Koeman era officially underway

The first official game of the Ronald Koeman era has been played and Everton got a comfortable 3-0 win vs Barnsley at Oakwell, with goals from Mirallas, Deulofeu and Barkley.

It was a game of many positives, as you could start to see a different Everton to the one that had left the grasp of Roberto Martinez. There was more pressing, and the passing had a lot more purpose. It is obviously very early in the transition, and over the pre-season games you’ll see a side more and more in the image of Ronald Koeman. The early signs are promising, and a welcome change from what we have seen for the previous two seasons.

It can be foolish to look too much into pre-season games at times, especially the results, but the performance was encouraging with Romelu Lukaku still to come back into the squad. Everton had to start without a recognised striker in this match with Kone and Niasse missing from the squad, hopefully due to their imminent departure from the club.

It’s been interesting to see the players that do have a big future at the club, Mason Holgate, Brendan Galloway, Tom Davies and Kieran Dowell all started and it’ll be interesting to see how much they play when all the players from the Euro’s are back and available to start. Everton need depth in the centre back area, and it’s looking as though Galloway will be Koeman’s first choice youngster if needed. Tom Davies played right back which was an unusual move, but one what showed the youngsters sheer talent. Everton don’t have any right-back depth and Koeman could have tried a few different players there, but opted for the young midfielder and he looked a natural, finding Deulofeu with some great early balls. Everton have a lot of great youngsters at the club, and the under 21’s won a pre-season tournament straight after the first team pre-season match, beating Celtic in the final. I just hope that these players are either used or loaned, we have a few now that are at a crucial stage in their development where they are capable of competing week in, week out in a competitive league.

With the first team players on show vs Barnsley there were a few performances which were very promising. Gerard Deulofeu’s star seemed to burn out last season along with a lot of other players as results on the pitch went from bad to worse, Martinez used him less and he got injured. Against Barnsley we has back to his edge of the seat best, it could be a breakout year for him and prove to be one of the best wingers in the league, he has the talent to be world class, hopefully this is the season where he really shows it.

Perhaps the biggest positive from the match was the performance of Ross Barkley. As England struggled to break down Iceland and Barkley was left on the bench, he must have been a bit disillusioned with life in the England camp. After a relaxing holiday, he’s back where he is loved and he played brilliantly with and assist and a goal. If this should be Deulofeu’s break out year, then it should be Barkley’s too. He was brilliant for the first half of last season before fading away. There is big hope that under a great manager he’ll be able to impress for the whole season and how everyone just how good he is.

2120 Everton fans traveled to Barnsley and it once again showed such great support for a great club. It could be a big season for Everton, and things have started nicely. Now with a Director of Football in place, the signings should start to come too.