Everton manager Frank Lampard has praised Nigeria’s Alex Iwobi and Mali’s Abdoulaye Doucoure’s midfield partnership following their impressive 3-0 win over Dynamo Kyiv on Friday.
Dwight McNeil came off the bench and registered a brace on his first Everton appearance as the Blues concluded their preparations for the 2022/23 season, but it is Iwobi-Doucoure’s makeshift central midfield partnership that caught the eyes of the manager.
Injuries forced Lampard to deploy a makeshift midfield as they tackled the Ukrainian side at Goodison Park with more than 30,000 spectators in attendance. Midfielders Tom Davies and Andre Gomes missed out due to injuries.
"I thought they did pretty well," Lampard said, according to Liverpool Echo, as he explained the decision to partner Iwobi and Doucoure.
Meanwhile, the former Chelsea manager had a positive assessment of their game against Dynamo Kyiv, especially after their defeats to Arsenal and Minnesota United.
"I thought it was a really good evening," Lampard said, as per the club’s website. "It was a great game - and for the reasons we played it, everyone really respected what it was there for.
"It was good for us, it was a really good start and we got an early goal with good football.
"We wanted to start brightly. Sometimes you have to put your own energy into these pre-season games. There was a big crowd today, which was great for us, but we also needed to inject our own energy, which we did with our play. We were purposeful with our passes, playing some longer balls to get up the pitch, staying on the ball, creating some early chances, and then the goal came. It was a nice start."
Lampard also pointed out what they were specifically targeting from the game.
"They are a good technical team," he added. "They came into it a little bit at different times, but what we wanted out of the game was more fitness.
"The feeling of Goodison and working on some combinations with the way we want to play, because pre-season seems to have flown by for everyone.
"There are still a lot of things to improve, but there were some good things on show."
