Fulltime Thoughts – Granted it’s only preseason but the Blues still look strangers to each other on the pitch. Which is pretty embarrassing because they only had two new players on the field today, and Tim Iroegbunam was by far the best player in the new black and yellow threads today.
90’ – There’s the final whistle. Everton have been pretty poor and well-beaten by Coventry City 3-0 tonight.
78’ – More changes for Dyche – Roman Dixon and Eli Campbell on for Coleman and Young.
76’ – Substitute Torp runs onto a through ball into the area and his shot is past Virginia into the far post. 3-0 Coventry, Everton’s defending continues to plumb new depths.
68’ – Coventry on the counter, quick to move the ball around through Jake Bidwell, another former Blue. Comes to Sakamoto but his shot is well wide.
67’ – McNeil booked, late on the challenge there.
64’ – Nifty turn from Beto and he is fouled to win a freekick from about 25 yards out. Garner lofts it into the box and it’s cleared easily.
62’ – Clark scores, 2-0 to Coventry. Sakamoto cross from the right touchline, Coleman completely loses his man behind him and he bundles home to make it two. Embarrassing.
59’ – Delightful cross to Sakamoto, his header goes into the side-netting though.
DCL comes off, and it’s Beto on for him.
55’ – Holgate redeems himself with a brilliant sliding tackle to clear the ball after Simms tries to find Sakamoto behind him.
The Blues counter now, but Harrison’s through ball is to no one.
53’ – Iro with a driving run down the middle, and the only bad decision he makes is passing it to DCL on his right, who cuts in on his left, and then tries to find Doucs and Coventry clear. Argh.
By far Everton’s best player on the evening, Iro drives again at goal but this time loses the ball in his feet.
51’ – Harrison makes some inroads on the left and wins a corner. Garner inswinger, Coventry can control and clear.
46’ – Second half underway, with just one change, Doucoure is on for Ndiaye.
Halftime Thoughts – This has been a good workout for the team so far. I’m refusing to take preseason seriously, so the result will be whatever it is.
45+1’ – There’s the halftime whistle. Coventry deservedly ahead, Everton have shown little today.
43’ – Uh oh. Coleman gets his right leg caught under an opponent and he goes down hard, looked like his knee twisted under him. Physio is on.
41’ – Calvert-Lewin’s finishing tends to come under criticism often, and he shows it again with a poor shot that fails to beat the keeper, again.
39’ – Another corner for Coventry, Keane heads away, Iro controls well and Ndiaye can get away.
30’ – DCL in space on the right, has time to shoot but doesn’t catch it cleanly and the goalie can gather.
27’ – DCL does well to chase down a long ball and hook it back into the middle, Ndiaye rushes his shot and lofts it well over.
25’ – Another corner for the hosts, volley on target but it’s straight at Virginia who catches cleanly.
21’ – Simms scores. Ball into the box is not dealt with well, and the former Blue is unmarked between Young and Keane to slot home, no chance for Virginia. Coventry lead 1-0.
17’ – Poor giveaway in his own third by Ndiaye trying a nifty flick, and Coventry have a chance, but Young slides in to clear for a corner.
Corner is cleared and Iro can break, but he’s been fouled. That would have been a booking in any competitive game.
15’ – Keane blocks a shot from outside the box, out for a corner. Outswinger, cleared by Iro who has been very good early on.
13’ – Ndiaye released and is through.. argh offside. Replay shows he was well on.
8’ – Simms embarrassed Holgate who falls, but his shot hits his own teammate and Everton survive before they can hack the ball away. Holgate is just.. awful.
5’ – Play mostly concentrated in the middle, though Everton are attacking down the right, Coleman looking lively.
2’ – Iroegbunam with a good interception in midfield. He’s on the left while Garner is on the right.
1’ – Underway at Coventry
A minute of silence turns into applause in memory of the young Sky Blues fan who passed away recently as well as the three killed in the horrific events at Southport last night.
Everton – There’s some regular faces missing as they all recover from injuries, but should be a competitive lineup. This should also be a switch back to Dyche’s favoured 4-4-1-1 with Ndiaye pulling the strings behind Calvert-Lewin.
Coventry City – Striker Ellis Simms starts for the hosts tonight, and he will be looking to prove a point against his former employers.
Everton play their third preseason friendly of the summer as they travel to Coventry City following unconvincing results so far. The Blues had to come from behind to draw 3-3 against Seamus Coleman’s former side Sligo Rovers, before they let slip a lead to lose 2-1 over the weekend against fourth tier Salford City.
The Sky Blues are ten days away from opening their Championship campaign and as such are expected to be in better shape for this one, though it will be interesting to see if Sean Dyche sticks with the mostly ineffective 4-4-2 he opened the last game with.
Competition: Preseason friendly #3
Date and start time: Tuesday, July 30th at 11:45 a.m. PT / 2:45 p.m ET / 7:45 p.m. BST
Stadium: Coventry Building Society Arena, Coventry, England, United Kingdom
Capacity: 32,753
Weather: 73°F/23°C, mostly cloudy, 1% chance of precipitation, 6 mph winds
TV: ESPN+, fubo TV – United States; N/A – United Kingdom; Fubo – Canada, beIN Sports 3, Disney+
Radio: evertontv
Live stream: Fubo, Everton, beIN SPORTS CONNECT
Gamethread: There will be a Live Blog for this game along with the Instant Reaction and Match Recap soon after the final whistle.
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Information from LiveSoccerTV.com
The Blues last trip to Coventry was back when the Sky Blues were last in the Premier League in the 2000-01 season, with the Toffees winning 3-1. Scott Gemmill, Danny Cadamarteri and the late Kevin Campbell got the three goals in the victory.