Nottingham Forest vs Everton Player Ratings: James Garner inspires win at City Ground

Everton returned to winning ways with a solid 2-0 victory over Nottingham Forest at City Ground on Tuesday night.

James Garner inspired the Blues to victory with a goal and an assist against his former side. The Toffees’ first win since the 3-0 win over Sean Dyche’s side in the first-round fixture at Hill Dickinson Stadium, Everton have returned to the top half of the table and find themselves temporarily eighth in the league standings.

David Moyes’ starting lineup definitely offered some surprises, with Nathan Patterson getting a rare start and Jack Grealish only being fit enough to make it to the bench. Michael Keane and Charly Alcaraz didn’t make the squad due to injury, a cause of concern for an already depleted side.

Garner put the Toffees into the lead at the 19th minute after being found inside the box by a lovely through ball from Dwight McNeil. The 24-year-old, who was on loan at City Ground between 2021 and 2022, found the far corner from a tight angle.

Garner then helped double Everton’s lead in the second half with a fantastic touch under pressure and played Thierno Barry through on goal. The Frenchman registered his second goal in a royal blue shirt to wrap up the game and secure the three points for his side.

Jake O’Brien, replacing Keane at centre-back, had a fantastic game, as did his defensive partner James Tarkowski. Both O’Brien and Tarkowski stood tall and successfully met a million crosses from Forest players from both the left and the right flanks.

Here are the player ratings from Everton’s 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest:

Jordan Pickford: 7

Brave performance between the sticks, coming out of his goal quickly to snuff out chances.

Nathan Patterson (replaced by Jack Grealish at 72’): 5

It was surprising to see Patterson included in the lineup at City Ground. Making his first start this season, the right-back left Callum Hudson-Odoi unmarked from a deep cross in the first half, but fortunately, the Forest winger couldn’t keep his shot on target from close range.

While he was lively in possession, especially while combining and going forward, Patterson endured a tough time defending Hudson-Odoi on the flank and was dribbled past on several occasions.

James Tarkowski: 8

A wall at the back for Everton tonight, Tarkowski was fantastic leading the backline. Had a glorious chance to double the lead in the second half but unfortunately, couldn’t keep his header on target.

Jake O’Brien: 8

Another brilliant performance in his natural position at centre-back, replacing the injured Keane. O’Brien’s aerial game was outstanding and left little room for error, well, except for that one shoddy clearance that hit Garner and fell to Igor Jesus.

Vitalii Mykolenko: 6

Mykolenko had his hands full trying to deal with Omari Hutchinson and Neco Williams. So many crosses and third-man runs came off his flank and Mykolenko was also negative in possession, either going back or hoofing it forward and hoping for the best.

Tim Iroegbunam: 7

Made several tackles to win back possession and screen the backline, and showed grittiness in the middle of the pitch. However, that one backheel attempted pass where he lost possession certainly didn't impress Moyes.

James Garner: 9

Fired Everton into the lead with a fantastic far-post finish from a tight angle. Played a fantastic cross that just went wide off the post from Tarkowski’s glancing header. Garner also took a sensational touch under pressure to free himself before playing an inch-perfect pass to Barry for Everton’s second goal of the night.

Merlin Rohl: 5.5

Not sure if the number 10 position suits Rohl, whose best cameos in an Everton shirt had come in a deeper role before his hernia operation. He didn’t particularly look fit tonight.

Was played in by Barry on a counter, but lacked the pace to create separation and get a shot away.

Shifted to right-back after Patterson’s substitution and made one crucial intervention from a cross from the left.

Tyler Dibling: 7.5

It’s quite clear to see Dibling growing in confidence with every game. Such a clever footballer who is not afraid of taking deft touches to escape his way out of pressure. Carried the ball well on several occasions and his runs have a touch of grace and composure that few others on the team possess.

Thierno Barry (replaced by Beto at 84’): 7

Thierno Barry will be hoping to play Nottingham Forest every week, given that both his goals for his new club have come against Sean Dyche’s side, home and away. It was Barry who picked out Garner, before making a great run in behind the defence and tucking the ball home to wrap up the game for his side.

However, he was also guilty of making some sloppy runs and hanging on to the ball for too long when there were better options, especially in the first half. Played a lovely cross-field ball to Rohl that the midfielder should’ve done better with in the second half.

Dwight McNeil: 7

Played the delicious through ball in between the Forest backline that led to Garner’s goal. Anonymous game otherwise, didn’t offer much on the left flank other than tracking back and helping Mykolenko defend against Hutchinson and Williams. Had a better time after moving to the number 10 role when Grealish came on.

