So in the end Everton put up a good fight but eventually went down to a 0-2 defeat at Goodison Park yesterday, which put Manchester City back on top of the Premier League.
In a way this outcome ticked all the boxes for many Everton supporters. The Blues actually put in a decent, solid performance while the end result thwarts Liverpool’s title hopes, albeit only for a short time.
I personally always want to see Everton win a football match, including last night’s game. But I understand why many Blues fans were content to see the team lose yesterday’s game!
But from a positive perspective, in fact Everton produced one of their better efforts in the past few weeks and pushed the defending champions quite hard for much of the game.
I said in my match preview that I thought this match was almost like a free hit for the players and they played with a degree of freedom last night.
Manager Marco Silva started with Tom Davies and Dominic Calvert-Lewin in the team. Both played well, delivering hard-working performances. And the defence was reasonably solid too.
Inevitably the Blues didn’t have the majority of possession as City dominated the ball, as they usually do. And the Toffees created few good chances with what little possession they did have, but approaching half-time it had been a good overall effort.
But then all that hard work was wasted again. Once more Everton gave away a free kick in a dangerous position and after the ball was swung in, it was a City head that got to it and they were 1-0 up.
So yet again the Toffees were undone by their inability to defend set-pieces. This scenario is becoming so absurdly predictable that really all that Everton’s opponents need to do when they play them is win a few free-kicks or corners in a game and they can beat the Blues.
Why can’t the team sort this chronic weakness out? It’s true that every team will lose goals occasionally this way but I understand why the Toffees are so vulnerable in this respect.
Either the coaching staff are not getting their messages across, (assuming they are working on defending set-pieces), or the players just can’t get it.
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My own view is that using a zonal marking system is flawed. I think that man-marking is a more effective defensive tactic in these situations.
But whatever tactic or strategy you use, the bottom line is that Everton simply have to find a way to improve this aspect of their game.
Going forward the Toffees also need to reproduce this performance in their next two games, away to Watford and then Cardiff City.
These are matches that Everton really must win if they want to have any hope of finishing in the top eight or of claiming a European place next season.