West Ham win will give Everton board and manager some breathing space

Everton finally produced a good performance and claimed a much-needed three points with this afternoon’s 2-0 win over West Ham United.

Today’s victory at Goodison Park has probably provided the Everton board and manager Marco Silva with some breathing space, for now.

Well what to say about this result? As so often the Blues have again underlined the maddening inconsistency of the team with this win.

After a succession of really poor and dreadful performances, the Toffees played in a way reminiscent of the final third of last season when the Blues were beating Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United at Goodison Park.

When we will finally see the ‘real’ Everton perform with any regularity then?

Silva made some big decisions dropping Morgan Schniederlin, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Dominic Calvert-Lewin. He brought in Tom Davies with Fabian Delph injured, Bernard and a little surprisingly Theo Walcott.

He still stuck to his 4-2-3-1 formation although Alex Iwobi was playing in a sort of No.10/midfield role so technically it might make three in the middle.

Defensively Everton were solid although in truth they were rarely troubled by a very poor West Ham side that offered virtually no attacking threat.

Both French full-backs were sound in defence and got forward well. Djibril Sidibe offered much more energy and quality than Seamus Coleman and should keep his place at right-back.

Centre-backs Micheal Keane and Yerry Mina both had decent games, despite having little really to do. Mina was a real threat in the opposition box and had what seemed a perfectly good goal disallowed.

The Blues bossed the midfield with Davies and Gomes outstanding. It is such a relief to see the Portugal player back and giving the Toffees that extra class and creativity in the middle.

Davies was excellent too in his first start for a long time, playing with real energy, working hard and using the ball very well when in possession.

On top of this, Iwobi showed what he can offer when given the chance to play centrally and drive as he loves to, at the opposition defence. He was a constant threat and having a player do that is a real bonus and gives the other forwards more space to work in.

And up front Silva played a reshuffled three-man attack, moving Richarlison into the middle with Walcott and Bernard flanking him.

Richarlison has always looked like a player who will eventually make the move to playing centrally given his strengths; ability in the air, pace, power and direct, hard running.

This was a move that Silva tried last season and although it didn’t really work, partly because Everton were playing so badly and he lacked adequate support, it does seem like a long-term option that has to be considered.

He didn’t score but looked dangerous, and crucially in this game had the support of his fellow forwards around him that he needed.

Those two players, Walcott and Bernard were both very good. Bernard showed why he should have been in the side more regularly this season and Walcott’s inclusion worked well as he produced some good moments, passed incisively and was lively.

Bernard’s skill and trickery were on full display early on and led to the Blues opening goal. After a brilliant, dinking run into the box he slipped the ball past Roberto and gave the Toffees a well deserved lead.

But here we come to the one thing that will frustrate Evertonians. Despite dominating the game, Everton were once again guilty of missing too many chances to score.

Davies, Iwobi and Richarlison all had great opportunities and perhaps all should have netted, especially Davies. When you’re dominating teams you must take your chances and this constant problem has to be sorted out.

To be fair Everton had one goals chalked off by a referee whose performance might politely be called ‘eccentric’. Even so as so often if you don’t take your chances when you’re on top, there is always a danger the opponent will snatch a late draw.

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West Ham were a little better in the second half, which wasn’t saying much! They had one clear-cut opening and it took a fine save from Pickford, who was still alert despite having little to do, to preserve the Blues one-goal lead.

Silva made a couple of late substitutions and one of those, Sigurdsson, produced a terrific strike in injury time to seal the points for the Toffees.

But we’ve seen all this before from a Silva team haven’t we? Now as the immediate pressure eases on him a little, once again the big question is can the Blues maintain this sort of form when they travel to Brighton for their next Premier League game.

Win gives Everton board and boss breathing space

By Matt Townsend | Oct 19, 2019

Everton finally produced a good performance and claimed a much-needed three points with this afternoon’s 2-0 win over West Ham United.

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