Everton 3–1 Newcastle United: Youngsters Shine in Edinburgh
Ten days out from the Premier League kick-off, Everton found a bit of rhythm and a lot of personality in the Scottish capital, brushing aside Newcastle United 3–1 at Murrayfield in a performance that mixed control, bite and flashes of real class.
David Moyes’s side arrived on the back of a 3-1 defeat at Stuttgart and a patchy pre-season. Newcastle, reshaped and still reeling from a summer of upheaval under new head coach Matthias Jaissle, came north in bright pink and full of questions after the exits of Eddie Howe, Anthony Gordon, Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimaraes.
By full-time, most of the answers belonged to Everton.
Branthwaite sits out as Patterson gets the nod
The headline before kick-off was who wasn’t involved. Jarrad Branthwaite, fresh from captaining the side and playing 80 minutes in Stuttgart and having also started against Bolton Wanderers and Hamburg, was left out of the matchday squad as part of his planned reintegration following last season’s hamstring injury. The club confirmed he will continue full training at Finch Farm before featuring in Saturday’s final warm-up against LOSC Lille at Hill Dickinson Stadium.
That aside, Moyes kept things relatively familiar. Nathan Patterson started at right-back on his return to native soil, while Iroegbunam remained absent after his early withdrawal in Germany. New faces Norgaard and Johnson stayed on the sidelines, still to be fully folded into the squad.
Slow start, sharp response
Newcastle, “pretty in pink”, made the brighter start. Wissa tried an early lob that gave Travers a simple save, and the Everton goalkeeper was soon called into more serious action when Mykolenko tangled himself up and Elanga seized on the mistake, forcing a sharp parry behind.
For the first 10 minutes, Everton barely put a foot on the ball. The first Newcastle corner came and went, but the pattern was clear: the Magpies on the front foot, the Blues trying to settle.
Then the game turned.
Patterson finally dragged Everton up the pitch on 14 minutes with a superb cross to the far post, Dewsbury-Hall just a fraction late to convert. Hackney began to bite into midfield challenges, Barry and Ndiaye drew fouls as they tried to drive through the lines, and George started to show why there is such excitement around him, even if his early end product lagged behind his intent.
Newcastle still threatened. Wissa went down theatrically under Hackney’s challenge in the box, the referee unmoved. Toure whipped in dangerous deliveries from the left. Ossula almost broke clear. Yet Everton’s back line, marshalled by Tarkowski and Keane, refused to crack.
Barry breaks through, Ndiaye doubles up
The pressure finally told – at the other end.
On 28 minutes, Hackney was robbed and Wissa seemed certain to score, only for Tarkowski to time a brilliant intervention. In a heartbeat, Everton flipped defence into attack. Keane launched a lofted ball forward, Barry initially misjudged it but recovered superbly, wriggling past two defenders before a last-ditch tackle knocked the ball loose. Armstrong seized on it and slipped in Theirno Barry, who drilled a low finish across the keeper and into the far corner.
A goal built on resilience and ruthlessness.
Barry kept tormenting Newcastle, drawing a wrestling match from Joelinton on the edge of the area. Everton wasted that free-kick, but the second big opening of the half brought the second goal.
Mykolenko fed Dewsbury-Hall in the box, Joelinton again went in too aggressively, and this time the referee pointed to the spot. On 35 minutes, Iliman Ndiaye stepped up and calmly rolled his penalty home, sending the new Newcastle keeper the wrong way.
Everton were flying now. Patterson thundered forward after nicking the ball off Joelinton, only for Dewsbury-Hall to hesitate and overcomplicate the move, the chance dying as pink shirts flooded back. Wissa responded with a nasty foul that earned only a free-kick and a stern word from Tarkowski, the temperature rising but the scoreline unmoved.
By half-time, the Blues led 2–0 and looked in control, their defence solid, their forwards increasingly confident, Newcastle’s frustration all too obvious.
Newcastle ring the changes, Travers stands tall
Jaissle responded with wholesale changes after the break, and the new faces almost made an instant impact. Jacob Murphy slipped in behind Mykolenko and drove a low shot toward the far corner, but Travers flung himself down to his right and clawed it away.
Everton’s attacking rhythm stuttered at times. Hackney sent a fine ball over the top for Barry, whose first touch deserted him. George whipped a superb cross towards Ndiaye that bounced awkwardly and ran out of play. Mykolenko, solid one minute, delivered an “idiotic” cross the next, as Everton struggled to stitch together a killer third.
Yet there were glimpses. Dewsbury-Hall knitted play neatly, Hackney teed up George for his trademark curler that bent just beyond the top corner. Newcastle tried to overload Mykolenko’s flank again but strayed offside. When Everton chose to keep the ball, it often circled back to Travers, but there was method in the calmness; they were dictating tempo, not simply hanging on.
From a free-kick earned when Barry was clipped by Miley, Dewsbury-Hall curled an effort around the wall that seemed destined for the post before the Newcastle keeper pushed it behind. George saw another shot blocked, Hackney combined beautifully with him in a one-two that ended with the midfielder going down in the area – the referee unmoved. Ndiaye cut in and blazed over. Barry broke and then wasted a promising counter with a poor pass.
George lights up Murrayfield
Changes arrived around the hour mark, Dibling and Beto among those introduced as Moyes rotated his attacking options. The pattern of the game, though, remained largely Everton’s.
Barry led another break and slipped George in, only for the youngster to pause and lose momentum before Dibling went down under an arm to the face – again, no penalty. Armstrong then switched play to Dibling, whose first cross deflected behind, his second a teasing ball that just begged for a touch.
The move of the night came on 73 minutes, and it belonged to Tyrique George.
Picking up the ball, he surged forward, played a crisp exchange of passes with Armstrong, then watched as his teammate coolly stood on the ball and waited. The reverse pass that followed was exquisite – firm, precise, threaded through a closing gap. George spun like a ballerina, opened his body and lashed a low shot into the net. A stunning goal, both in construction and finish, and a statement from a young player who had been threatening to explode all evening.
Everton were enjoying themselves now. George slid a pass into Aznou, whose cross was blocked. Ramsey resorted to a rugby tackle on Armstrong and somehow escaped a booking. Dibling beat his man and whipped in another inviting cross with no one on the end of it.
Barnes claws one back, but Everton cruise home
Newcastle finally found a way through late on. Murphy, bright since coming on, delivered a superb cross from the right, and Barnes clipped home with a tidy finish to deny Travers a clean sheet.
It barely altered the mood.
Everton saw out the game with authority, moving the ball with confidence and showing a blend of steel and flair that has not always been present in their pre-season. From Tarkowski’s first-half rescue act to George’s sparkling strike, this was a night when key figures across the pitch stepped up.
With LOSC Lille to come and the Premier League just around the corner, Moyes will know one friendly in Edinburgh does not answer every question. But if this is the standard his reshaped side can hit, and if youngsters like George and Barry keep playing without fear, Everton’s summer might just be turning at the right time.
