Did Everton make a mistake loaning Kieran Dowell to Nottingham Forest this summer?
Only two players have scored for Everton in ten Premier League games this season. Wayne Rooney has four and Oumar Niasse three with the currently managerless Toffees looking toothless in attack on a weekly basis.
It may not help the mood around Goodison Park, then, to see that a player Ronald Koeman loaned out in the summer scored his first career hat-trick to inspire a thrilling victory just 24 hours after the Merseyside giants went down 2-0 at Leicester City in an insipid display.
Kieran Dowell has only ever played three games for Everton’s senior side. But anyone who witnessed the 20-year-old’s exhibition of finishing in Nottingham Forest’s 3-2 win at Hull City will tell you exactly why he is arguably the most exciting prospect to have emerged out of Finch Farm in recent years.
Dowell’s first was beautifully struck, a long-range bullet hammered into the far corner. The second a clever and controlled first-time volley and the hat-trick goal a composed spot-kick.
It’s fair to say there are worse ways to prove a point to your parent club. None of Everton’s array of gifted central midfielders have hit the net in the Premier League this season.
And, with Forest fans singing Dowell’s praises after a matchwinning display, Everton supporters would be forgiven for wondering whether Koeman’s decisions will continue biting the club on the backside.
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