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Everton v Brighton: Toffees can return to winning ways

By Matt Townsend

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - MARCH 10: Assistent referee Sian Massey-Ellis looks on during the Premier League match between Everton and Brighton and Hove Albion at Goodison Park on March 10, 2018 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Jan Kruger/Getty Images)
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - MARCH 10: Assistent referee Sian Massey-Ellis looks on during the Premier League match between Everton and Brighton and Hove Albion at Goodison Park on March 10, 2018 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Jan Kruger/Getty Images) /
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After a frustrating trip to Old Trafford and a controversial defeat to Manchester United, Everton welcome Brighton to Goodison Park on Saturday.

This game represents a chance for Everton to exercise the demons from last Sunday’s loss to United.

That result was an annoying one, especially the nature of United’s penalty. This result ended the Blues three match unbeaten run in the Premier League.

However with all due respect to the Seagulls, a match against Brighton at home is a good chance for Everton to get back to winning ways.

The South coast club have had a decent start to the current season and in their seconds term in the top flight, they are looking like they can become a fixture in the Premier League. At the moment they are sitting in a very comfortable 11th position.

Brighton’s strength is their defensive qualities. They don’t concede a lot of goals but then they don’t score many either. The majority of their games then are decided by the odd goal.

The key to the Seagulls strategy is the defensive trio of goalkeeper Matt Ryan and centre-backs Shane Duffy and Lewis Dunk. They have been very solid and consistent, particularly Duffy.

Not surprisingly given their strengths and circumstances, Brighton tend to take a highly defensive approach especially away from home. Everton will probably have to work hard to break them down on Saturday.

So what Everton team should play on Saturday?

There are several areas of the team that will provoke concern and food for thought for manager Marco Silva. This is especially true of the right hand side of the team and the form of Seamus Coleman at right back.

Coleman has been declining for several weeks now and he had a particularly difficult game at Old Trafford. He was obviously targeted by United and successfully too.

While Everton’s defensive efforts have generally improved recently, with the effectiveness of central defenders Michael Keane and Kurt Zouma and left-back Lucas Digne, right-back is becoming a major weakness.

However the problem is there is little in the way of convincing alternative options there.

Jonjo Kenny has played at right-back several times this season and although he does have promise he’s generally looked out of his depth at the moment. He looks like he will need more time before it will possible to know if he can become a Premier League player.

The other option is Mason Holgate. Holgate has also had spells in the team earlier this season playing at centre-half. Again he struggled to deliver consistently reliable performances there although that was partly due to the overall instability of the team.

Holgate has played at right-back before and although it’s perhaps not his natural position, he can fill in there.

However neither of these choices though is ultimately satisfactory. I feel Everton need to look hard at possible right-back options in the coming two transfer windows.

The other area of the team where it looks like Silva has decisions to make, is the exact balance of the attack.

Everton’s attack has been increasingly effective and potent in recent weeks. Gylfi Sigurdsson is particular has been flourishing and taking an increasingly  vital role in directing the Blues attacking play.

He scored again on Sunday, albeit from the penalty spot and he was probably the Toffees best player.

But there is still a question mark over who should play in the centre-forward or more central striking role. As we’ve advocated in this column, Richarlison has played in that role for the past few games, but with mixed results.

He definitely has the tools to play there with his pace, strength and ability in the air. But he is still a young, developing player and at he doesn’t as yet convince especially as his movement is still not probably good enough.

Richarlison can long-term become an effective central striker and ironically his ability to play in that position got him into the Brazil side. But perhaps it’s too early for him to take on this responsibility in the Everton team.

One option is to try Dominic Calvert-Lewin in that central role feeing Richarlison to move back onto the left hand side. Although Calvert-Lewin is still raw and developing, he does provide pace and physical presence, which is well-suited to playing at centre-forward.

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That would mean dropping Bernard if Richarlison returns to playing on the left unless he transfers to the right in place of the struggling Theo Walcott.

I think though that in a game like this against a team very likely to play with a deeply defensive approach and keeping most of their players behind the ball, Bernard might well struggle for space and there will be more need for outright pace and penetration out wide.

So I would give Ademola Lookman his chance to start on the right in Saturday’s match.

Whatever Silva’s choices are in the end I think Everton should win this game although unless they can get an early goal it will probably be another difficult and frustrating match for long periods.