Dyche's conservative tactics continue to frustrate Everton fans

10/30/2024 02:37 PM

Ruminations on the Blues' dismal performance in salvaging a home point against the Cottagers

Meek and Mild

Following on from Everton's comfortable 2-0 victory over Ipswich Town at Portman Road the previous weekend - the club's first away win for over ten months - hopes were high for the visit of Fulham on Saturday. After all, the Blues had extended their current decent run of form to four games unbeaten — greatly improving their position in the Premier League table. The West Londoners arrived at Goodison Park off back-to-back losses, so a victory on home turf seemed a reasonable enough aspiration prior to kickoff.

Sadly, the positive vibes evaporated almost as quickly as the sunshine over the old stadium, as the hosts came out and immediately dropped off into a defensive shell — against a side in the Cottagers, who whilst decent enough, nobody is mistaking for an elite outfit. what was the plan from Sean Dyche? I have no idea. Surely this Everton squad is not so poor that it needs to play conservatively and with such passivity as was on show at the weekend? They were a comfortable mid-table side last season and improved their options in many positions over the summer. Yes, there are still weak areas, but why were the Blues setting up like relegation fodder?

The visitors were allowed the freedom of Goodison for long stretches, with the Toffees sat narrow and deep, without much of a press evident. Fulham centre back pairing Calvin Bassey and Issa Diop combined for 173 touches — 92 in the middle third of the pitch. By contrast, James Tarkowski and Michael Keane managed 109 and 39, respectively. The hosts occasionally tried to play the ball out from defence, but it was so slow, ponderous and easily disrupted by the Londoners that I'd be surprised if much time was spent practising build-up play in training. Eventually, the hosts would end up lobbing directionless balls up towards Dominic Calvert-Lewin. The lack of subtlety, or ambition was staggering.

I don't expect wildly creative attacking play from this Everton side, or an offensive game-plan when on the road - except perhaps against the very weakest of opponents - but surely at home we can offer more than this? Those in attendance understandably failed to provide an atmosphere, as this was nothing to feed off and the game was conducted in an almost lockdown-like silence, with the raucous calls of the manager clearly audible. If he was excited by what passed for a game of football, then he was surely one of the few. However, whilst Blues fans are realistic, they need something to cheer for, and it's not good enough for the team to be sent out on home turf with such a negative outlook.

Some may blame the players for not delivering, but this level of extreme caution comes from the top down. The Blues must travel to bottom of the table Southampton on Saturday with the intention to take the game to the hosts. The Saints were only beaten 1-0 at the Etihad Stadium last time out, but Manchester City scorned numerous chances to pad the scoreline. In four home games this season, the South Coast outfit have conceded eight times and xGA (Expected Goals Allowed) statistics of 2.2, 2.6, 1.6 and 3.1 — two of those against fellow promoted sides. Everton must play higher up and press them aggressively into mistakes. There's no excuse for a passive approach.

The Beto Conundrum

Towards the end of last week a website carried this quote:

"Sources have revealed to TEAMtalk, however, that Everton have no plans to offload Beto in January, either on loan or permanently. The club view Beto as an important squad player and believe he can still prove to be a success in the Premier League."

If true, that's an odd stance, given the player's lack of time on the pitch. He managed 941 minutes in the league last season, off 30 appearances (scoring three goals). This season, he's been granted just 52 minutes, from five substitute outings (with one goal) — that's 6.4% of the available (league) game time, so the (apparent) words do not gel with actions. Barring a major uptick in how often Dyche turns to the Portuguese (which would entail Calvert-Lewin getting significantly injured), he'll see far less time on the pitch this term, than in his debut campaign.

The evidence is contrary to the (apparent) club assertion that he's important and can still be successful here. Given that Everton have two strikers who'll return from injury layoffs, probably by the end of the month, Beto may actually see his playing time reduce, rather than increase. Youssef Chermiti appeared to be favoured over him by Dyche at the end of last season and also during the summer preseason games. As for Armando Broja, we don't know anything concrete regarding how the manager sees him, but director of football Thelwell had pursued the forward for 2 years, before finally getting his man, so you'd hope that he and Dyche are somewhat aligned.

