Everton: 3 burning questions for Everton ahead of Fulham game
Everton returns to action following the international break. After losing three games, here are three questions the Toffees face in order to re-boot their season. The Blues travel to Fulham for a 12 pm Sunday match.
1. Defense or can Everton actually stop somebody from scoring?
Even when The Blues were winning their first four league contests goals allowed was a problem. It continued in the four matches without a win after the first international break. The Blues were breached for nine goals in those four outings, including three in a home loss to Manchester United.
The Toffees opened the season with a 1-0 win Tottenham Hotspur, but allowed 14 goals in the next seven.
The Blues have been without Brazilian Talisman Richarlison for the last three matches. Everton manager told the media, he was glad Richarlison would available but he wasn’t the reason for the three losses. Ancelotti said during his pre-match press conference,
"We didn’t lose because Richarlison wasn’t there. If he was a defender, I could say: ‘OK, we lost power in defence’, but he is a striker, and the problem that we had was that we didn’t defend properly in the last three games."
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Everton will be without right-back and club captain Seamus Coleman. Ancelotti didn’t say who would fill in, but it’s likely to be Jonjoe Kenny, unless he opts for Mason Holgate, who has played there. Holgate ended last season as part of the first-choice central defensive pairing along with Michael Keene.
However, a rash of injuries have prevented that duo from appearing together until the loss to Manchester United and they didn’t look comfortable as Bruno Fernandez seemed to have the freedom of the Everton penalty area as he scored twice.
After the loss to United, Ancelotti told the BBC:
"The problem was that after we scored we were not able to defend well, and they took advantage. They were able to score easily. We said before the game we had to defend better and we did not defend good enough. We were slow at the back, we have to improve. I hope that after the international break we will be back in a different shape. It is not only a problem of the defenders, it is all of the team."
On the plus side for Everton, Fulham haven’t exactly been scoring at will. They have scored seven times and Ademola Lookman missed a penalty. So perhaps the task isn’t too onerous.