Everton Triumphs 3–1 Over Newcastle in Pre-Season Clash

Everton’s pre-season has lurched from sharp to sluggish and back again. In Edinburgh, it finally found a rhythm.

Under grey Scottish skies at Murrayfield, David Moyes watched a young, energetic Everton side dismantle Newcastle United 3–1, with Theirno Barry, Iliman Ndiaye and Tyrique George all on the scoresheet in a performance that mixed discipline with real flair.

Newcastle, kitted out in a vivid pink, arrived as the Premier League scalp and the story: a club in transition under new head coach Matthias Jaissle, stripped of Anthony Gordon, Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimaraes after a summer of upheaval and with Eddie Howe gone. Everton, beaten 3–1 at Stuttgart at the weekend, were the ones supposedly searching for reassurance.

They got it.

Branthwaite rested, Patterson nod to Scotland

There was one notable absentee before a ball was kicked. Jarrad Branthwaite, who had captained Everton and played 80 minutes in Stuttgart and also started against Bolton Wanderers and Hamburg, was left out 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 earmarked for the final warm-up against LOSC Lille at Hill Dickinson Stadium.

The rest of Moyes’ selection was more about subtle signals than shocks. Nathan Patterson started at right-back on Scottish soil, a timely run-out in front of a home crowd. Tim Iroegbunam remained sidelined after his early withdrawal in Germany. New faces such as Norgaard and Johnson stayed out of the XI and the squad picture; they are not yet ready to be trusted in this system.

Slow start, then Everton bite back

Newcastle started on the front foot. They monopolised the ball early, Everton barely stringing two passes together as Travers was tested by a lob from Wissa and then forced to deal with the first corner of the night. The Blues were penned in, edgy, a touch casual in possession.

Barry and Ndiaye were both fouled as they tried to drive Everton upfield, only for the resulting free-kicks to be shuffled backwards and squandered. Toure’s deliveries from the left caused problems, Wissa fired over, and when Mykolenko tangled himself up, Elanga pounced, only for Travers to produce a superb parry to keep it goalless.

It took 14 minutes for Everton to really land a punch. Patterson surged down the right and whipped in a superb cross to the far post, Dewsbury-Hall just arriving a fraction too late to convert. The move sparked something. Hackney began to bite into tackles and feed Barry, while George, buzzing around the left, repeatedly got into promising positions but wasted them with tame final balls.

Newcastle had their moments. Ossula almost broke through. Wissa went down under minimal contact from Hackney, looking for a penalty that the referee waved away. Everton’s defending, led by Tarkowski, grew more assertive.

Then the game flipped.

Hackney was robbed in midfield and Wissa seemed certain to score. Tarkowski read it perfectly, lunged in with a brilliant recovery challenge and suddenly Everton were off, breaking at pace. Keane lofted a ball forward, Barry initially misjudged it but recovered, wriggled past two defenders and, when he was stopped, the loose ball fell kindly for Lewis Armstrong. One sharp pass later, Theirno Barry had it back inside the box.

This time he made it count. On 28 minutes, Barry drilled a low finish across the keeper and into the far corner. Clinical. Against the run of the early play, Everton led.

Newcastle’s frustration simmered. Joelinton wrestled Barry to the ground to concede a free-kick, then thundered into challenges that were increasingly on the edge. Everton, by contrast, began to flow. A slick move ended with Ndiaye denied by the Magpies’ new goalkeeper when he should have scored, but the warning signs were there.

They were ignored.

Mykolenko fed Dewsbury-Hall in the box, Joelinton clattered through him and this time the referee pointed straight to the spot. On 35 minutes, Ndiaye stepped up and calmly rolled the penalty home. 2–0. From being swamped early on, Everton were now in control.

Patterson then produced one of the moments of the half, nicking the ball off Joelinton and tearing down the right, only for Dewsbury-Hall to hesitate fatally on the edge of the area, his delayed pass to George swallowed up by a crowd of pink shirts.