From the above statistics and assumptions, this would make Beto Everton's number four striker. Considering the fee that the club is paying for him, that's not a sustainable position. With the Blues carrying four specialist centre forwards (plus Iliman Ndiaye who's played there often — albeit not for Dyche), that's too many and the obvious odd one out is the Portuguese, despite Saturday's game-saving heroics, which left the big man in an emotional state. Whilst it is true that the forward had an impact from the bench, does it necessarily follow that Dyche will suddenly do an about turn and prefer him over DCL? I'm not convinced.

It's hard not to want the 26-year-old to succeed and it's possible he'd have more of a chance in another system, but his characteristics just doesn't match up with what the current Blues boss wants from his lone centre forward, which is be a classic target man. Key to the role is an ability to play back-to-goal, hold the ball up and to press from the front. Beto does not perform any of these functions at a high level, hence why he's only turned to when the team are chasing a game. He was only introduced against Fulham when Dwight McNeil had to come off with an injury. I feel that the club will evaluate Chermiti and Broja over the next couple of months and then make a decision on Beto's future ahead of the January transfer window.

Random Observations

A notable exception to the low-energy display on show at Goodison was Idrissa Gueye, who almost single-handedly held the midfield together, finishing with a combined seven tackles and interceptions, along with seven ball recoveries. He engaged dribblers three times, winning the ball on each occasion. The 35-year-old showed calmness in possession, broke up a number of Fulham attacks and is still the club's best all-around defensive midfielder. I think he'd combine best alongside Orel Mangala, who isn't as tenacious as Gana, but is a composed operator.

Abdoulaye Doucoure isn't performing at a high enough level to hold down a starting berth in the team. Anonymous again against Marco Silva's side, he is not a good reader of the game defensively and consequently struggles when Everton sit back and invite the opponent on to them. In a more aggressive set-up he would be better, as he is still an energetic presence, but Dyche has better options to choose from both in a conventional midfield role, or higher up, behind the striker.

Everton's right side continues to be problematic, despite being the focus of much attention by the recruitment staff during the summer. In the end, the club missed out on several targets, although they succeeded in bringing back Jack Harrison, along with Jesper Lindstrom — both on loan deals. Neither are specialist right wingers, but it's time to commit to the Dane for a run of games. Despite a good cameo appearance from Harrison against Crystal Palace a month ago, he offers little as a regular starter. In 38 league appearances (32 starts) - a combined 2,806 minutes - he's produced just three goals and the same number of assists.

Lindstrom has yet to find his feet, but despite limited opportunities he's producing around double Harrison's output in both xG (Expected Goals) and xA (Expected Assists). A common argument for the latter's inclusion over the Napoli man is his defensive contribution, but in terms of the data, Lindstrom is recording 4.74 combined tackles and interceptions per 90 minutes, compared to 2.12 for Harrison; he's also making more ball recoveries. The only area Jack has been superior, is that he's tackled less on the dribble and is losing the ball slightly less overall — though both have been poor in this regard. At this stage, we know what one player offers, and it's not much.

Not starting Jarrad Branthwaite was a farcical decision. Michael Keane has been solid over the past few weeks, but he's not genuinely competing with Everton's star defender — or at least he shouldn't be, let's get that straight. One player will be leaving on a free transfer next June, whereas the other was considered to be worth in the region of £80m by the club last summer and is certain to attract major interest at the end of the campaign. If Dyche feels the need to reward Keane, then he should be considering him as a replacement for the underperforming James Tarkowski, instead. Branthwaite has to return to the starting lineup on Saturday, anything else is just obstinance, a quality Dyche is well known for.

Statistics provided courtesy of fbref.com