Marco Silva should look to ring the changes and get Everton back on track

After a season of mediocrity under Ronald Koeman, there was an air of change around Goodison Park when Marco Silva took over as the new manager in the summer. A 2-2 draw against Wolverhampton Wanderers on opening day might not have been the best result for Everton but a 2-1 victory over Southampton in the coming week made things look a lot brighter for the Toffees.

Everton enjoyed an unbeaten run in the Premier League for the first four games where they won one and drew the other three but things started to go downhill after a 3-1 defeat at home against West Ham United. It was followed by another disappointing result last weekend as Everton slumped to a 2-0 defeat against Arsenal away from home.

To be honest, Everton have not been outrightly poor and the Toffees have played some impressive free-flowing football under Marco Silva. However, they haven’t achieved the desired results to speak for their efforts. With 6 points from their first six games, Everton currently sit 12th in the league table. 

Silva showed significant activity in the summer transfer window and splashed the cash to bring in the likes of Yerry Mina, Richarlison and Lucas Digne. He further bolstered the squad by securing loan deals for Kurt Zouma and Andre Gomes from Chelsea and Barcelona respectively. Furthermore, the acquisition of a player of Bernard’s calibre on a free transfer was a big boost for the club.

However, things haven’t quite gone the way the new manager would have liked. Much of Everton’s woes this season have been down to their porous backline. Phil Jagielka, who started the first game against Wolves, received a red card which earned him a three-game suspension and the subsequent injury to his knee cartilage will sideline him till the end of this month.

Everton received another massive blow when Michael Keane suffered a skull injury against Bournemouth. The foot injury to Seamus Coleman did not help their cause either. As a result, Silva has been forced to field four different combinations in the heart of his team’s defence – Jagielka-Keane, Keane-Holgate, Holgate-Zouma and Keane-Zouma. Much to the disappointment of the manager, none of these pairings has managed to put in a solid shift at the back.

Another notable fact is that they conceded a majority of the goals from aerial balls played into the box. This is a clear indication that the team lacks someone with the physical presence to deal with aerial balls. Also, Silva’s free-flowing style of football necessitates the wingers and the full-backs to make attacking runs, thus leaving the defence open to a certain extent.

The full-backs have been caught out of position more often than not, allowing the opposition to launch attacks down the flanks with ease. Leighton Baines and Seamus Coleman, prior to his injury, have struggled to contribute defensively. Even Jonjoe Kenny, who replaced the injured Coleman in the starting line-up, has been busier in the other half of the pitch and hasn’t discharged his defensive duties diligently.

Everton need to be more compact at the back to win games and the first thing Silva should do is tighten the backline. The Toffees have got quality wingers and the full-backs need not make attacking runs so often.

Although Everton have looked dangerous going forward, they lacked smooth finishing against Arsenal. In the game against West Ham, Silva made a big mistake by playing Dominic Calvert-Lewin on the flanks which prevented the youngster from playing to his potential. Also, Cenk Tosun should be one of the first names in the starting line-up.

Although the Turk has failed to break his goalscoring drought this season, he is the only proper striker Everton have and he was playing well as a target man. He contributes a lot to the build-up play and Silva should start with him. Hence, Tosun in the starting XI with Calvert-Lewin on the bench should be the way forward for the club.

Everton haven’t managed to score too many goals from set-pieces this season and that should be another area of concern for the manager. Gylfi Sigurdsson, who is usually good with set-pieces, hasn’t delivered the goods as often as Silva would have liked. Hence, the manager should practice a few set-piece routines in the training sessions to allow the team to do better from corners and free-kicks.

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Another summer recruit, Bernard, has had little game time to make an impact. He is an immensely talented player who can engineer attacks down the left with his pace, agility and vision and Silva should use him more often.

Currently, Richarlison is the first-choice left-winger but Bernard deserves play time as well. Also, Everton have lacked creativity in the central areas of the pitch and Silva should start deploying someone like Andre Gomes once he is fit.

Thus, Silva should ring the changes and experiment with his team dynamics when Fulham make the trip to Goodison Park this weekend.