Winter of Discontent

It seems fitting that Everton should find themselves in tenth place after beating Bournemouth 2-0 at Goodison Park on Sunday, having arrived at a point where equally compelling arguments could be made both for and against the club’s prospects under the current regime.

After November brought a run of promising performances that saw them record two dominant home wins over Brighton and Cardiff either side of a very decent draw away at Chelsea, Marco ‘Mario’ Silva’s buoyant Blues entered December filled with the sort of fiery optimism that could only be extinguished by a last-minute defeat at Anfield; and so it was that Jordan Pickford revealed himself to be a fully paid-up member of the alt-Wright, as he inexplicably contrived to turn a routine catch into the catalyst for a potentially season-defining crisis. Still, sickening though it was, Divock Origi’s first goal since ‘Nam could have easily been written off as just the latest perk of whatever Faustian bargain our champagne socialist neighbours made back in the sixties, were it not for the fact that it was followed by a pair of drab home draws against a mid/lower-table bum dossers, and two chastening defeats at the hands of Manchester City and Tottenham. Feliz Navidad it was not.

With pundits and journalists recycling the admittedly disturbing story of Silva’s tendency to turn back into a pumpkin after 18 games or whatever it is, the 5-1 win at Burnley on Boxing Day was timely to say the least. Considering the trouble that Farhad Moshiri went to in order to appoint this manager, you would have to think that he was never in danger of getting the bullet unless the situation spiralled to the point where relegation became a real possibility, but it’s fair to say that catching Burnley before they dropped Joe Hart did much to prevent doubts about him increasing to the point of no return, following truly dire defeats away at Brighton and at home to Leicester. Another stroke of good fortune came in the opportunity for a reprieve from Premier League struggles through the FA Cup third round, as League Two Lincoln City were dispatched with relative ease, albeit with a few unnecessary scares along the way.

Then came the visit of Bournemouth.

The first half an hour was so bad, it was impossible not to wonder if Moshiri was thinking about ringing Talksport and asking if the spectre at the carvery would like to deposit another £10m into his Cayman Islands account. Thankfully, however, the Cherries are an even bigger gang of fair-weather farts than Everton, and so the momentum began to swing in the home side’s favour after positive play from Ademola Lookman and Bernard led to a couple of half-chances being created as the interval approached. This carried over into the second half, until the deadlock was finally broken when Lucas Digne dug out a brilliant cross from a less than ideal position, allowing Kurt Zouma to power in front of Asmir Begovic and guide a well-placed header past the flailing goalkeeper. The relief around the ground was palpable, although the nerviness soon returned after Michael Keane repeated the trick that should have seen him dropped following Jamie Vardy’s winner for Leicester, only this time the big stiff idiot got away with it as Joshua King fired high and wide.

There were yet more moments of panic, such as when Dan Gosling somehow managed to saunter through and find himself one on one with Jordan Pickford, requiring Keane to atone for his aforementioned error with a last-ditch tackle of England’s Brave John Terry proportions. There was then the obligatory period where the visitors seem to win a corner every 30 seconds of the final ten minutes, before substitute Dominic Calvert-Lewin finally put the game to bed with a tidy finish right at the death, following more good work from Lookman down the left flank. The young striker became the second Everton player to cup his ear to the Gwladys after scoring a goal this season, in a strange move that spoke to an issue with the fan base that I didn’t even realise existed. I suppose he could just be bitter about the fact that some wags have taken to referring to his best friend Tom Davies as Pony Grant, but it was a confusing choice of celebration nevertheless.

All in all, things are pretty much whatever you want to make of them at the moment. Pickford looks to have finally settled a bit since the derby debacle – he made an excellent save at the feet of a Bournemouth player (I forget who) towards the end on Sunday – and the majority of Marcel Brands’s summer recruits have hit the ground running, with only Yerry Mina yet to establish himself in the starting line-up. Digne and Zouma both look to be quality additions to the defence, and Keane and Mina will each be given plenty of opportunities to convince the manager that they are the long-term answer at centre-back. It must, however, be said that Seamus Coleman’s days as a top-level player look to have come to an end, as the apparent loss of a physical edge that once made him one of the best right-backs in the country has left his technical deficiencies woefully exposed. It was sad to see him being targeted as a weak link by Spurs last month, and the mis-control that led to a Bournemouth corner with the team already under the cosh was a perfect of example why now is the time to move him on.

