Everton Stumble in Moyes' Debut | Early Days, Players Assessed and Transfer Window Concerns
Today at 11:26 PM
The Blues need to get up to speed fast and new signings can't arrive quickly enough
Growing Pains
Everton hearts sank a little when the team for the Wednesday evening game against Aston Villa was announced in the lead up to the match, and it looked pretty much exactly like what the now-departed Sean Dyche would have selected. As it happens, there was a slight tweak in the formation when they took to the pitch, in that David Moyes reverted to the 4-2-3-1 the ex-Burnley man had been using, before he'd switched to a more defensive 4-5-1 in his last five outings in charge. As this meant that Abdoulaye Doucouré would play higher up, in support of lone striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin, a role he's struggled in for more than a year, this was cold comfort to most.
There were perfectly valid reasons behind choosing those who've played most minutes so far this season (excepting the currently injured Dwight McNeil). With only a couple of training sessions at Finch Farm under his belt, it was unrealistic to expect Moyes to make wholesale changes, introducing largely sidelined players like Jake O'Brien, Nathan Patterson, or Beto. It's understandable that the Scot would first want to see how the regulars shaped up, playing to his orders. I'm sure that he'll have found this instructive, in forming an opinion of who can do what, and how each performed under the conditions and pressures of a competitive game.
Secondly, given the no-doubt fragile state of confidence within the Everton squad as a whole, immediately dumping to the bench a number of starters under the previous regime, only a few days after arriving, may not have had a positive effect, given the manager will not yet be abreast of interpersonal team dynamics. Such decisions will go down easier, if it's felt that everyone has been given at least one chance to state their claim to retain their starting berth. Now, he's able to justify any changes made to the starting lineup, based on their relative performances midweek — and there will surely be some for Tottenham Hotspur's Sunday visit to Goodison Park.
So, what did Moyes attempt which was any different to Dyche? It was apparent that Everton's defensive line was pushed up a little higher than normal, presumably to facilitate a more active high press and in order to allow more passing along the ground, rather than a lot of high balls fired up towards Calvert-Lewin. The Toffees were more direct than had been the case last week in the FA Cup, under caretaker Leighton Baines, now an assistant with the senior team, but it could be seen that they were being encouraged to look to play through the thirds when possible, and with improved tempo.
After two years of doing anything but play football, it's to be expected that transitioning away from Dyche's agricultural methods will take some time for these players. There were mistakes aplenty, especially in the opening period, for which the hosts should have been punished and of course Jarrad Branthwaite's woeful pass in the second half cost the Blues dearly, from which they were unable to recover. Moyes was critical of the team's in-possession play, and rightly so, as almost all of the visitors' best chances arose from Everton's sloppy passing.
It's a short turnaround to the club's next outing, where they'll face a Spurs side who've picked up just a single point from their last five league fixtures and who have a poor away record and a porous, banged-up defence. A couple of additional sessions will help the team acclimitise to the style of play now required, but it's early days and there'll surely be plenty of uncomfortable moments in the weeks ahead, until Everton begin to look more assured on the ball, comfortable with playing at a higher tempo and able to balance out their pressing, with maintaining a solid structure.
Winners and Losers
So which of the team's players fared well on Wednesday and who struggled to cope? Evaluating performances is necessarily subjective, and if statistics can sometimes be used to reinforce one's opinion, occasionally they can present a misleading picture. On Wednesday, the data largely confirmed what I saw from TV — with one notable exception, that being Iliman Ndiaye. For reasons which escape me, all of the sites I checked erroneously attributed Branthwaite's error, which led to Villa's winning goal, to the Senegalese. His statistics were unimpressive, but whenever he's on the ball it looks as though something may happen and he definitely drew the visitors' attention.
Vitaliy Mykolenko was a surprising winner on the night. The left back impressed in a defensive role last term, though with considerable doubts regarding his offensive contribution, but has endured a poor campaign thus far. It's clear that Moyes wants more in attack from his fullbacks, but the question was whether the Ukrainian would be able to step up to the challenge. He did his cause no harm, pushing forward far more than we've seen previously, completing three of six crosses (the rest of the side combined for just one) and creating two chances. He's not the long-term solution, but may not be a complete write-off in the new system.
