Brazilian forward Richarlison reveling in new role for Everton

Brazilian forward Richarlison has been thriving in a new creative role for Everton this season and Sunday’s win at Fulham highlighted this again.

The 23-year-old forward had a hand in the first goal for Everton as he powered forward and supplied Dominic Calvert-Lewin with the cross for the first of his brace at Craven Cottage.

This was Richarlison’s second assist of the season in just his sixth Premier League game having missed the previous three for his derby red-card suspension.

That’s only one less assist than he managed in the whole of last season. If he maintains this current rate, he will comfortably hit double figures for assists by the end of the season. So what has changed in this campaign?

Much is made of assists these days in a football world obsessed with statistics and sometimes it can be, like many statistics, deceptive.

An assist might literally be just a deflection or a little knock-on that leads directly to a goal. But a large number over the course of a season obviously isn’t just luck and indicates a player who is consistently creative and is making regular chances for his team.

When Richarlison arrived at Goodison Park, following his blockbuster move from Watford that so appalled such media ‘experts’ as Paul Merson, he was still a raw young player.

He had pace to burn and plenty of natural strength and power. His game was charaterized by surging direct runs with the ball, taking on defenders and then trying to get a shot in. It was very much an instinctive, individualistic game and not always in truth an effective one.

Over the past two seasons Richarlison has developed into a much better team player making cleverer and more subtle runs while retaining that power and incisiveness, improving his finishing consistency and considerably upping his threat in the air too.

Last season the Brazilian international netted thirteen times in the Premier League, his best total and importantly many of those goals were crucial in securing points for the Toffees.

He thrived playing alongside Calvert-Lewin up front in the 4-4-2 formation that Carlo Ancelotti inherited and continued to employ last term.

However, this season Ancelotti has shifted to playing a 4-3-3, which morphs into a 4-5-1 at times and in which Richarlison plays in a wider role on the left.

Then on Sunday, to try and stem the flow of goals being scored against Everton, he went with a new-look three-man defence and a 3-4-3 type formation.

In addition, Ancelotti has pushed Calvert-Lewin further forward this term wanting his young England striker to concentrate on becoming the main goal-threat, finding space in the box and finishing with much greater consistency.

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So all that means the Brazilian hasn’t been getting into the area and on the end of things quite as much as he did last season, at least so far.

To his credit, Richarlison has adapted immediately and is now looking to create chances for his team mate Calvert-Lewin and provide him with the opportunities to score those extra goals while still representing a massive threat himself.

This is of great benefit to Everton as one of the biggest attacking problems the team have had for so long, was too little creativity and an over-reliance on the flair in particular of Lucas Digne.

The French full-back has been the Blues top assists man for the past two campaigns. Now Digne has the brilliant James Rodrgiuez alongside him to provide from the other flank.

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If Richarlison can also start regularly making chances as well as scoring goals, it will be an added bonus and the Toffees will have a really balanced, potent attack and they will not be dependent on only one or two players for their creativity.