Dominic Calvert-Lewin may have taken the headlines with a hat-trick for Everton this afternoon, yet the more understated contribution of one of his team-mates garnered glowing praise from many Toffees fans.
Summer signing Allan was playing his first Premier League game at Goodison Park and it was one to remember as he helped his team to a 5-2 drubbing of West Brom which, for a few hours at least, has put them top of the table.
The £21m acquisition from Napoli got through a mountain of dirty work in Everton’s midfield, winning five tackles and eight duels as well as completing 76 of his 85 passes. He also recorded one shot on target and found a team-mate with four of his five long balls this afternoon. [via Sofascore]
Adam Jones of the Liverpool Echo hailed the 29-year-old’s performance afterwards, saying that he “forever chased down West Brom’s midfielders when they were in possession and completed a number of important tackles in the centre of the pitch”.
Plenty of Everton fans on Twitter were quick to laud the Brazilian’s “sublime” display, with one fan already believing he is “much better than Gana”, a reference to ex-Toffees midfielder Idrissa Gueye who famously won the most tackles of any Premier League player in the 2016/17 season.
Check out some of the online reaction below:
Allan shouldn’t go unnoticed today, our best midfielder out the three in the middle today. No drama or flicks, just went about his job and kept it ticking. He’s gonna be a fan favourite him. pic.twitter.com/Hi1wj2I3wA
— The Everton End (@TheEvertonEnd) September 19, 2020
Allan is exactly what we needed. We would have been a completely different team with him last season.
Rodriguez and Doucoure are like the icing on the cake. But Allan is the substance.— TrickyTrev 🏴 (@TrickyTrev20) September 19, 2020
N’Golo Kante, eat your heart out! Allan is the new king of winning balls and turning defence into attack. He’s absolutely sublime 🇧🇷💙⚽️
— Ceejay Julien (@CeejayNightwing) September 19, 2020
Early days but he’s my favourite already. Exactly what has been missing and much better than Gana (who I was a fan of).
— CJ (@1878) September 19, 2020
With number 6 on his back he’s like the new @reid6peter Hopefully he’ll be as successful as the original!!
— Patrick Fogarty (@Pcf4) September 19, 2020
Reminds and plays like @reid6peter great to see him in there breaking up play and protecting back four… reads the game so well
— Martin Sloan (@Sloany9) September 19, 2020
Can see why Napoli loved him so much.
— Pól O’Donnghaile (Paul Donnelly) (@deutschkopf) September 19, 2020
Everton fans, how impressed were you with Allan’s performance today? Comment below with your views!
