Everton played out an unexciting and drab 1-1 draw with Huddersfield Town yesterday and dropped two more points in what is becoming an increasingly frustrating start to the season.
In truth Everton didn’t deserve to win this match and having gone behind had to come back to secure a point from the game. The Blues produced by far their poorest performance of the campaign and again conceded a goal through erratic defending on a set-piece.
That’s now three draws from the Blues first four games so far. Although this was the first time this season that Everton haven’t taken the lead in a game.
So what did we learn from this disappointing match at Goodison Park?
First of all there have to be some major concerns about how Everton are continuing to defend, especially at set-pieces. Again the team let in a goal on a Huddersfield free kick.
There has been much discussion about the zonal marking system employed by manager Marco Silva. I’m not a great fan of this defensive approach, I prefer to see players mark opponents rather than space in these situations. But of course I’m not the Blues boss!
It seems to be taking the players time to master this system and several of the goals Everton have conceded so far have it seems been down to errors in its application. It’s something that must be ironed out as soon as possible.
Another issue that came out of the game yesterday is how reliant Everton already are on the pace, power, trickery and physical threat of Richarlison.
Yesterday the Toffees attack didn’t look anywhere near as threatening without him. Apart from the equaliser, Everton failed to get a single shot on target in the whole match! This is a miserable and worrying statistic.
The Blues consistently failed to break Huddersfield down and the visitors managed to produce as much threat in front of goal. The Terriers’ defensive tactics were not a surprise but most of the time Everton struggled to find a way through.
The Toffees are going to have to be better at finding a way through a packed defence like this as they are more than likely to be facing several other teams playing this way at Goodison Park during the season.
Richarlison is unavailable for another two Premier League matches and on this evidence will be sorely missed.
Theo Walcott in particular has benefited directly from having Richarlison alongside him. It’s given the former Arsenal forward more space and opportunity to get into goal scoring positions.
He didn’t have his best game though yesterday although he provided the assist for Everton’s goal. But to compound the problems, he picked up a knock and could be out for a while, adding to the Blues mounting injury woes.
We’ve discussed the negatives but were there any positives for the Toffees to take away from the game?
Yes I think there were two main positives.
First of all new centre-back Kurt Zouma had an excellent game and already looks a strong bet to start in that troublesome position. He is quick, strong and comfortable on the ball and it’s frankly a surprise that Chelsea have let him go out on loan again this season.
Their loss is Everton’s gain and given how many problems the team have had at centre-half, it is welcome to have some good news there.
The other thing that I think was a positive was the performance of Dominic Calvert-Lewin. Although he was involved indirectly in Huddersfield’s goal, the youngster made amends straight away and scored the Toffees’ equaliser.
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He lacks the skill and creativity of Richarlison and while he is more suited to playing up front on his own or in a wide right position, he has real pace and drive as well as finishing ability.
Calvert-Lewin also offers a physicality that otherwise would be missing from the Blues attack without the Brazilian.
Given the lack of other options up front with Walcott possibly joining Richarlison and his fellow Brazilian Bernard out injured, Calvert-Lewin will probably have to play more often in the next few weeks.
Overall then a frustrating day and another winnable game that the Blues have let slip by. Three points against the next opponent, a struggling, winless West Ham after the international break, is really a must.