How might a Rafa led Everton side line up next season

Another day and we are still waiting for the announcement that everyone is expecting for Rafa Benitez to take over as Everton manager.

Assuming the 61-year-old does finally walk through the doors at Finch Farm and is formally unveiled as Everton boss, how might he look to set up his team and play next season?

The Spaniard has always been primarily a defensive-minded coach like his main contempory Jose Mourinho or indeed to some extent as Carlo Ancelotti is. This approach is one of the main criticisms of Benitez as the right choice, particularly as it seems essential that the Blues can play with more pace, energy and tempo and are able to press more effectively.

But given that there is likely to be no significant shift in tactical emphasis from the approach of the Italian who walked out on the Toffees at the beginning of the month.

That’s surely one of the reasons why the club are minded to appoint Benitez as it avoids another major upheaveal in approach and represents a degree of continuity, whether or not critics or the fans would agree that’s the right strategy.

While almost all of us were very glad to see a manager of Ancelotti’s stature take over at Goodison Park eighteen months ago, in actual fact his football during the second half of last season was often dour and very negative.

His most consistently effective team after that first month or so was the side that featured four central defenders in the backline. That side went unbeaten in the Premier League throughout December and stabilised a season that looked like it was in danger of going seriously wrong.

But when Ancelotti had the players to play a more offensive game he did so, as we saw at the start of last season. And this has also been true of Benitez in the past.

Tactically the Spaniard has tended to operate with a variation of the 4-2-3-1 formation similar to the system he used so successfully later on at Liverpool.

Benitez is though quite flexible and uses other systems although always with an emphasis on maintaining that defensive solidity at all times and generally not using out-and-out wingers. By the way, this might mean that he won’t prioritise signing one or two wide players, something I think it’s clear the Blues do need.

So he might well consider a similar set of tactics as Ancelotti used last season with combinations of two, three or five man defences. However, hopefully Benitez won’t be quite as prone to chopping and changing as much because this didn’t help Everton find stability.

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Injuries were a big factor in this of course and hopefully we won’t see as many of those as we had in the last campaign. And in fact improving the fitness and resiliance of the players will surely be one key to better performances and results.

If Benitez does decide to play a three or five-man defence, it raises questions about whether the current players can effectively manage this.

For example, Micheal Keane has struggled whenever he has played in such a system and so will the new manager go into the transfer market and look to secure one of the many defenders linked to Everton?

In midfield if Benitez wants to play a two with three forwards in support of a lone centre forward, he might try some combination of Abdoulaye Doucoure and either Allan or if he’s healthy again Jean-Philippe Gbamin.

Alternatively, he could try Andre Gomes there as that’s where he excelled when playing alongside Idrissa Gueye. Again, lots of if’s, buts and maybes.

All of this is something that we will obviously not know until that new man (if it is Benitez) finally arrives and he may well suprise us to some extent with his formations and tactics. At any rate it will be another interesting season coming up to say the least. Whatever else they may be things are rarely dull at Goodison Park!

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