Substitutions:

Jack Grealish: 7

Impressive after coming on, creating chances for McNeil and Garner while making his way into the penalty box.

Beto: N/A

Reader Comments (38)

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Neil Cremin 1 Posted 30/12/2025 at 22:17:58

Don’t know what game you were watching but Myko and Rohl with a 5 is ridiculous

They both contributed hugely to a team effort. Rohl even fitted in seamlessly at right back.

David King 2 Posted 30/12/2025 at 22:23:12

Yes, agree that 5 for Myko and Rohl is nonsense. Great team performance considering the depleted squad.

Anjishnu Roy 3 Posted 30/12/2025 at 22:23:37

Neil, there were several crosses and runs from Myko's flank and he offered nothing going forward. Rohl, while he had a better time after moving to right-back, was struggling for a large portion of the game when playing in the number 10 role.

Gavin Fennessy 4 Posted 30/12/2025 at 22:29:09

I think James Garner was excellent tonight. He has improved so much this past 2 years.

Jake O'Brien also really impressive. Sorry to say, Patterson looked lost at this level.

Tony Abrahams 5 Posted 30/12/2025 at 22:35:27

The more you play, the stronger and fitter you become.

Giings 5s for two players who have been out for so long confirms that these scores have been given by a stats based robot!

Mick O\'Malley 6 Posted 30/12/2025 at 22:40:36

It was Pattersons first game for ages up against a tricky winger in Hudson Odoi, I thought he coped admirably and we look better with him there and OBrien at centre half, absolutely delighted Barry scored, maybe people will start to get off his back, we've won a tricky away fixture with a depleted team and all some fans can do is pick holes, it was a good team performance and they all played their part

Nicolas Piñon 7 Posted 30/12/2025 at 22:48:23

Myko got a 6…

Barry is so fristrating but with that goal he shut my mouth I should recognize.

If irogbunam keeps this level hell fight gana a place, reminds my of yaya toure

Dibling is an artist we can see, and hes just beggining to show what hes about. Hardly loses the ball in such tight Spaces.

We were lucky and direct, excellent defensive performance.

Strange the aznou situation

Ian Bennett 8 Posted 30/12/2025 at 23:02:44

Grealish 7McNeil 7Patterson 5Mykolenko 6Rohl 5.5

Honestly those ratings are a joke. McNeil created the assist, but telegraphed every other pass he had. And was fairly anonymous nearly all game. When the break was on, he was in a different time zone. I assume McNeil is a close family member.

Grealish was on the pitch for moments, but yeah have a 7..

Patterson had a decent enough game, given that was his first start in an age, and Mykolenko stayed with his winger.

6s across the board for me.

Tom Bowers 9 Posted 30/12/2025 at 23:04:48

This was an encouraging display, all things considered.

They dodged a few bullets here and there but generally the defence was strong and attacking wise they looked a lot better especially without Grealish, Ndiaye and KDH who had been outstanding so far this season. I am sure Jack hadn't trained much before today.

The replacements did well and I am looking forward to seeing Dibling, Rohl and Barry get more time and progressing.

Obviously we will for now find it difficult against the likes of Arsenal and Man City but, next season, things could be totally different.

Mark Murphy 10 Posted 30/12/2025 at 23:19:59

Thoroughly enjoyed the away performance but I’m surprised at the positivity towards Iroegbunam.

I thought he was shocking tbh.

Paul Hewitt 11 Posted 30/12/2025 at 23:32:03

No one less than a 7.

Anthony Dwyer 12 Posted 30/12/2025 at 23:36:04

Great team performance I'd have taken any win with the 11 we started.

Mykolenko was a 7 for me, he's never going to be great going forward but he's very solid.

McNeil also a 7, tackled and pressed much more than both Dibling and Rohl put together, also an assist.

Pickford's kicking was poor tonight but a clean sheet and a brave block gets him his 7, I suppose.

The centre-backs and centre-midfielders were all on it today, gave us the win.

Phil Wood 13 Posted 30/12/2025 at 23:37:32

Agreed. Not one poor performance. Great that the fringe players are showing signs of their potential although lacking game time and can prove their worth for a permanent place.

COYB

Shaun McGough 14 Posted 30/12/2025 at 23:45:41

liverppol fans absolutely love ToffeeWeb, dropped out of this site for a while only to find same posters on other sites, onwards and upwards from this sixty year old, but good heaven guys, paitence, freidknkin multi ownership yet to be accepted for me, we are EVERTON, try joining in,and support no matter what.

