Everton vs Burnley: 3 Key Takeaways from dismal home loss to Burnley

Everton midfielder Abdoulaye Doucoure is ruled out for 8-10 weeks

It’s going to be a long 10 weeks…

This is one that fans expected, but that game showed how much Everton are going to miss their French powerhouse in midfield. Some Toffees supporters believed that Everton might be able to perform with Davies hopefully stepping up like he did with Allan’s injury, but this game has made it very clear that Abdoulaye Doucoure might be one of if not, the most important player in Everton’s team.

There was absolutely no energy in Everton’s midfield, as Burnley controlled the midfield battle, with Davies making the mistake that led to the first goal, and Allan put in by far his worst performance in the royal blue shirt, with the Brazilian almost non-existent in the middle as he constantly lost the ball. It seemed like Andre Gomes and Allan didn’t want to even attempt to defend, and that is the main reason that Everton lost this game.

Carlo Ancelotti needs to take a look at this performance. If he wants to play a more attacking brand of football, he needs to transition to a three at the back, which would allow the full-backs to get into the game more and would also provide some defensive solidarity in a team that lacked any solidarity in that game.

Another option would be to play a midfielder with a bit more energy. Academy product Tyler Onyango could be perfect in this role; he may be inexperienced, but anything would be better in midfield, and if Everton want to attempt to score more goals, then they need a midfielder who has enough energy to play in the box-to-box midfielder role that Doucoure has excelled in for the Toffees.