Everton 3–1 Newcastle United: Young Blues Shine in Edinburgh
Murrayfield felt a long way from a gentle pre-season run-out. Ten days from the Premier League kick-off, Everton and Newcastle United treated the Scottish capital to something closer to a statement.
For Everton, beaten 3-1 at Stuttgart at the weekend, this was about control, conviction and a glimpse of what David Moyes is trying to build second time around. For Newcastle, reshaped under Matthias Jaissle after a summer of upheaval and high-profile exits, it was a reminder of how much work still lies ahead.
Branthwaite Managed, Patterson Nods to Home
The evening began with one notable absentee. Jarrad Branthwaite, who captained Everton and played 80 minutes in Stuttgart and has also started against Bolton Wanderers and Hamburg, was left out of the squad as part of his planned reintegration after last season’s hamstring injury. The club confirmed he will continue full training at Finch Farm and is being held back for the final warm-up against LOSC Lille at Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday.
The rest of Moyes’s selection was relatively straightforward. Nathan Patterson started at right-back on Scottish soil, a neat touch for the local crowd. Tim Iroegbunam was again missing after his early withdrawal in Stuttgart. New boys Norgaard and Johnson were nowhere to be seen; both still to be folded into the group, neither yet trusted to hit Moyes’s physical and tactical demands.
Newcastle, resplendent in a pink change strip, kicked off under Jaissle’s watchful eye. The new head coach has inherited a squad stripped of Anthony Gordon, Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimaraes, with Eddie Howe gone and a new hierarchy bedding in. His side began on the front foot.
Early Toon Pressure, Then an Everton Turn
The opening exchanges belonged to Newcastle. They monopolised the ball, penned Everton back and forced an early corner. Mark Travers dealt with a couple of routine efforts, including a lob from Wissa, but the pattern was clear: Everton couldn’t get out.
Elanga almost punished them. Vitalii Mykolenko tied himself in knots on the left, Elanga snapped onto the loose ball and drove in a fierce shot that Travers did superbly to parry behind. Everton were rocking.
Then, slowly, they woke up.
On 14 minutes, the Blues finally stitched together a move that went forwards rather than sideways. Patterson, eager and aggressive down the right, whipped a superb cross to the far post, where Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall arrived just a fraction late. It was a warning Newcastle hadn’t needed up to that point.
Hackney began to bite in midfield, breaking up attacks and trying to feed the front line. A sharp exchange between Dewsbury-Hall and Tyrese George released the youngster for a driving run, but he held onto the ball too long. Three times George found promising positions, three times his final action let him down. The ideas were there; the execution wasn’t.
Newcastle tried to turn the screw again. Wissa went down under minimal contact from Hackney, appealing for a penalty. The referee waved it away. Toure, lively on the left, sent in a series of dangerous balls that Everton just about survived.
Then the game turned in a flash.
Barry Breakthrough, Ndiaye From the Spot
On 28 minutes, Hackney was robbed and for a moment it looked disastrous. Wissa seemed certain to score, only for James Tarkowski to time a superb challenge and snuff out the danger. In an instant, Everton were away.
Michael Keane lofted a ball forward. Lewis Barry initially misjudged it, but recovered brilliantly, wriggling past two defenders before being halted by a fine tackle. The loose ball ran to Armstrong, who slipped in Theirno Barry. One touch, then a composed, low finish across the goalkeeper into the far corner. Clinical. Everton had barely been in control, yet they led.
Newcastle’s frustration grew. Barry was wrestled down by Joelinton, who had been treading a fine line all half. The free-kick was wasted, recycled backwards, then eventually hoisted in with little effect. When Everton did click, they looked sharp. A slick move carved Newcastle open and should have ended with an Ndiaye goal, but the Toon’s new goalkeeper stood up well to save.
Moments later, Everton’s pressure told again. Mykolenko slipped Dewsbury-Hall into the box, Joelinton thundered into another overzealous challenge and this time the referee pointed to the spot. Iliman Ndiaye stepped up on 35 minutes and coolly rolled his penalty home.
From a frantic, uncomfortable opening, Everton suddenly had a 2-0 cushion and a grip on the contest.
Patterson embodied the shift. He nicked the ball off Joelinton, surged down the right and drove Everton forward. The move broke down when Dewsbury-Hall hesitated and overthought his options, eventually rolling the ball across to George into a crowded box, but the intent had changed. Everton were now the ones dictating the tempo.
Newcastle’s response was ragged. Wissa flew into a nasty foul that brought only a free-kick and a stern word from Tarkowski. Ndiaye pinched the ball off Hall only to see a soft free-kick awarded against him. The Blayden Races chorus in the stands masked a growing irritation on the pitch.