Mike Gaynes 15 Posted 30/12/2025 at 23:58:05

I thought Garner, O'Brien and Iroegbunam all had their best games as Blues. The latter still has some obvious rough spots passing the ball, but his defensive positioning was by far the best I've seen.

Dibling showed tremendous skill and fearlessness on the ball, but you could see why Moyes has left him out, because it took him 45 minutes to realize he needed to play defense on Hudson-Odoi. He did finally get into his area a few times.

McNeil didn't just assist (beautifully) on Garner's goal... he also started the move for the second goal with a nice dribble and pass.

Tony, Patterson played his heart out against a tough opponent under extremely difficult circumstances, and I was surprised and delighted, but 5 is about right. He was adequate.

And I think 7 is too high for Barry. I'm a Barry optimist, but this was easily his worst game for Everton until the fine crossfield pass for Rohl and then the poised, classy finish. 5.5 for me.

Paul Griffiths 17 Posted 31/12/2025 at 03:24:48

Also, the lads on ToffeeTV and others saying that Harrison will be recalled.

Chris Davies 18 Posted 31/12/2025 at 03:25:47

I think I heard the commentator say forest had about 22 million crosses at about 60 mins?

Patterson slipped over every time they had the ball, and Myko allowed the other 21 million balls into the box. Maybe it was the plan?

But both full backs looked like the weak link tonight.

Fantastic effort from everyone else, in my humble opinion

Paul Griffiths 19 Posted 31/12/2025 at 03:51:32

52 crosses Chris - 18 - not far off one every two minutes.

Jack Convery 20 Posted 31/12/2025 at 04:03:39

This was the display I was expecting against Burnley, who are nowhere near the level of Forest. A fine win but find the consistency and we could have 6 points from our last two games. We should be 7th tonight. Glad for the team and us supporters to finish 2025 on a real high. Here's to an even better 2026. Happy New Year one and all.

Neil Rogers 21 Posted 31/12/2025 at 08:35:24

Patterson and Rohl were 5:

Patterson struggled all game, was easily beaten all game.

And out of position, Rohl was awful first half and offers nothing.

Mike Powell 22 Posted 31/12/2025 at 09:33:02

I thought everyone put a shift in, no one deserved 5.

Most would get a 7; Garner, Tarkowski and O'Brien all get 9 from me. But full-backs right and left are definitely our weakest link. But let's enjoy the win, COYB

Andrew Clare 23 Posted 31/12/2025 at 09:36:54

The energy and commitment displayed by the team was incredible last night.

I thought Tarkowski was immense in defence, a real leader. Delighted to see Barry score, and what a player Garner has become. Dibling is starting to look the part as well.

Well done, everyone. The away support was awesome yet again.

Tony Abrahams 24 Posted 31/12/2025 at 09:37:24

Patterson played his heart out against a tough opponent under extremely difficult circumstances. These are your words, Mike, the words of an Evertonian who is aware of the much bigger picture, so I was very surprised that you then followed it up by saying "but 5 is about right".

You were surprised and delighted, but thought a 5 was about right? Talk about a contradiction or having a real understanding of those extremely difficult circumstances you spoke about, especially after the way you described his winger's defensive contribution during the first half.

Patterson has been banished and has been out in the cold for a very long time, with his manager preferring to play a central defender (to the detriment of the whole shape of his team) or our best combative midfielder in his position instead.

A robot might give him a 5, but I think anyone who is aware of his circumstances and the whole picture would surely give Patterson at least a 6.5 for his contribution last night.

If I was jesting, I'd have given him a 9... but that's only because I've been totally fed up watching O'Brien playing fullback and how much I think it affects the shape and the balance of our team. I also thought O'Brien, had his best game in a blue shirt last night, and although you were observant picking up on Dibling's defensive duties, Mike, my own view is that players with the natural talent of Dibling have got to be nurtured and loved.

I don't care how it's done or even if you have got to give the kid a bit tough love because it's clear that the boy can play football and like the song says players only love you when they're playing. Or at least kept bloody involved!

Neil Cremin 25 Posted 30/12/2025 at 09:41:57

Anjishnu,

Firstly, I see you have upped Mykolenko to a 6 and Roth to a 5.5 which doesn't reflect well on your original analysis.

However, based on your admission that Roth did well at right-back, he still merits a 5.5 whereas in the game I watched Barry was woeful, easily beaten in all duels but then took his goal well and gets a 7.

Ashley Krotosky 26 Posted 31/12/2025 at 09:43:34

All those crosses. Just as well Tarkowski and O'Brien were on their mettle. Perhaps fortunate that Chris Wood was out.