The further up the pitch that Brands looks, the more he seems to have his work cut out. Andre Gomes is a tremendous footballer, but with no purchase option built into the loan agreement with Barcelona, there’s no way of knowing whether or not he’ll still be here beyond the end of this season. Alongside Gomes, Idrissa Gana Gueye continues to frustrate with his terrible passing, while Morgan Schneiderlin and James McCarthy offer so little in reserve that it’s hardly worth having them on the books. Theo Walcott seems to have gone off the boil completely after making a positive start to his Everton career, looking so disinterested that you question if his heart is still in it, now that it’s become abundantly clear that playing and scoring regularly has done nothing to improve his chances of featuring for England under Gareth Southgate. If, as appears to be the case, there is no means of bringing in a striker this month, I’d be in favour of giving Walcott a run through the centre, where his pace and finishing could be better-utilised, and the player himself could perhaps feel rejuvenated by a change of scenery. It would also allow Richarlison to move back out onto the wing, where the Brazilian is far more dangerous.

Bernard and Lookman have both had impressive outings in recent weeks, but, despite his fine goal return, Gylfi Sigurdsson remains something of an enigma. The departure of Wayne Rooney last summer has enabled the Iceland captain to start week in, week out as the team’s attacking fulcrum, given licence to roam and affect the game as he sees fit, but all too often he simply stands up front, leaving the two centre-midfielders to get hopelessly overrun in what becomes almost a 4-2-4 formation. Without a centre forward to hold the ball up and link the play, the onus is on him to provide an outlet to the deeper midfielders and involve the wingers, and unfortunately, for all of his technical qualities, he doesn’t appear to be capable of doing that job. Taking into account his age and the fee that Steve Walsh was duped into paying for him, as well as the wages that he’ll presumably be earning, it’s difficult to think of too many potential destinations for Sigurdsson, but at the same time, it’s hard to see where he fits into the type of high-energy, quick tempo system that Silva talks about wanting to implement.

Over to you, Marcel.

Into the Middle of Things

Everton will go into the first international break unbeaten in all competitions, after a drab 1-1 home draw with Huddersfield that will perhaps dampen expectations of what manager Marco Silva could realistically deliver in his debut season.

Following draws away at Wolves and Bournemouth, along with a home victory over a Southampton side that have since looked very decent in winning at Crystal Palace, the point earned against David Wagner’s Yorkshire puddings leaves Silva with the rather ominous distinction of taking the same amount of points from his first four games in charge as Roberto Martinez managed. No one will be complaining if the season turns out as well as 2013/14 did, obviously, but it does still serve as timely reminder to keep an eye out for signs of excessive adjective use or a rapidly receding hairline.

Cliché though it sounds, the opening run of fixtures have, by virtue of a multitude of mitigating circumstances, genuinely led to more questions than answers. The arrival of Marcel Brands from PSV Eindhoven earlier in the summer created a wave of optimism, not least because it heralded the departure of the hugely unpopular Steve Walsh; but while the new broom has been quick to display his efficiency in sweeping out deadwood like Ashley Williams, Cuco Martina, Joel Robles, Muhamed Besic, Sandro Ramirez, Kevin Mirallas and Yannick Bolasie, the decision to introduce a shortened summer transfer window in a World Cup year has meant that fans will have to wait to see evidence of the clear, sustainable incoming transfer policy that such an appointment is designed to produce. As a result, there are still a few stragglers getting a lot more minutes than we might have hoped.

