Everton 0-1 Leeds: 3 things Everton learnt from an unfortunate defeat
Lucas Digne has been ruled for two months following an ankle injury.
2. The absence of Lucas Digne is going to hurt a lot
All Everton fans knew we were going to miss Lucas Digne, the man who could make a case as the best left-back in the world is vital to the way Everton play and can help start attacks from the back and is more than adept defensively.
One issue going into the game was that Carlo played two midfielders in the wing-back positions, Tom Davies on the right and Alex Iwobi out on the left. The lack of Niels Nkounkou was an instant red flag since it brings up quite the discussion, does Carlo Ancelotti trust the youth inside Everton Football Club?
We’ve seen this previously with the lack of chances Anthony Gordon has been receiving this season, but the fact that Ancelotti would rather play Davies as a wing-back instead of Niels is quite the head-scratcher. Nkounkou has proved himself countless times in the Toffees’ Carabao Cup run and didn’t have a necessarily bad performance in his only Premier League outing against Newcastle.
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Personally, I feel like after that performance Nkounkou has to be given the chance due to him being a natural full-back, even though I think Tom Davies played quite well and his performances are always filled with heart, he doesn’t have the necessary skill set to be a wing-back, with his lack of pace being the biggest problem.
Nkounkou is clearly a piece for the future for the eventual departure of Lucas Digne to one of the European giants. He needs to be given chances whenever he is given the opportunity, especially because this may be a huge hit to the Frenchman’s confidence due to Ancelotti choosing to play a midfielder in Niels’ natural position.
Ancelotti is a manager who tends to quickly learn from his mistakes, so I can imagine Nkounkou will start the next game against Burnley, and if he doesn’t Carlo needs to be seriously questioned on his approach, he may have won 3 Champions Leagues but that doesn’t mean he’s error-proof and somebody needs to tell him that maybe it’s time to allow the youth to shine.