Experienced centre half James Tarkowski is another who's been subpar this season, but was back to his old self against the Villans. I'd thought he may be on a trajectory of terminal decline, so it was encouraging to see him putting in blocks (three), making interceptions and tackles (five combined) and dominating aerially (five from seven duels). His passing was also much improved, with him connecting on eleven of 14 long balls, and completing 85.2% overall. In front, Idrissa Gueye was an effective screening presence, winning six tackles and interceptions combined. His midfield partner, Orel Mangala was composed in possession, misplacing just one of 43 passes.
On the negative side, however, Jack Harrison was a major disappointment. The winger was like a black hole: whenever the ball reached him, it got sucked in and popped out the other side, ending up with an opposition player. He tried his best, but almost always took too many touches, turning back into trouble and making poor decisions at every turn. The on-loan Leeds United player won a meagre two of nine ground duels, as he was muscled off the ball with regularity, before being belatedly withdrawn after an hour. I hope I'm wrong, but I'm getting the feeling that Harrison's strong offensive numbers at Leeds were more a product of Marcelo Bielsa's hyper-aggressive system, than a true indication of the player.
Others who struggled were Calvert-Lewin, who was presented (for once) with some decent service, but again failed to convert — his point-blank miss in added time being particularly costly. Moyes seems confident he can get the striker firing, but we can't wait forever. Ashley Young was error-prone and it appears he may find playing at a higher tempo a problem. Surely Nathan Patterson is worth a shot at this point? Branthwaite was poor in possession, coughing up the ball in dangerous positions on two occasions, with the second instance effectively deciding the game. He needs to pick up his levels, but should do so under the new boss.
Who's Making the Decisions?
A first concern under the new managerial regime is over recruitment — in particular during what is left of the winter transfer window. We all know Moyes' record in identifying players, often meticulously scouting them himself, during his first stint at the club. It is also true that he initially was responsible for some good signings — Jarrod Bowen being probably the most noteworthy, in the early part of his time at West Ham United. This history has been brought up to Moyes himself on a number of occasions since he rejoined Everton, and he does take evident pride in it.
That's fair enough, but entering the final two weeks of the transfer window, it was a bit disconcerting to hear the 61-year-old admit to spending a lot of time, since his return, in with the recruitment people, presumably going over targets. I think that this is not a good idea, or use of his time. It was apparent midweek that he's going to have his work cut out in ramping up the team's attack over the next few weeks and I feel this should be his sole focus, not inserting himself into the recruitment process. That's the job of the specialists who the club employs, overseen by Everton's director of football, Kevin Thelwell.
Thelwell gets a lot of grief from fans over the debatable quality of players signed on his watch; this is unfair. During his entire tenure, the Blues have been operating with zero room for manoeuvre regarding PSR and a total lack of the cash — which is required to get deals over the line. Many point a finger in his direction over the decision to buy Beto 18 months ago, for an estimated €25m, but the striker had bagged double figure goals in Serie A in consecutive seasons — and how many players with his record were available for a fee deferred for an entire year? The answer to that should be obvious.
Moreover, the DoF was doing his job, in trying to bring players in to solve immediate needs and also for future planning. Unfortunately, he was working with a manager, in Dyche, who had his own, highly specific, even eccentric requirements for additions and who left unused potentially capable players, such as Arnaut Danjuma last term, and Jake O'Brien this season. Everton's recruitment people have targeted many quality players, but have been handcuffed by the club's parlous finances.
We need to quit imaging Moyes is going to pull a Tim Cahill, Mikel Arteta or Steven Pienaar out of his hat like it was 15 or 20 years ago and the manager himself should forget about his talent-finding reputation and leave the acquisition of new players this month to those who do it for a living.
Statistics provided courtesy of fbref.com and sofascore.com