The cost of a pre-season fraught with upheaval has been felt most keenly in defence, where comparisons with Martinez become a bit more disconcerting. I say that partly in jest, as steps have already been taken to reinforce a long-creaking back line with an outlay of more than £50m to bring in both Yerry Mina and Lucas Digne from Barcelona, in addition to a one-year loan deal for Chelsea centre-back Kurt Zouma, but it would still be remiss not to acknowledge that for all the improvements Silva has already made in terms of attacking intent, you can’t help but feel as though he could make life easier for himself by rethinking a zonal marking system which has already seen three goals conceded from corners. Mina’s imminent return from injury should hopefully go a long way towards solving the issue of Everton’s vulnerability to high balls into the box, and maybe even reduce the feelings of trepidation that follow the awarding of a set piece within hoofing distance of Jordan Pickford’s goal. At well over six-foot tall, and having demonstrated his considerable aerial prowess at the World Cup, the Colombian certainly has the physical attributes to help make this a non-issue in future.

You would have to think that the area which Brands will be prioritising in January and beyond must be centre midfield, where Morgan Schneiderlin – who, for all of his general cowardice and unprofessionalism, does deserve credit for saving the day when Mason Holgate inexplicably abandoned his position and allowed Steve Mounie a free run at goal on Saturday – Idrissa Gana Gueye and Tom Davies look woefully ill-equipped to compete against anything other than the worst midfields in the division. Such was the promise with which all three began their respective Everton careers that it would have seemed ludicrous to have said this even twelve months ago, but having now watched them stink the place out over and over again under four different managers, there is simply nothing else for it. None of them would get a sniff at any of the teams expected to finish above the Blues, and they wouldn’t walk into any of the other mid-table sides, either. There is, of course, always the possibility that Andre Gomes could bring some much-needed finesse to the middle of the park, but having read about the Euro 2016 winner’s mental anguish during his time at Barcelona, you do wonder if his loan move is more of a Matteo Ferrari/Lacina Traore-style career break than an attempt at getting back on track.

With Schneiderlin and Gana, it’s easy to just accept that, like most journeyman footballers, they’ll do a limited job for a couple of years and then move on. In the case of Davies, however, it’s a bit more disappointing to see an academy product go from capturing the imagination to being the subject of derision within the space of a few months. It’s a situation which reminds me that there are certain intangibles in football that I've come to accept will only truly make sense if you've played professionally. One of them is the enormous difference between home and away performances, and another is the effect of being an unknown quantity. Davies looks as though he could be the latest in a long line of kids who we've seen come into a Premier League team and have an immediate impact, only to eventually fade to a point where they're forced to drop down a level or two in order to find regular football. I don't know if it's because they fall prey to the meticulous preparation that goes into each game – I imagine it becomes easier to nullify a player as more footage of him becomes available – but for whatever reason the opposition seems to have the measure of them after a handful of meetings.

When he first broke into the team under Ronald Koeman, Davies looked both dynamic and remarkably composed for his age, and that was enough to give him the jump on far more experienced players; but now, eighteen months later, those same opponents are identifying him as a weak link who can be pressed and harried into conceding possession with relative ease. It's a strange situation, albeit a very common one when you take a moment to consider how many teenagers burst onto the scene each year, only to soon find themselves doing the Saturday-Tuesday circuit with Ian Holloway or Steve Cotterill. It could also be worth noting that Davies’s performances really nosedived when he started pinning his hair up like a dinner lady.

It’s not all doom and gloom, though – far from it. Silva was brought here to purge us of the stench of negativity that was first farted out by Koeman, before being cupped into our faces by the swollen, Branston Pickle-stained hand of He Who Must Not Be Named, and with signings such as the electrifying young Brazilian Richarlison – who this week received his first senior international call-up – there’s every reason to believe that he’s going to do just that. Even if, like me, you feel that Gylfi Sigurdsson and Cenk Tosun are a bit too similar in their one-paced endeavour to ever really thrive as a partnership in the long-run, they’re at least serviceable enough to get by with for as long Richarlison and his partner in width, the really excellent Theo Walcott, are providing a serious goal threat from the flanks. Add in the allegedly surpassing talents of another Brazil international in the form of free transfer Bernard (named after his mother’s favourite comedian, Manning), and we can start to think about stuffing Oumar Niasse into that locker he waited so long for.

¡Solo le Mejor!