What’s behind Everton’s recent inconsistency?
By Gary Pearson
Winning four of their first five games, Everton started the Premier League season like gangbusters but have since been mired by inconsistency.
It seems like a distant memory, but Everton started the season with a draw against Spurs at home, a result followed by four wins on the bounce.
The Toffees dispatched West Brom, Stoke, Sunderland and Middlesbrough during their winning streak. Those four teams aren’t exactly world beaters, but it’s the way the Blues performed that was most impressive.
Everton outscored their opponents by a 9-2 margin in those four games, comprehensive numbers no matter how you look at it.
Everton have won once since, gaining five points from 18.
So, what has brought on their recent struggles?
A lack of scoring support for Romelu Lukaku
Romelu Lukaku has scored seven goals in nine appearances this season. The rest of the team has eight goals. Lukaku is invariably expected to contribute the bulk of the club’s goals but shouldn’t be counted on to score nearly half.
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The big Belgian striker is joint-third in scoring with Eden Hazard and is two goals behind Diego Costa for the league lead.
His prolific output has put the league on notice. With bundles of goals comes increased attention from opposing defenses. They probably think that suppressing Lukaku is tantamount to hushing the entire team. And there some truth to that sentiment.
Ross Barkley and Gareth Barry have two goals each. Everton supporters won’t expect many more from Barry.
The output then drops significantly. Kevin Mirallas and Yannick Bolasie have a goal each. Ronald Koeman, along with Toffees faithful, expect more from this duo.
“Personally, I need to create more, score more goals and get more assists. It is not easy and we need the whole team to help each other so we can improve even more,” Mirallas told evertonfc.com.
“I have spoken to the manager and he has told me I have been playing well but he wants more, and I agreed.
I think we can all agree with Mirallas’ thoughts.
The stats reflect Everton’s current league position
Sometimes the stats don’t reflect a team’s league placement. They currently do, though. Currently level with Manchester United in sixth place, the Toffees are seventh with 23 yellow cards. They’re fifth in wins, 10th in shot attempts, seventh in shots on target and goals scored from inside the box and 10th in both goals scored from outside the box and corners taken. The Toffees are eighth in passes completed and crosses.
Notice a trend?
Defensively, the Toffees are seventh with three clean sheets and 13th in goals conceded, an underwhelming stat solely due to conceding five against Chelsea.
It’s not often you see the analytics almost perfectly mirror league position, but in this particular case, at this particular time of the season, the stats don’t lie.
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Looking forward
The Toffees, even after a poor run of form, aren’t in a bad place. In fact, they’re a mere three points away from a share of fifth place. And with the parity of the Premier League being at an all-time high, anything can happen.
If Everton can eradicate the aforementioned inconsistencies, they’ll be just fine. The Blues owned the league’s second best defense before the Chelsea result.
And with a few good results, there’s every chance Everton will revert back to their impressive and formidable early season form.