Everton’s back line, marshalled by Tarkowski and Keane, stood firm through a flurry of corners and hopeful crosses. Armstrong began to swagger in midfield, drawing a cheap knock from Joelinton as the Brazilian’s patience snapped again. The set-pieces came to nothing. The half ended with Moyes’s side two goals up and, crucially, in control.
Newcastle Rotate, Everton Keep Their Edge
Jaissle responded with wholesale changes at the break. Fresh legs, fresh energy, and almost an immediate breakthrough. Jacob Murphy darted in behind Mykolenko and drilled low towards the far corner. Travers, again, was equal to it, stretching down to his right to push the shot away.
Everton were not without their own flaws. Hackney clipped a clever ball over the top for Barry, whose first touch deserted him and allowed a defender to steal in. George then flashed a tremendous cross towards Ndiaye, but the bounce took it away from the forward and out of play.
The pattern was clear: Newcastle’s new XI wanted to force the issue, Everton were content to absorb and pick their moments. When they did break, the quality sometimes deserted them. Mykolenko, having defended stoutly on one flank, then sent in a truly wasteful cross on another promising foray.
Yet there were flashes of real class. Dewsbury-Hall orchestrated one flowing move, slipping Hackney in to tee up George for his trademark curling effort from the edge of the box. It bent beautifully, just beyond the top corner. A reminder of the youngster’s talent and intent.
At the other end, Mykolenko was again exposed by an overlap, but the flag spared Everton. Moyes’s side then settled into a spell of keep-ball, only for it to drift back repeatedly to Travers rather than slicing through the lines. When Barry drove inside and was clipped by Miley, Dewsbury-Hall stepped up and bent the free-kick around the wall, forcing another smart save and a corner.
George saw a shot blocked, Hackney went down in the area after a clever backheel exchange with George, but the referee was unmoved. Ndiaye cut in and lashed high over the bar. Newcastle probed, Everton countered in bursts, and the game hovered in that awkward pre-season space between intensity and caution.
George Lights Up Murrayfield
Moyes turned to his bench around the hour mark. Ndiaye, Dewsbury-Hall and Barry made way for Dibling, Alcaraz and Beto, Patterson had already been replaced by Röhl, and Everton’s shape shifted again.
Still, the chances kept coming. Barry led a break, fed George, and the winger hesitated just long enough for the move to stall. Dibling went down in the box after an arm caught his face, but again the referee waved play on.
Armstrong, increasingly influential, sprayed a glorious crossfield ball to Dibling, whose first cross deflected behind. From the corner, he delivered a second, far better ball that almost produced a chance. George, on the opposite flank, then drove at his man, forced a corner, and Hackney’s delivery to the far post asked questions Newcastle just about answered.
Then came the moment of the night.
On 73 minutes, George picked up the ball and drove. He exchanged crisp passes with Armstrong, who had the audacity to stand on the ball, wait, and then thread a delicious reverse pass into George’s path. The weight was perfect, the angle devastating. George spun like a ballerina, opened his body and smashed a low shot into the net. A stunning goal, crafted by two young players brimming with confidence.
Murrayfield felt it. This was no routine friendly finish. It was a glimpse of something sharper, quicker, more imaginative in Everton’s attacking play.
Everton kept playing. George slipped Aznou in down the flank, his cross blocked at the last moment. Ramsey hauled Armstrong down in a tackle that looked more at home on a rugby pitch than a football one, escaping without a booking. Dibling skinned his marker and hung up a teasing cross, but no one attacked it.
Late Toon Reply, But Everton’s Night
Newcastle eventually found a consolation. Everton’s back line, near faultless for most of the night, was finally breached as Jacob Murphy delivered a superb cross and Harvey Barnes arrived to clip it home. A fine goal, but too late to unsettle the rhythm Everton had built.
By then, Moyes had used his bench fully: O’Brien on for Keane, Aznou for Mykolenko, Foster for Hackney, Dibling buzzing around after replacing Ndiaye, Alcaraz adding bite in midfield and Beto offering a focal point up front. Travers, backed up by King, G Pickford and Graham on the bench, had already made his case with a string of composed interventions.
The 3-1 scoreline told one story. The manner of it told another.
Everton were compact, aggressive and, at times, genuinely inventive. Newcastle, under a new coach and stripped of key players, flickered without ever truly convincing. For Moyes, this felt like a step forward in a pre-season that has swung between encouraging and erratic.
The real questions come in ten days, when the Premier League begins and the experiments end. But nights like this, under the Edinburgh lights, suggest his Everton might be closer to ready than the summer scorelines have sometimes implied.