Wissa flew into a nasty foul that earned only a free-kick and a stern word from Tarkowski. Ndiaye nicked the ball off Hall but was penalised softly. Newcastle’s irritation grew; Everton’s shape held. Armstrong oozed confidence in midfield, taking kicks from Joelinton and carrying on, while Toure’s dangerous deliveries were finally dealt with by a back line that had settled into its work.

By half-time, Everton were 2–0 up and, more importantly, looked like a team.

Newcastle rotate, Everton keep their edge

Jaissle responded with sweeping changes at the break. The fresh legs almost paid off immediately. Jacob Murphy darted in behind Mykolenko and lashed a low shot towards the bottom corner, Travers reacting superbly to tip it away to his right.

Everton were not flawless. Hackney lofted a lovely ball into Barry, who then miscontrolled horribly and was easily dispossessed. George whipped a fine cross towards Ndiaye, only for the bounce to beat him and skid out of play. Mykolenko, marauding forward, followed up a good move with a wildly poor cross that summed up his mixed night.

Still, the Blues carved out moments of quality. Dewsbury-Hall knitted play together, Hackney teed up George for one of his trademark curling efforts, the shot bending just beyond the top corner. Newcastle again got in down Everton’s left but were pulled back for offside.

For a spell, Everton played keep-ball, but too often it drifted back to Travers rather than slicing through Newcastle’s lines. Barry drove inside and was clipped by Miley, giving Dewsbury-Hall the chance to whip a free-kick around the wall. It was arrowing towards the post before the keeper pushed it behind.

The pressure built. George saw another effort blocked. Hackney combined beautifully with George, a clever 1–2 and backheel sending him into the box, but when he went down there was no penalty. Ndiaye cut inside onto his right foot and ballooned a shot high over the bar. Mykolenko, criticised for his positioning earlier, then defended his flank well, helping clear a Newcastle corner, only for Barry to waste the chance to counter with a poor pass.

On the hour, Moyes turned to his bench. Ndiaye, Dewsbury-Hall and Barry made way, Dibling, Alcaraz and Beto coming on. The pattern remained. Barry’s last act had been to lead a break and slip George through, the youngster hesitating just long enough for Dibling to go down under an arm to the face. Again, no penalty.

Dibling, though, soon got into his stride. Armstrong pinged a superb crossfield ball to him on the right. The winger drove at his man, forced a corner, then delivered a second cross that fizzed dangerously through the area. George responded on the opposite flank, dancing past his marker and winning another corner, Hackney’s delivery just failing to find a finish at the far post.

George steals the show

Then came the moment that will linger longest.

With 73 minutes gone, George picked up the ball and drove. He exchanged crisp passes with Armstrong, who had the composure to stand on the ball, wait, and then slide a delicious reverse pass back into George’s path. The weight, the angle, the vision — perfect.

George did the rest. He spun like a ballerina on the edge of the box and smashed a low shot into the net. Tyrique George, 3–0, and a goal that oozed confidence and class. For a pre-season friendly, it felt like a statement.

Everton weren’t done playing. Another flowing move saw George feed Aznou, whose cross was blocked. Ramsey responded with a rugby tackle on Armstrong and somehow escaped a booking. Dibling beat his full-back and swung in another decent ball with no blue shirt gambling in the middle.

Newcastle finally found a way through late on. Murphy, bright since his introduction, delivered a superb cross from the right and Barnes met it, clipping home with precision to deny Travers a clean sheet. It was a fine goal, but it came too late to alter the tone of the night.

A pre-season performance with real meaning

By the final whistle, Moyes had seen what he needed: a solid defensive base without Branthwaite, Travers sharp, Tarkowski commanding, Armstrong dictating tempo, and three forwards — Barry, Ndiaye and George — all with goals and confidence to carry into the final week of preparation.

Newcastle, still reeling from departures and adapting to Jaissle’s ideas, showed flashes but little cohesion. For them, this felt like another reminder of the work ahead.

For Everton, in the Scottish capital, it felt like the first real glimpse of what this season’s version of the Blues might become. With the Premier League kick-off just 10 days away and LOSC Lille up next, the question now is simple: can they bottle this blend of bite and bravado and pour it out when the points start to matter?