Everton took one step into the group stages of the Europa League with a comfortable 2-0 win over Hajduk Split.

Michael Keane scored his first goal for the Blues to break the deadlock on the half-hour mark while Idrissa Gueye added a second just before half time.

A second half lacking in quality followed, with Wayne Rooney appearing the closest to adding a third for Ronald Koeman’s side but to no avail.

Here were the key talking points from Goodison Park:

Lookman is the real deal

 

With Gylfi Sigurdsson’s record move to Goodison Park finally completed, Ademola Lookman may find game time hard to come by this season.

That would be a shame because the youngster gives this Everton team something they lack, and desperately need, and that’s pace.

Lookman is sharp in lightning quick, reads the game exceptionally well and has no fear of taking on two players at a time.

Against Split he was superb throughout, terrorising the opposition defence time and time again.

Given the lack of wingers in this team, Ronald Koeman would be wise to utilise the 19-year-old as much as possible, he’s a star in the making.

Martina: not as bad as first feared?

 

In a summer transfer window like no other, Cuco Martina has been the only one of Everton’s new arrivals that failed to get supporters excited.

Joining as little more than back-up during Seamus Coleman’s lay-off period, the defender’s Goodison Park career was written off before it even began.

That may have proved extremely hasty on the evidence provided here.

He is by no means a world-beater but Martina is certainly not as bad as a large percentage of fans were led to believe in his debut against Ruzomberok.

Better performances against better teams are needed to convince the doubters but those who prematurely condemned him may have to reconsider.

Gana continues to step up

 

Where some Everton midfielders are seemingly unwilling to heed Ronald Koeman’s words, Idrissa Gueye appears to have fully taken note.

One of the few criticisms behind the Senegal international’s debut season on Merseyside was that he was a virtual non-entity as an attacking option.

But Gueye gave the impression that he has worked all summer to improve that side of his game and the results are already proving telling.

The enforcer appears to have reinvented himself as a box-to-box midfielder and now actively becomes involved in his side’s attacking forays.

It paid off, too, as he added his name to the score sheet with a superbly taken finish.

Koeman wants goals from all across his team this season and the Dutchman and he will be hoping to see more of the same from Gueye in future.

Blues’ new record is cause for optimism

 

An historic summer has given way to a record-breaking start for Everton.

Recording four clean sheets in as many competitive outings is the latest in many firsts of Goodison’s illustrious and innovative history.

That statistic flies in the face of last season’s overall tally of 44 goals conceded; the joint-worst record of the Premier League’s top seven sides.

Improving on that tally will be key to a breakthrough into the higher reaches of the table and Koeman can be pleased such progressive steps are being made.

That Jordan Pickford and Michael Keane both contributed greatly to Everton’s latest accolade will only add to their manager’s satisfaction