Everton slump to another home defeat

That was dreadful. Everton were well and truly beaten tonight by Fulham who fully derserved their 2-0 win at Goodison Park.

Once again I have to ask the question; what is it with this team? Every time you think Everton have perhaps turned the corner and found the knack of winning matches or grabbing points they go and produce a performance like that after getting a last minute point at Manchester United and then outlasting Tottenham 5-4 in that epic FA Cup tie on Wednesday.

Once more as has happened far too often this season, the Toffees didn’t turn up tonight. So they have once again slumped to a frustrating and hugely irritating defeat at the grand old lady.

There is a disturbing pattern to these losses at home. Each time the Blues have faced a team lower down in the table that they should be able to beat and each time they come up empty.

First Leeds United came and left with a 1-0 win and the points. Then it was West Ham on New Years Day and they also won 1-0 before Newcastle United arrived having not won in eleven games. Everton were of course very accomodating and able to help them break that winless streak as they went down to an embarrasing 2-0 loss to the Magpies.

And tonight Fulham have repeated that score and in the process won for the first time ever at Goodison Park in the league. That is a depressing string of home defeats.

If the Toffees want to compete for honours and European football they have to be able to win these frankly routine Premier League matches. With all due respect to the likes of Fulham, losing to a succession of struggling sides battling relegation at home is simply not good enough.

In addition, these defeats have often come when Everton have had the chance to close the gap on their rivals for Europe and the top four.

This weekend most enjoyably of all Leicester beat Liverpool and Manchester City defeated Spurs, while Aston Villa were held 0-0 so giving the Blues an opportunity to draw level with their neighbours in fourth, had they won tonight. Now if Chelsea and West Ham win tomorrow (as it’s very possible both will), they will open up a five point gap over Everton in the race for Europe.

To try and give the benefit of the doubt there may have been some fatigue among the players after that dramatic Cup win in mid-week and the hectic recent fixture schedule.

Perhaps because of the desire to rest certain players especially with Mancehster City up next, Carlo Ancelotti picked an unusual team. He paired Ben Godfrey and Mason Holgate at centre-half and selected both James Rodriguez and Gylfi Sigurdsson while Richarlison was playing wide left instead of centrally as I thought he would.

More from Prince Rupert's Tower

I was surprised he didn’t give Josh King a start and perhaps play him in the central striker position directly. Surely this was a perfect match to give King a go and see what he can bring.

After all he’s only hear for the remainder of this season so we need to know if he can contribute enough to justify a permanent contract?

The team and the formation didn’t work and the home side were second best for virtually the entire game. Fulham were sharper and more determined and Everton were reproducing another of those lacklustre efforts we’ve seen too all to often already this campaign at home.

Fulham had hit the woodwork in the first half while the Toffees hadn’t managed a single shot on target in the first 45 mintues.

Then in the second half the Cottagers got the goals their dominance of the game deserved. While the Blues deadline day striker signing was sitting on the bench, Fulham’s own signing also coincidentally called Josh (Maja), scored a brace that effectively won the match.

Everton never looked like finding a way back into the game even though they finally managed to create a few half chances and King had the ball in the net only for it to be ruled out for offside.

The Toffees also lost Rodriguez again after he suffered from a hard challenge and so he is a potential doubt for Wednesday.

And that’s about all there is to say about that game. Now the Blues have to once again pick themselves up as they face the runaway league leaders in three days time before a derby at Anfield.