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Everton: Three key takeaways from the loss against Manchester City

By Callum Brannan

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 17: A dejected Richarlison of Everton during the Premier League match between Everton and Manchester City at Goodison Park on February 17, 2021 in Liverpool, United Kingdom. Sporting stadiums around the UK remain under strict restrictions due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in games being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 17: A dejected Richarlison of Everton during the Premier League match between Everton and Manchester City at Goodison Park on February 17, 2021 in Liverpool, United Kingdom. Sporting stadiums around the UK remain under strict restrictions due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in games being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images) /
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Everton
Everton (Photo by JON SUPER/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) /

Gylfi Sigurdsson didn’t have a memorable outing.

Sigurdsson is too Inconsistent to Start

This one is bizarre because I’ve been both very positive and very negative about Gylfi Sigurdsson; he’s had moments of pure brilliance and moments that make Everton fans want to headbutt a wall. This brought me to a simple conclusion that Sigurdsson is just too inconsistent to start for Everton consistently, don’t get me wrong, he can have games like the Spurs game, but then you can get the Man City game where he was a defensive liability and didn’t help much in the attacking side of the game.

Sigurdsson clearly has talent, but when James Rodriguez is fit and available to play, Ancelotti shouldn’t pick the Icelandic playmaker over him. Sigurdsson may track back and try to defend. Still, he does just as much defensive work as James, even though the Colombian barely tries to defend. The pressure Sigurdsson puts on defenders clearly doesn’t trouble players.

This puts Everton in detrimental positions, where having someone like James forwards could’ve lead to us getting a counter-attack against City and possibly more than just the one goal.

It’s clear that Sigurdsson is a very talented player, and on his day, he can play against the best defences in the league, but he’s not on his day much. When Everton have players like Josh King and James on the bench, Sigurdsson shouldn’t keep getting chances unless he can put together a consistent string of good performances instead of hoping for a good performance.