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.
