One of the most positive things to come out of Saturday’s win for Everton over Fulham was the excellent performance of Gylfi Sigurdsson.
The Iceland international has had a very difficult start to life at Everton since joining for that club record fee back in the summer of 2017.
That fee has proved a bit of a millstone around his neck and he has struggled to fulfil the expectations that come with his reputation and such a sum.
There have been previous glimpses of what Sigurdsson can offer before, but last weekend’s match against Fulham seemed like a breakthrough moment for him and perhaps for Everton too.
Of course last season he was part of a very unsettled, defensively vulnerable and dysfunctional team. That makes its difficult to shine and show your best in such circumstances.
One of the side’s major problems was deciding who was going to play in the much-hyped ‘number 10’ position and this uncertainty plagued the Blues all season. Was it Wayne Rooney, Davy Klaassen or Sigurdsson?
With Rooney and Klaassen’s departures and the arrival of a new manger in Marco Silva the hope was that Sigurdsson, amongst many others, would start delivering what Everton fans expected of him.
This season both Sigurdsson and the team have started erratically again. The Toffees have had injuries, suspensions and more defensive inconsistencies.
And there have been more questions about whether the Icelander will ever find the form and consistency needed from him. Again his best position was under scrutiny. Was it up front, a deeper role, or possibly in midfield?
On Saturday he played in the attacking three behind centre-forward Dominic Calvert-Lewin. And he produced an outstanding performance, apart from a penalty miss that was uncharacteristic of him.
He scored twice and delivered some fine passes operating in a role that seemed to suit him.
Sigurdsson’s qualities are his technical ability, distribution and finishing. He lacks pace although he does make very well-timed runs forward.
So it’s important he has the pace and movement around and in front of him to get the best out of the player. With the arrival of players like Brazilians Richarlison and Bernard, joining Theo Walcott, he has that now.
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This leads onto the question of whether Everton need to go into the transfer market again to secure a quality centre-forward.
As we’ve explained recently despite his goal against Fulham, there is little to indicate yet that Tosun will be the long-term answer here and Calvert-Lewin is still young, raw and inconsistent.
It’s apparent to many that the Blues are still missing Romelu Lukaku’s influence and goals.
But finding another player like Lukaku is very difficult. And it’s not certain that type of player would suit the way Silva wants to play.
Returning to last Saturday. This was just one game, at home, and against a Fulham team who played in a very open fashion so affording Everton lots of space to exploit. The key question will be whether Sigurdsson and the team can maintain this momentum in the coming weeks.