After a less than scintillating August, Everton have seemingly started to get things back on track a bit in September. A 3-2 defeat to Villa on the road where the toffees led 2-0 at one point in the match stung for sure, followed closely by a penalty shootout loss under the floodlights to Southampton in the EFL Cup. Dwight McNeil secured a goal and assisted another to set up Calvert-Lewin against Villa, while Abdoulaye Doucoure was the goalscorer in the blues’ exit of the EFL Cup, assisted by Michael Keane.
Dyche’s men then went on the road to face newly promoted Leicester City at the King Power Stadium. In that match Everton took the lead early after Iliman Ndiaye scored a brilliant goal, dancing around off of a pass from Ashley Young and firing off the post and in. Unfortunately, there would once again be a late concession and the two sides would share the points. Branthwaite finally returned to the side for the toffees to host Crystal Palace, and on the sixth time of asking Everton would finally get into the win column in the Premier League. After going behind late, a pair of fantastic Dwight McNeil goals early in the first half was enough to secure a massive three points.
With Newcastle soon coming to Goodison Park, Everton sit 16th in the table. There have been a couple of key standout performers for the blues in the month of September, and The Toffee Blues have compiled the votes of all 23 contributors to figure out who has been voted, the coveted, Toffee Blues Player of the Month.
2nd Place – Iliman Ndiaye – 7/23 Votes
Making a second appearance in as many months on the player of the month results, it is Iliman Ndiaye. Everton’s new #10 started all four matches in the month of September registering over 80 minutes in every single match. Additionally, he has not received a FotMob rating below a 7.0, with his lowest coming in the cup loss to Southampton. He has completed nearly 90% of his passes over the last two matches, (56/63), and has shown his dribbling quality taking n 18 defenders off the dribble in the last 3 matches.
He of course scored a brilliant goal against Leicester City, going on and on before firing an absolute laser off the post and in. His dynamism has brought a new dynamic to the Everton attack, bringing a level of individual ability and progression that the blues have been missing for sometime. Another statistic Ndiyae has excelled in is shot-creating actions, defined by Football Reference as a pass, take on or other action that leads to a shot. He has created 12 of those in his last 2 matches. He continues to pass the eye-test, the statistical tests, and always looks to be a force going forward. With 7/23 votes for the month of September, Ndiaye is the runner up for Toffee Blues Player of the Month.
1st Place – Dwight McNeil 16/23 Votes
It should perhaps be no surprise that, coming in in first place, Dwight McNeil is the Toffee Blues Player of the Month. It has been a brilliant month for Dwight, tallying 3 goals and an assist in the Premier League. Not only noticed by the Toffee Blues, McNeil has also been nominated for Premier League Player of the Month as well. He began the month scoring a fantastic goal against Aston Villa, and assisting a goal in that match as well. After two highly-rated shifts against Southampton and Leicester, he was rewarded as he scored 2 fantastic goals against Palace to propel Everton to victory. The first came from an Ashley Young delivery, well outside the box, McNeil sorted his feet out and curled a world-class strike into the top left corner, leveling the match. Shortly after, he would control brilliantly from a Jack Harrison cross, bringing it down off a defender and firing a shot near post for the match winning goal.
Dwight has shown a renewed aggression in attack, totaling 7 shots in Everton’s last two matches. He has also completed 15 progressive passes in the month of September, defined as a completed pass that moves the ball 10 yards closer to the opposition goal. While not the paciest, McNeil has shown his ability to use his technical prowess supremely well this month. Bowling a Villa man off the ball and firing into the bottom corner with ease being one of the best displays of his skill.
In his new position playing more centrally, McNeil already has five goal contributions on the season through six games. Last campaign, he totaled only nine. The advanced numbers favor his creativity even more, over performing his actual goals with a 2.4 expected assists number. The blues will likely need McNeil to continue to be a regular contributor on the goal sheet, either by distributing or by scoring himself. With 4 goal contributions in the month of September, Dwight McNeil is the Toffee Blues Player of the Month for September.
UTFT!
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