Everton News

Report: Manager lauds “unbelievable” Everton man after fully-committed performance in win

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Caretaker Everton manager Duncan Ferguson has lauded Djibril Sidibe as being “outstanding” against Chelsea on Saturday, as he began his interim career as a head coach with all three points.

Ferguson had never stepped foot in the dugout as a head coach before facing Frank Lampard’s Blues on Saturday, but saw Richarlison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin find the back of the net to kick start the post-Marco Silva era with smiles on faces all around Goodison Park.

The Brazilian and English forwards were not the only men to provide a telling contribution at the weekend, though, as Ferguson has noted that Sidibe and Morgan Schneiderlin were incredible throughout the 90 minutes.

It was Sidibe’s eighth Premier League start since his summer arrival on loan from AS Monaco, and Ferguson feels the 18-cap France international was fully-committed to giving it his all, despite going into the game on the back foot.

“Sidibe was unbelievable,” our caretaker boss stated, via quotes by the Guardian. “He had not been well in the hotel, but he kept on there for the whole game.

“Yerry Mina has a hamstring [injury], then Mason Holgate goes down and I am thinking we are going to have to play Morgan Schneiderlin as a central defender – he was incredible as well.”

Who was your Man of the Match vs Chelsea?

Sidibe

Richarlison

Calvert-Lewin

Schneiderlin

Sidibe provided the pin-point accurate cross to Richarlison for the Brazil forward to open the scoring inside five minutes on Saturday, with what was the French full-back’s fourth assist for the club in all competitions.

Each of his three Premier League assists have come in Sidibe’s last five appearances, and the 27-year-old could have had even more at the weekend after recording three key passes.

The Monaco loanee, whom we have a €14million (£11.7m) option-to-buy for, only delivered one accurate cross against Chelsea, though, and lost possession 20 times, won eight of 15 duels, found a teammate with 71% of his 22 passes and committed two fouls, per Sofa Score figures.

Schneiderlin, meanwhile, registered six tackles, one interception, three clearances and won eight of 12 duels, but could only complete 65% of his 17 passes with four of five long balls failing to fall to a teammate in Royal Blue.

In other Everton news, the club are plotting a deal for a 28-cap international.

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