Everton FC: 5 Talking Points to Emerge from the Win at Bolton

David Wheater’s 20th minute red card proved key as Everton overcame Bolton at the Reebok Stadium on Saturday. Second half strikes from Marouane Fellaini and Apostolos Vellios eventually separated the sides, yet despite the circumstances, the game was never truly comfortable for David Moyes' men.

With Royston Drenthe added to a growing injury list already featuring Phil Neville, Sylvain Distin and Jack Rodwell, David Moyes gave another chance to Diniyar Bilyaletdinov on the left of midfield. Tim Cahill was selected up front, and again seeking to end his 2011 goal drought in what was his 250th game for the club.

Played in torrential rain, it was only when Vellios notched his third senior goal in Everton colours with 12 minutes remaining could the Toffees finally afford to ease up. Bolton gave an energetic performance, hassling the visitors right up the field, yet with 10 men, they were ultimately unable to trouble Tim Howard enough. 

The hard-fought victory propels Everton right up the table, and their first back-to-back wins of the season have seen them go from 17th to ninth in a fortnight.

Here are the main talking points to come from the Toffees' third away triumph of the season.

The Lethal Left

Aided by their numerical advantage, Everton sensibly attempted to stretch the play as often as possible yesterday and instigated many attacks directly at Bolton’s full-backs. With David Wheater originally a makeshift right-back, the original strategy was to drive Diniyar Bilyaletdinov infield from the left and encourage Leighton Baines to attack an exposed Wheater.

The former Middlesbrough defender’s early red card then forced Bolton to deploy the equally out of place Nigel Reo-Coker at right-back, which only fuelled the Toffees’ ambition to besiege this area. Everton sent in 24 crosses during the match, with seven finding their man. Six of these successful efforts were from the left where the Toffees found more space to measure up their attempt and both goals stemmed from left sided deliveries. 

Baines was at his imperious best, repeatedly finding space to unleash crosses whilst being heavily involved in both goals. Having started the season quietly, he is now beginning to adapt and overcome the extra attention opponents are giving him this season as they attempt to nullify the Toffees' most creative outlet.

Ahead of Baines, Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, who has endured a testing campaign so far, gave one of his better displays for David Moyes, connecting with a team leading four out of six crosses from the left. He was also the most creative source on the pitch, creating five chances, including his drilled centre to Marouane Fellaini for Everton's crucial opening strike.

This column has often been bulging with derogatory remarks, chastising several inept Bilyaletdinov performances so far this term. However, on Saturday, despite again failing to make 70 percent of his passes, the Russian international made a large contribution in the win.

Top Performers

Apart from Everton's left sided tandem, Marouane Fellaini and Seamus Coleman gave assured performances and were instrumental in the win.

Fellaini was a calming influence in midfield, central to most Everton moves. He attempted 76 passes, touching the ball almost double as many times as his teammates, and he influenced many of Everton's forward advances. He also contested far more duels that any other player, both aerially and on the ground, with the Belgian predominantly coming away with the ball after these tussles.

Seamus Coleman was also at his industrious best on Saturday, continually attacking veteran defender Paul Robinson in what turned out to be a feisty matchup. His energetic runs continually worried Bolton, and for a player often accused of not following up decent moves with end product, he created three chances and crossed six times, significant improvement on recent weeks.

On a side note, Apostolos Vellios continued his handy knack of scoring as a substitute. His game clincher was his third goal for Everton, making him the Toffees' top scorer this season. Impressively, he has also scored this trio of goals in just over 150 minutes of Premier League action this year.

Sights Set on Newcastle

Following Saturday’s win, Everton now sit ninth in the table with a game in hand over most of their rivals. Ahead of them, there is already an ominous gap opening up, with the Toffees trailing Liverpool in seventh by seven points.  

Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal and Liverpool seem most likely to jostle for position within the top six this season ahead of the rest of the league. However, Newcastle have managed to sneak into this breakaway seven and, after a third of the season, are still camped in the top four.

With a final Europa League spot available in seventh place (so long as there are not mass upsets in the domestic cups), catching the Toon Army is essential if Everton aim to feature in Europe next year. The Magpies' scintillating early season form has seen them gain a handy lead over other potential European contenders, and many would already back them to now finish in the top seven.

Everton, tied with Aston Villa on 16 points, lead a group of clubs still harbouring aspirations of achieving a top seven finish. Evertonians, along with many other sets of supporters, will be closely monitoring Newcastle’s progress in the coming weeks, hoping to make large inroads into the 10-point margin they currently enjoy.

Does a Fit Jack Rodwell Get Back In?

A controversial statement given the way Jack Rodwell’s stock has skyrocketed in recent weeks, but the chemistry of the team in the past two fixtures has looked more complete with a more creative option centrally. On Saturday, Leon Osman was again paired with Marouane Fellaini in the heart of midfield and, as the game progressed, his influence on proceedings began to swell.

With Fellaini charged with winning the ball back and generally mopping up midfield, Osman managed to quietly orchestrate several attacks for the Toffees. He created three chances from central midfield, passed at 84 percent (better than any player in blue) and also unleashed two shots at goal.

Everton have rarely been able to deliver through balls from central positions this season, and one of the reasons for that is their lack of creativity in the middle. Fair enough, yesterday was against 10 men, but there is certainly an argument that a central duo of Osman and Fellaini appears more likely to unlock a defence than when Rodwell partners Fellaini.

As great as Rodwell’s potential is, when playing with Marouane Fellaini, are their games not too similar or defensively minded to allow Everton sufficient central threat? For now, perhaps their combination works best when they are used together against the top teams, where Everton need extra resilience centrally.

Both are still young and still moulding their identities as players. Rodwell will undoubtedly become craftier and more creative the more he plays in the middle, but at the moment, when the Toffees are expected to break down obdurate defences, Osman’s greater creative ability was certainly appreciated yesterday.

Tim Cahill Still Producing

Despite having a truly futile calendar year where he is yet to score in for the Toffees, Tim Cahill still gave a strong performance on Saturday that suggests the goals are hopefully just around the corner. His barren run has amazingly now stretched across 24 games, yet despite this lack of potency, he was still a vital factor in the win.

Deployed as an out-and-out striker on Saturday, he linked up play between midfield and attack, passed better than any other Toffee apart from Leon Osman and created four chances for teammates, including a superb cut back for Apostolos Vellios.

When compared with Saha, he troubled Bolton far more and generally outperformed the Frenchman, who endured a more frustrating afternoon up front. Whilst it is imperative Cahill gets back among the goals as soon as possible, if he continues to play as he did on Saturday, his contribution more than merits inclusion in David Moyes’ final side, regardless of his lack of goals.

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