Gary O'Neil, the manager of Ipswich Town, has explained his decision to drop 26-year-old Dutch goalkeeper Kjell Scherpen for Christian Walton in the team's match against Everton. This decision was based on form, according to O'Neil. Scherpen, who had been the team's first-choice goalkeeper since joining from Union Sint-Gillis for a reported €10 million in the summer, had been named Player of the Year at Ipswich Town in the promotion year. However, O'Neil stated that Walton had trained well and was in better shape after missing a large part of the pre-season due to an injury. Walton had a relatively quiet game, with only two shots on goal, but O'Neil felt that his contributions would be more beneficial to the team than Scherpen's.