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Everton’s 3-1 loss to West Ham was a collective punch in the gut for the Goodison faithful, and much of the early season positivity has died off. It has been replaced with an acknowledgement of the fact that the road ahead is a long one, and a straightforward seventh-placed finish seems unlikely this season. Marco Silva has a lot to fix, and not much time to do it.
The defence remains the number one issue, and while Yerry Mina’s progression towards first-team fitness may help to resolve it, the problems are more complex than just one player. This is as much a tactical dilemma as it is one of personnel, and the loss against West Ham showed just how vulnerable Everton are to the counter-attack. The high-intensity, attacking football has certainly delighted the Everton fans after Allardyce’s drab stint in charge, but it has left holes at the other end. The full-backs push incredibly high up, leaving space in behind them, and against Felipe Anderson and particularly Yarmolenko this space was easily exploited.
Now, of course, playing with attacking full-backs works for many teams in the Premier League, and is not the inherent reason for Everton’s defensive struggles. The difference, however, between other teams and Everton is that many teams have the midfield to make up for their marauding full-backs. Manchester City has Fernandinho, who drops further back, allowing the two centre-backs to spread out and cover the defensive line. Manchester City is somewhat of an anomaly in that the pace of their full-backs is such that they can make it up the pitch to attack and all the way back to defend. Chelsea uses N’Golo Kante, who is capable of both sitting in front of the defence and intercepting counter-attacks with his speed and intelligent movement. Liverpool and Tottenham all have the midfield to compensate, and even Manchester United, despite their flaws, have Matic and Fred to do this job.
Everton, however, has a dilemma here. Idrissa Gueye, despite being a fantastic ball-winning midfielder when on form, is at his best when pressing and harrying the opposition, not sitting deep in front of the defence. He also lacks the ability that a defensive-midfielder needs to pick the ball up from his defenders and start attacks. This was seen in the number of times he gave the ball away against West Ham, and it is unsurprising that he gave away the most fouls of any player on the pitch as he tried to recover possession.
Morgan Schneiderlin is more suited to the role of a conventional defensive-midfielder, and Everton certainly looked more stable when he was on the pitch. However, Schneiderlin has his own issues, with the main one being his lack of pace. Forward players can sometimes breeze past him, and his habit of taking one too many touches has seen him turn into trouble on more than one occasion. He was certainly not at fault on Sunday, but he may not be the answer to Everton’s problems.
As for the rest of the midfield, Tom Davies, Sigurdsson, Bernard and Gomes (who has not featured as of yet) are far too attack-minded for this role, leaving Everton short on options. The only other options are James McCarthy and Beni Baningime, but both are currently injured. Silva has to make some decisions as to how Everton move forward, whether he changes the system or finds some way to fit the right personnel to continue this attacking style.
It must also be mentioned some underwhelming individual performances at the back, particularly from the centre-backs. Jagielka’s red card in the opener against Wolves was born from a lack of pace and slow reaction to losing the ball, Michael Keane has been shaky ever since his arrival and Mason Holgate has failed to impress in the last two games, although his potential is still great. As mentioned earlier, Yerry Mina offers hope to the back-line, partnered with Kurt Zouma who has looked solid in the few games he has played.
Unfortunately, issues can be found in the forward positions as well. There already seems to be a heavy reliance on Richarlison for goals and attacking threat, as in his two-game absence in the Premier League Everton have only managed two goals, having scored six in the three he was involved in. His replacement at the weekend, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, looked out of place, understandably so as his preferred position is as a striker. He does not offer Richarlison’s pace or trickery out wide and received the ball in places he could not hurt the opposition from. It has not helped that Walcott picked up a knock in the draw against Huddersfield prior to the international break, and while he recovered to start against West Ham he did not look fully sharp, only managing one successful cross and one successful dribble all game. Both Richarlison and a fully fit Walcott are absolutely key to the way Everton play, as their dynamism cause problems for defences, who have to deal with overlapping full-backs as well.
Cenk Tosun has also struggled to find any sort of form this season, having not yet scored a single goal and having his worst display so far against West Ham. He could not hold the ball up, as everything seemed to bounce off him, and while his isolation was not his fault, when chances were presented to him he failed to deliver. His workrate is high as always, but of a striker, goals are demanded. He may improve with Richarlison’s return, but if he does not Marco Silva will have to start considering alternatives.
For all of this article’s negativity, it absolutely must be emphasised that it is far too early to be worried. Five games into the season this was Everton’s first loss, and while the performance was below par, there were still positives to be found. Lucas Digne looked impressive, his first touch was magnificent and he put in a number of dangerous crosses, including one for Tosun in the first half that should have been put away to make it 1-1. Kurt Zouma looks a reliable defender, something the value of which cannot be overstated for Everton currently. The club has also been unlucky with injuries and suspensions to key players, forcing Marco Silva to change up his starting eleven more than he would normally like. M Silva has a lot to ponder, and much to fix, but there has been nothing to suggest as of yet that he is not up to the task. One terrible match does not define a team, after all.
