Football is funny sometimes.
Even a couple of weeks ago, it would have been hard to imagine Michael Keane being serenaded by a jubilant away end at Portman Road to chants of “Keano, Keano” after Everton had won 2-0 to make it four games unbeaten.
The start of the season was tough, both collectively and individually. But here we are.
Roughly an hour earlier there had been more chants of “Keano, Keano” as Everton won a free kick in a dangerous position just outside the area. Tellingly, those calls were probably only half in jest.
At this stage, there is an almost mythical quality to the big central defender’s prowess in the final third, which has led many — including former Everton boss Carlo Ancelotti — to call him the best finisher at the club.
There was the elegant left-footed swish against Crystal Palace in May 2022 that helped Everton complete their great escape from relegation, and the thunderous late strike from range 11 months later to rescue a point at home to Tottenham Hotspur.
To those, we can now add Saturday’s effort — arrowed into the roof of the net with his weaker foot. It was a chance that registered just 0.04 in expected goals (xG), making it a four-in-100 shot. Keane’s 13 Premier League goals for Everton have now come from an xG of just 10.
“All the players know what a good finisher Keano is,” their current manager, Sean Dyche, said afterwards. “There’s a calmness to him and we see it all the time.”
Keane honed his technique as a goalscoring midfielder in Manchester United’s academy before being converted to a central defender. On more than one occasion, Dyche and his coaching staff have spoken about using him as an auxiliary forward when they have needed a goal. It is easy to see why.
“I’m not sure about best finisher at the club, but I’d say I’m up there,” Keane said on Saturday. “There’s a few who can strike the ball really well and luckily I managed to do that (against Ipswich). It was a tough angle but I knew I could get a good strike on it, and I focused on trying to hit the roof of the net because I think that’s hard for ’keepers from that angle.
“A lot of it is probably just technique from growing up, coming through and working on all different kinds of finishes — right foot, left foot. When you get in those positions, you’ve got to be calm. I focus on getting a good strike on the ball. It’s important to set yourself and make sure you connect well.”
Keane’s twin brother, Will, actually plays as a striker for Preston North End in the Championship — English football’s second tier. But Michael has never thought of emulating him with a positional change. “It’s a really hard role to play and putting chances away is only one part of it. You look at all the work Dom (Everton’s No 1 centre-forward Dominic Calvert-Lewin) does— there’s no way I could do that.”
Saturday’s strike, and the subsequent win, were fitting recompense for Keane’s perseverance in the opening months of the season.
With Jarrad Branthwaite, a first-choice at centre-back for the club last term, on the sidelines since the summer because of a groin injury, he was part of a leaky defence that conceded 13 goals as Everton lost the opening four league games. Keane, signed by Dyche for Burnley in 2014 and reunited with him at Goodison in January last year, then played through a dead leg in the draw against Leicester City but lost his place when Branthwaite returned for the recent win against Crystal Palace a week later.
There has been frustration among some fans at Dyche’s reluctance to play summer signing Jake O’Brien ahead of him, yet Keane has retained the faith of his manager since those days together at Burnley. Branthwaite’s current thigh problem has given him a second chance to stake a claim and performances have steadily improved.
“Keano has had a lot of question marks over him,” Dyche said. “Haven’t we all? But he’s out there every day, plays through all the question marks — like at Leicester where he had a dead leg and other players might not have made it. He deserved to stay in the team. Jarrad is close to being fit and possibly could have played, but I felt he needed another week to be sure his body is right. Keano delivered a very good performance and an excellent goal.”
Alongside the goal, Keane and centre-back partner James Tarkowski managed to subdue in-form Ipswich striker Liam Delap, and dominated their penalty area. Keane alone made six clearances, four of them with his head. Ipswich had chances, particularly early on through Jack Clarke, but Everton deserved to ride their luck.
This could well be Keane’s eighth and final season at Everton, with his lucrative contract due to expire next June when he will be 32. So far, there has been no indication as to whether he will be awarded a new one and, as things stand, he can sign a pre-contract with foreign clubs for a free-agent move in the summer from that start of January.
For now, at least, he remains an important component in the eyes of his manager. With Branthwaite likely to be back soon, Dyche sees renewed competition for the centre-back slots as a positive.
“I said when he (Keane) went away in the summer, ‘Look, it’s not a done deal that centre-backs play every game’. I said, ‘Of course I’ve been loyal to the centre-backs from last season because they were excellent, but come back fit’. He did that. Came back as fit as I remember him. He worked really hard in pre-season and was a solid performer. (He has) Hardly missed a game. And he’s earning the right to play, which is all you can ask of players.
“It’s a conundrum at times, picking a team, but you want them all fit and that competitive element. That often adds to the power of a group and their performances. We want that across the squad, not just at centre-back. But we’ve got four very good ones at centre-back.”
Still time left, then, for some more bangers from Keane and songs in his honour from the Everton fans.
How quickly the tables can turn.
(Top photo: Bradley Collyer/PA Images via Getty Images)
