calvert-Lewin was immense, but it was wasted by shocking defending in the end. Now Everton have an international break to reset and re focus.
August Also saw another twist in the search for new owners of Everton football club. In a bit of a shocking move John Textor entered into an exclusivity agreement with Farhad Moshiri. This came as quite a shock to seemingly everyone. Including the club itself. There was reporting that this exclusivity was agreed to by just Moshiri without filling in members of the club. Textor has been pretty open about how much he wants to be the next owner of Everton Football Club, but there is still a rather large road block. He still has shares of Crystal Palace that he needs to sell of before he could take over as new owner at Everton. Not to mention there is still all the issues with 777 debt, that scared off the Freidkin group. Needless to say this process is not going to be over quickly, and ultimately Textor might not end up owing the club either. It is something to keep an eye on though, as it seemed like with all the links to Lyon players at the end of the transfer window, and sending a new youth signing on loan to Lyon, he was heavily involved. Time will tell if he ends up being the guy that Leads Everton into a new chapter or not.
One thing is for sure. Everton need to use this international break as a soft reset and try and forget about the first 3 matches of this season. It’s not how anyone envisioned this season starting, but you have to try and build on all the positives from the Bournemouth match and go from there. Hopefully Jarred Branthwaite is getting close to fit and the backline can be solid once again. As far As August goes, Everton supporters will be glad to see the end of summer.
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