Although Dibling and Paterson may offer something going forward, they were yesterday, and will again be targeted by other teams if they continue together. And I'm not sure the left side was that much better.

In a way, I suppose that might play into our defensive strength -- repelling crosses -- though other teams, not least Brentford might have more joy.

However, a lot of positives; not least a big boost for morale/team spirit.

I'm sure the vast majority of us would be delighted with 4 points from 2 successive away games, no matter who the opposition was.

Neil Cremin 27 Posted 31/12/2025 at 09:54:40

Even Mike Gaynes agrees with me on Barry’s performance last night.

Dave Abrahams 28 Posted 31/12/2025 at 10:21:37

Anthony (12) and Phil (13) sum it up for me. When I saw the starting line-up, I thought, “Jesus, that's us done for tonight!” Well, we were far from done with as that performance showed and I also couldn't care less how we got those 3 points.

I thought, as I said last night, that it was a great team performance. We'll always have different ideas about how each player performed but we got those 3 points; with last night's line-up, that was much more than, I think, most fans expectations. So I'm more than happy with that.

Let's just give it to Brentford in the next game!

Andy Duff 29 Posted 31/12/2025 at 10:37:35

What has happened to this site. I've been off a few months. Big banner with a dedicated betting link. Then two massive betting links when you scroll.

Such a shame used to be great site. I've been on here since nearly the start

I know this is not an airport and I don't have to announce my departure but I'm off.

Raymond Fox 30 Posted 31/12/2025 at 10:50:45

I would give Patterson a 6.5 as that was his first game for a long time in the first team. Rohl a 6, I think he will become a very useful player for us. I wouldn't argue with the other ratings.

As I said in the other thread, they never cease to surprise you, this team. I must confess I didn't fancy us last night, I was still hoping for the best, but feared the worst.

Every game is different though, what worked against Forest might not necessarily work against Brenttford.

It's about time Moyes got his dues too, I think he is over-achieving with what he has had to contend with.

31 Posted 31/12/2025 at 11:11:58

I would keep McNeill -- he is creative and can be a useful squad player. Get Garner signed up to a new deal -- pay him the same as our top earners, we now know he's worth it.

I would like to see Rohl have a bit of a run now to work out what his best position is. I think we can say it's a given that we'll be buying him permanently after all.

Dibling also needs a good run of starts, but I really like his willingness to take people on.

Dave Abrahams 32 Posted 31/12/2025 at 11:44:18

Mark (31),

I would also keep McNeil, I think he is very under-rated and, let's be honest, if another player had made that pass for Garner's opening goal, plenty on here would be raving about it.

Steve Brown 33 Posted 31/12/2025 at 12:04:39

Don’t think McNeil will be willing to stay as a squad rotation player, so we may sell in the next 2 transfer windows.

Paul Murray 34 Posted 31/12/2025 at 12:31:20

That was a great well disciplined away performance.

I think the 5 for Patterson is very harsh; admittedly he struggled for the first 15 minutes against a very tricky good winger but, once he got into his stride and Tyler tracked back, he grew into the game. After so long out, he tired; a 6 from me and he keeps his place vs Brentford.

I thought Garner was easily the Man of the Match but O'Brien and Tarkowski were outstanding and deserved a 9 each. Like everyone else, I don't know what Rohl's best position is and, like Patterson, he got tired... he doesn't look like a Number 10 to me but he put a shift in.

Well done, Barry -- he played well second half as well as his goal. He played some lovely passes but first half he was awful. Very pleased for the lad, he didn't put his head down and much improved after the break.

The only change I would make next game is to bring Jack Grealish back in for Rohl.

Hopefully a new right-back and a striker for New Year then we can really kick on but I think we are having a good season and love to have a good cup run. Happy New Year to everyone.

Dale Self 36 Posted 31/12/2025 at 13:46:59

And didn't McNeil make the tackle that started the break for the sublime Garner pass for the second goal?

Dale Self 37 Posted 31/12/2025 at 16:19:16

Ah, I see Mike 15 witnessed the tackle as well.

Moyes should find more work for McNeil.

Paul Griffiths 38 Posted 31/12/2025 at 23:09:33

5 for Patterson is simply plain wrong. He had a tricky first quarter-of-an-hour with their winger getting past him a few times - teething issues were hardly unexpected. But he improved as he got into the game and it was nice to see our right-back getting high up the pitch and I thought that he and Dibling did well together.

Patterson should start against Brentford, if only to keep Tarkowski and O'Brien together.

Believe it or not, someone on another thread was defending or failing to explain our failure to get a right-back on board over the summer. We need one now please.