Benitez’s and board’s stubborness is too costly for Everton

Yesterday’s 3-2 defeat to Brighton for Everton has confirmed fears about the possible threat of relegation and raised yet more questions about the manager and board’s stubborness.

Just about everything that could have been, was wrong in the loss at Goodison Park and the afternoon seemed to encapsulate all that is wrong at Everton.

First of all the team selection was baffling. The Toffees’ had already signed a new left-back in Vitaly Mykolenko and apparently previous first-choice Lucas Digne had also been training and was possibly back in contention to start against Brighton after his much-publicised falling out with the manager.

In addition, although it’s not his preferred position, Ben Godfrey has been playing there recently (as he had so often last season) and while not dazzling, he had done well enough again I thought.

But, then the team sheet was revealed and we found out that neither Digne or Godfrey was playing, instead the club’s captain and right-back Seamus Coleman was starting there!?

It was a decision that simply made no sense whatsoever. Coleman hasn’t exactly been performing well at right-back and so I simply cannot understand what Benitez was thinking. And, as expected he struggled and looked badly out of position all afternoon.

All this seems to confirm that Digne is on his way out of Goodison Park and while I’ve been critical of his attitude recently, he’s a talented footballer who could still have a part to play in turning things around and whatever happens he certainly doesn’t deserve to be treated like this.

This decision to play Coleman on the left also contributed to a very unbalanced and horribly out-of-sorts defensive display from Everton, which led to the conceding of another three goals.

That was also because Benitez set up to play a very deep-lying defensive posture with three centre-backs in a back-five.

This formation again made little sense when the team are in desperate need for points, and are playing at home against another very ordinary team that hadn’t won a Premier League match for almost four months.

The defensive system might have worked had Benitez played Godfrey on the left of a back-three where he has previously often played or if Jarrad Branthwaite had been available, but as usual for this club, he wasn’t.

And anyway, the Blues’ needed the points and should have been looking to be positive, try to start well and get an early goal or two. Instead that’s exactly what their opponents did themselves.

In addition, this lop-sided and dysfunctional formation left the returning Dominic Calvert-Lewin very isolated and struggling to get into the game when he was just returning from a serious long-term injury. Inevitably, he looked rusty and missed his penalty with a shockingly bad strike.

Both wide men Anthony Gordon and Demarai Gray tried to link up with him but it was very hard for them to do so and the Toffees’ attack was toothless.

So, again yesterday’s debacle emphasises the huge problems this team has. Poor selection decisions and bad tactics from a very unpopular manager, lack of consistent effort and commitment from too many players and the constant headache of incessant injuries and absences.

It’s probably a set of problems that are almost insurmountable, even if by some miracle Everton had the right people in all the key positions. Of course they don’t.

There has been talk in the last few days by the club hierachy about a ‘strategic football review’ being done. After yet another woeful performance and defeat yesterday I think the best start to that review would be if they all resigned!

The stubborn refusal of the maanger to adapt and adjust his approach and the board’s failure to act sooner is simply becoming too costly on the pitch and too much for supporters to endure. It almost seems at times as if there is a deliberate plan to get this club relegated..!

Farhad Moshiri is apparently banking everything on building a new ground to improve the financial position and profile of the club. However, at this rate the team will be going down, his ground won’t get built and he’ll be lucky to fill half of Goodison Park each week, in the Championship.

The only thing that can be done is to make a change in the dugout now and bring a new manager in to try and turn this nightmare around. But, I don’t have any faith the people in charge of this football club can get that right either, or that it would work anyway.

Unfortunately, Moshiri has also backed himself into a cul-de-sac after making the decision to get rid of Marcel Brands as a sort of sacrificial lamb to try and appease supporters and also in the process give Benitez much more power and control of team matters.

And, because he failed to act before the transfer window (as I argued he should have) he is in an even more difficult position if he tries to get a new manager in this month as well as sorting out player transfers without a Director of Football. What a dreadful mess this once great club is in.