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On retro shirt day at Goodison Park, there was something of a throwback about the inspiration behind Everton’s crucial victory over a bedazzled Tottenham Hotspur.
Erling Haaland’s goalscoring exploits brought the need for an out-and-out number nine back to the fore on our shores in recent years, but the style with which the Norwegian goalscoring phenom goes about his business is very much a modern take on the traditional centre forward.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s battering ram display on Sunday very much harked back to yesteryear. David Moyes could become the stabilising force the club needs in his second spell and he added to the nostalgic feel to Everton’s first league win in seven.
To say Calvert-Lewin was suffering from a crisis of confidence under Sean Dyche is an understatement. After impressing as Moyes’ second coming gets off the ground, the difference between the 27-year-old that had Spurs defenders seeing stars for 90 minutes to the struggling hitman from earlier in the season is night and day.
Even after two games, we are seeing plenty more invention and willingness to get on the ball from Everton under Moyes, who singled out his side’s goalscoring prowess as a major dilemma. The change in Calvert-Lewin’s influence, however, is the most positive takeaway from the last week, one capable of dragging the Toffees out of their sticky situation.
“If we use Dominic as an example, I think he had three chances in midweek,” Moyes said. “Today he had the same, got his goal and could have had more. If a striker is getting his chances then it is a good thing. The goal will give him great confidence.
“People keep telling me he has not been getting many chances. Well, he has had his chances in the last two games, he has his goal.
“The biggest thing today is he played like a proper number nine at times. He made the centre halves worried, he was a threat, he was challenging, winning a good percentage of his aerial duels. He got involved in everything.”
Making Calvert-Lewin a combative force again could be Moyes’ greatest accomplishment, in the short term, should he steer the club to safety with time to spare.
The England striker certainly picked the perfect time to start to turn things around, with national team boss Thomas Tuchel watching on from the stands.
A 16-game goalless drought would get to anyone, but the manner of Calvert-Lewin’s 13th-minute finish was not the mark of misfiring forward, as he turned the Spurs backline inside out before slotting home.
He should have had more than his solitary strike in a raucous Goodison atmosphere, with his touch letting him down when played in over the top during the first half, before firing wide from point-blank range in the second.
But, as Moyes alluded to, the manner of his old school number nine showing is what will please a manager hardly renowned for modern innovation.
Calvert-Lewin won three more duels than anyone else on the pitch on Sunday, winning 11 in the air alone. It kept Spurs on the backfoot and they were unable to pivot off and get a foothold in the match.
More pertinently, a player with only 40 shots all season prior to Sunday’s encounter, managed six alone against Spurs. The fact he kept coming back for more, when the match was as good as won at 3-0, shows that relentless streak strikers of Calvert-Lewin’s ilk thrive upon has not deserted him amid his struggles for form.
Tougher tests are to come, but with a goal drought monkey off his back, helping him move to outright third in Everton’s all-time Premier League top goalscorers list, Moyes’ proper number nine can kick on from here and keep troubling defences on a more regular basis, to the benefit of everyone on the blue half of Merseyside.
