Former England defender Danny Mills has slammed Everton midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin for being sent off against Crystal Palace, as told to Football Insider.
The £13.5million-rated defensive midfielder was issued his marching orders by referee Jonathon Moss midway through the second half for a second bookable offence, and Mills feels the 29-year-old’s actions led to the Blues playing against the Eagles with one arm effectively tied behind our back.
Schneiderlin’s bookable incidents were not of great concern to Mills when viewed alone, but the impact of his first booking had a lasting effect on the result.
“I think the first yellow card was a little bit harsh, I don’t think there was an awful lot in that,” he said.
“Having said that, once you’ve got one you can’t do anything, you’ve got to have the most perfect behaviour. It wasn’t dramatic, what he did, it wasn’t disastrous, but once Everton went down [to ten men], it looked like it held them back a little bit.”
Mills claiming we were actually held back by having Schneiderlin on the field with a yellow card to his name against Palace would suggest we are set to benefit from his enforced absence from the side that will play Watford at the weekend, as the Frenchman will not be in a position where he can repeat his errors from the curtain-raiser.
However, also losing Andre Gomes through injury has resulted in Marco Silva facing a selection headache, as our holding midfield options have dwindled down to Jean-Philippe Gbamin, who admitted after his Toffees debut that he needs time to get up to speed with the pace of the Premier League.
Fabian Delph may be in contention for a role against the Hornets after returning to training earlier in the week, but the Blues core will not be at full strength whatever way you look at it.