As the international break nears its end attention will turn again to the Premier League. We look at where Everton need to improve going forward.
In some ways the latest international break came at the wrong time for Everton as they had just won two Premier League games in a row.
The Blues seemed to be getting on a little bit of a roll so how can Everton maintain and improve on this upturn in form?
It’s true that the Toffees have only won two games so this hardly represents real long-term momentum. But nevertheless it does provide some evidence that Everton might be beginning to turn a corner.
The Leicester City win was significant in that the Blues started well, (as they often have), were then pegged back but responded well and went on to win the match, away from home.
Although on the downside the Toffees did concede another goal that was the result of some poor defending again and the goal came directly from a Blues attacking set-piece.
But that aside, the performance of players like Gylfi Sigurdsson and his growing influence and consistency is one of those real positives.
Another positive to mention is the turnaround in discipline, After an early few matches where the Blues were facing almost constant disciplinary problems. Recently there has been an improvement in this area.
However there are still several areas and room for improvement. For one thing the Blues could improve their passing accuracy.
Although this has improved on last season, Everton do still have a tendancy to give the ball away cheaply sometimes and that can hurt the team. This is especially true because the Toffees are playing a more positive, pressing game under manager Marco Silva.
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That approach has yielded results and significantly improved the team’s attacking threat. But it means it’s important not to give away possession easily as that leaves you vulnerable to a quick counter-attack.
Another area the Toffees need to improve is to try to reduce the number of shots against per game. The Blues are currently conceding just over 10 shots per game against while managing 12 shots per game themselves.
Given the brittleness of the Toffees defence that can be a problem. It means Everton also have to convert quite a high percentage of those efforts to ensure they can win games.