Everton currently sit in 12th place in the Premier League and have only taken four points out of a possible 24 in recent fixtures.
Many would have expected the Merseysiders to have risen up the table by now, but their form has been far from encouraging. The team suddenly look very vulnerable in defence and individual mistakes are costing them precious points.
In order to fix things at both Goodison Park and on the road, Everton need to go back to basics. Their shape against Newcastle United was far from convincing, with players like Seamus Coleman and Antolin Alcaraz at fault for two of the Magpies’ goals. The lack of shape defensively will cause Everton to continue conceding goals, with the Toffees having let in 31 in 19 games – something Roberto Martinez will want to address.
One of the main issues with Everton’s leaky defence is its lack of pace centrally. Neither Alcaraz, Distin nor Jagielka have enough pace to handle quicker sides, especially when they are not as organised as they should be at the back. Combining a lack of pace and poor positioning into a side that is already lacking confidence is a big problem, and it’s causing Everton to concede goals that wouldn’t have gone in last year. The first choice centre-back pairing has a combined age of 69 years and although Distin has been an excellent Premier League performer for many seasons, Martinez may be looking to implement some fresh blood into the centre of defence to kick-start Everton’s campaign. Naturally, John Stones would be an ideal candidate to lead the team forward, and the manager will be desperate to get him back into action. However, the England international has struggled with injuries recently and his return to a starting eleven may not happen as quickly as some Everton fans would like.
The other issue for Everton is the crisis of confidence up front – Romelu Lukaku only has a single goal in his last seven Premier League appearances. Clearly, the Toffees would like to see more from their record signing, as a £27 million investment in the summer has not paid dividends so far. A potential partnership with Samuel Eto’o showed signs of life at the start of the season, but since then the two strikers have failed to produce goals on a regular basis. There are still glimmers of hope for Everton, however. The likes of Leighton Baines and Kevin Mirallas have impressed in recent weeks, with Baines’ role in midfield showing Everton supporters that he has a lot to offer the team in terms of versatility. His superb pass for Kevin Mirallas’ goal against Newcastle is one of the reasons why Martinez has put Baines in a midfield position in the last couple of fixtures. As Everton are going through a rough patch, they will need a good performance sooner rather than later. A convincing win at Premier League strugglers Hull City would certainly get the ball rolling again, they just have to believe that they can do it.
Another problem Roberto Martinez has to address is the potential of a very congested fixture list as Everton will have Europa League, Premier League and FA Cup fixtures to play in the next few weeks. Clearly, Martinez will have to balance the squad effectively, otherwise Everton could be falling further down the league – something that has become a bit of a rarity for the Merseyside outfit in recent seasons.
The upcoming January transfer window will also be a worrying time for the club. Although there is no desperate need to sell players, the likes of Seamus Coleman and Ross Barkley continue to attract bundles of interest from the Premier League’s elite. If Martinez can keep hold of his stars throughout January, there is no reason as to why the team cannot push up the table. Although current form will worry the manager, there is a lot of ability in the side that will enable the team to return to winning ways and push for the Europa League places at the end of the season.
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