“Find peace in the madness”. That was the message from Ian Woane as he urged Everton’s players to find a controlled, positive aggression on the training pitch. With much of these early weeks of pre-season focused on raising fitness levels, the focus is also on setting a template for action on the field, so the Blues assistant coach asked the team to be positive on the ball throughout Tuesday as the players completed a double training session.
A player who might consider being one of the new faces in the group a natural part of his game. Tim Iroegbunam is still gaining experience in senior football but his best moments, in his best season to date, have often seen him take the ball on the half-back under pressure – his first touch at QPR released him into space before forward The 21-year-old has made himself at home in his first 10 days with his new team and the smiles in training camp show he is enjoying himself.
The atmosphere at the club’s base, just outside Dublin, is relaxed and the players were happy to stop and talk to guests they met around their complex – some of them wearing Everton shirts. Table tennis proved popular during training sessions, while group activities dominated the evenings – Tuesday night included a quiz. None of this is unusual at this stage of the summer, with friends reuniting before the on-court testing really begins, but there is an obvious positive in camp.
There is a strong sense that the team finished the last campaign well and the momentum has carried through the final season and into the new one. A steady stream of positive developments, combined with a growing appreciation for the significance of last season at Goodison Park and preparations for a move to the Blues’ stunning new waterside home, reverses the dark moments that caused such trouble for team, club and fans last season in the belief that those days may finally be over.
This feeling has infiltrated the management team. After a summer of going from gig to gig in what he called a “decompression” after the end of the campaign, Sean Dyche said in a training interview that the hopes he had for this season “didn’t get the points “. taken away – that would be a good start’. Perhaps the answer was simple to create, but his display looked like a manager who recognizes that hard work remains but is beginning to believe he can shed some of the greater burdens that came with his managerial role last time out. year.
On the field, Tuesday’s doubleheader was a show for the scorers. Dominic Calvert-Lewin was dominant in the morning session, getting something in practice – the best way to answer his number two, Beto. The Portuguese earned Dyche’s praise for his work on the opening day and was back again 24 hours later, setting up Dwight McNeil and Iliman Ndiaye in the opening games with four touches.
When the team finished playing with 11 players – one in which the players were instructed to work the ball into the back four before breaking forward to try to score as Woan tried to build on the message of control and aggression – Beto was straight into the game. goals when he finished low from Elijah Campbell’s pass before scoring in the second. He still stands behind a player widely recognized as one of the best players at the club – Michael Keane has also shown his ruthlessness along the way so far.
The coaching staff is pleased with the state in which the players have returned from the summer holidays, not least McNeil and Jack Harrison. Both had serious injuries last season that interrupted their summer, but this time their fitness is benefiting them.
Harrison trained in Miami during the summer break, while McNeil returned to Finch Farm before the pre-season to strengthen for the pre-season. All this will come in handy in the coming days and before the infamous Gaffer’s Day.
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