LIVERPOOL // It was branded Retro Day and Everton were duly transported to their past.
They first hosted Aston Villa in 1888, were marking their 100th league meeting at Goodison Park – no other top-flight fixture in England has been played as often – and it was a suitably nostalgic affair.
Not that Everton were not taken back to the 19th century. Time travel merely rewound the clock a matter of months.
This was reminiscent of last season as the side that began the game with the worst home record in the Premier League played with vim and verve. More unusually, given their recent travails at Goodison Park, they both won and kept a clean sheet.
“That pleases me,” said manager Roberto Martinez, emphasising the defensive achievement.
As his side’s form returned, so did key personnel. Ross Barkley made his first appearance of the season. Seamus Coleman and James McCarthy made their comebacks from lesser injuries.
Three men transformed a team, bringing power and potency. They were aided by Aston Villa, who completed a run of matches against last season’s top five with their most worst display of the season, and manager Paul Lambert said: “I don’t think we deserved anything.”
Yet their failings should not detract from Everton’s excellence. Their passing was crisp and adventurous, their movement progressive, their intent advertised.
In short, they were more recognisably themselves, with Coleman launching a series of buccaneering raids down the right and completing the scoring in trademark fashion, courtesy of a combination of the two full-backs.
The job title is a misnomer, given how attacking they are. Leighton Baines centred for Coleman, the furthest man forward, to apply the finishing touch.
The opener was provided by two of the back four, too, as Phil Jagielka stooped to head in Baines’s cross. Their captain is proving prolific for club and country.
Romelu Lukaku, who ought to be a more regular scorer, added the second with a shot that Brad Guzan fumbled. It ranked as a goalkeeping error, yet it was significant that Barkley was the provider.
He operated as Lukaku’s sidekick in a partnership brimming with potential. His last competitive game had been for England against Costa Rica at the World Cup finals in June.
This spell on the sidelines owed more to a knee injury than a suspension but, after a 12-week break, Barkley returned to action. It was a welcome comeback, illustrating what Everton had been missing.
“Sometimes you ask if he was born to play football,” said Martinez. “He looks more natural with a ball than without. I thought he was sensational. Normally in a footballer you have an outstanding physical ability or an exceptional technical ability but he has both.”
What Barkley does not have is an impeccable record of being fit. Indeed, Martinez had suggested on Thursday that he would not feature. Then Barkley scored three goals in a training exercise to persuade his manager otherwise.
It was about a 20-year-old kid, not a rivalry that dates back 126 years; about a passer, not the past.
sports@thenational.ae
