Back in the summer, when Everton snapped up Andros Townsend on a free transfer, fans deemed it to be another mediocre signing, a pattern that has been repeated over the past few years. It didn’t take a lot of time for Townsend to change the narrative.
The 30 year old racked up five goals and registered three assists in the first 10 appearances for the club, instantly winning over the fans’ support. Not many had imagined him to be a regular starter but Everton’s failed pursuit of Luis Diaz and Dwight McNeil meant that the former Crystal Palace man would partner Demarai Gray as the two wide men. His bright performances also made a strong case for him and having Townsend ahead of Alex Iwobi was an easy decision to make.
Everton’s slump began since the home loss to West Ham United as the injury crisis had its own consequences. Since the Manchester United game, Townsend has not had a single goal contribution but he continued to remain an intrinsic part of the team. His industrious nature helped Everton maintain its defensive shape on the right, something that Everton struggled with when James Rodriguez was playing on the right.
Townsend’s defensive contributions have been a big plus for Everton. He has registered 1.9 interceptions and 2.45 blocks, featuring in the top one per cent of attackers across Europe. Lately, his attacking output has dropped but his discipline to help the team in defence has boded well with Rafa Benitez.
Everton winger Andros Townsend had a forgetful game
Everton suffered another league defeat as the lacklustre side put on another tepid performance. The loss to Brentford means that Everton have just taken two points out of a possible 21 in the last seven games, leaving them in 14th place in the league table.
Even though Everton dominated the ball, they just couldn’t penetrate through the Brentford defence despite them being porous and susceptible. It was largely due to the poor attacking performance. Everton just lost the ball or played meaningless passes around the Brentford goal area. One player who had an absolute shocker was Townsend.
Townsend conceded a penalty in the first half after fouling Frank Onyeka in the Everton goal area. Even though his challenge wasn’t intentional, the Englishman could have done a better job in dealing with the ball instead of launching his feet high in the air. Ivan Toney made no mistake as he converted the penalty with ease.
Later, the 30 year old was also booked in the first half after tackling Onyeka from behind as the Nigerian was thrusting forward with the ball. It was evident that Townsend wasn’t having a good game as he was underwhelming in attack too.
When he arrived on a free transfer, one of his most talked qualities was his ability to put perfectly weighted crosses in the box which would help header hungry strikers like Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison.
It was an off game for Townsend on that front too as only three of his nine attempted crosses were successful. He had zero successful long balls, zero shots on target and zero dribbles attempted. In fact, Townsend lost possession 15 times in 70 minutes which just rounded up the underwhelming afternoon he had at the Brentford community stadium.
The Englishman was eventually substituted for Gray who injected some much needed pace and directness in the attack but Everton couldn’t muster a goal. Townsend has so far been competent and this one bad performance shouldn’t deter his confidence, nor should see the fans turn against him.
Everton are going through a miserable period of form and several players’ performances have dropped. With the Merseyside derby up next, Townsend will want to put up a solid shift in his first derby.
How would you rate Andros Townsend’s performance?