Setanta Sports commentator and journalist Ihor Boyko commented on the game in England of former Dynamo defender Vitaly Mykolenko in his Telegram channel.
Ihor BoykoMykolenko's year at Everton ended with a cup match against Man United. He made his debut in the Third Round match against Hull City last season.
Immediately it is worth saying unequivocally - during this time he did not become a noticeable football player in England.
It's hard to stand out when you're in the grayest team in the Premier League. Everton is a place where life has stopped. It froze.
A year ago, it might have seemed that Mykolenko was moving to a team that happened to be at the bottom of the table and would get out of there very easily. After all, Everton is a solid club. The problem is that at the time of Mykolenko's transfer, it was not a solid club.
In the summer of 2021, Everton lost Carlo Ancelotti, invited at the direction of the owner through the head of sporting director Rafael Benitez and went through a rethinking of all their previous spending. Benitez is a master of dry colors, he can turn anything gray. "Everton", to which Mykolenko came, was already what in English is called struggling.
Soon after Mykolenko, Frank Lampard should celebrate his year in the team. He should be celebrating as he is already rumored to be out of the game ahead of a crucial game against Southampton and a string of poor results ahead.
Let the match against Man United end in defeat, but after it it would be wrong to dismiss, because the team fought and showed itself from a very good side. If it does happen, the decision will be the result of a poor 10 minutes against Brighton which saw them drop into the relegation zone.
A full year in the fight for survival makes Everton a regular participant in this fight, both in form and in substance. The team is playing badly and badly. The first is bad about the form, but it could be accepted if it led to the result: a deep defensive line, focusing only on quick attacks and a lack of team play both in defense and in attack. All the successes ahead are the individual achievements of Gray and some other football players.
The second bad thing is the content. "Everton" play bad defensive football. Before the defeat against Brighton, the Toffees could be proud of the number of goals conceded - just 20, which is the level of Tottenham, Liverpool and Man United. However, Everton have the same expected own goals against defensively awful Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth, but have conceded 10 and 15 fewer goals than them. If it wasn't for Fulham's incredible Leno, Pickford would have been the best goalkeeper in the league this season, considering the number of saves and points he brought to the team.
If the team was getting everything it deserved, Everton would be far behind.
Mykolenko drowned in this greyness. But on the other hand, he fully responds to her. Errors in defense, ineffective connections to attacks, positional failures. In the one-on-one game, he's great: he's tenacious and has quick feet, but otherwise he's an important part of this gray team.
Will anything change in the future? Certainly not for Lampard. During his coaching career, he has already proven that he is not someone who can change the situation. Lampard accepts fate as it comes. Does not want to get rid of suffering, but plunges into it. But a change of coach can lead to upheavals, which is definitely not needed for a team determined to fight for survival. If a year ago, "Everton" could still consider itself an accidental participant in such a situation, now everything is clear. And Lampard is just the perfect coach to charge his team to suffer.
If we talk about the selfish moments of Mykolenko the footballer, then let Lampard stay. In his staff is Ashley Cole, with whom the Ukrainian works a lot individually and will not get another such option to learn the game in his position.
In any case, it will be difficult for Everton and Mykolenko. The New Year does not promise other colors," Boyko wrote.
