Southampton v Everton: 5 takeaways as Away Day Blues Strike Again

Once again Everton produced an abysmal away day performance against an in-form Southampton side at St Mary’s on Saturday afternoon.

It had already turned into a nightmare day for many Evertonians as no trains ran from London to Southampton all day on Saturday leaving many stranded and not able to get to the ground, also many had to find alternative ways of getting home also.

Frank Lampard went with an unchanged lineup from the one that easily beat Leeds United in the previous game. For Ralph Hasenhuttl and Southampton they made one change from an encouraging point at Manchester United. Tino Livramento came in at right full back was the only alteration.

After a good and fast start by Everton, they lost momentum and any game plan later in the first half, before putting in an abject second half performance to lose 2-0. Goals by Stuart Armstrong and substitute Shane Long, his first since February 2020, in that second half meant Everton still have not won away since the end of August.

Everton were denied a penalty in that fast start, there did seem to be a handball by Oriel Romeu but despite a long check by VAR, the penalty was not given. On further analysis, it seemed VAR did not have a close enough view to say there had been a clear mistake by the referee Andy Madley.

In the following pages, we will look at why Everton produced another woeful away performance and what can be done to turn it around. The defence will come under scrutiny and changes will have to be made, Andre Gomes midfield display as a substitute, Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s demeanour, Jordon Pickford’s man of the match display for the away side and what can Lampard change going forward to get better results away from home.

Other results did not go Everton’s way either as Watford and Burnley won, and Newcastle got a point at West Ham. While the home games have offered sanctuary for Lampard since his appointment, the predicament Everton find themselves in it may well need some away points to keep them up.

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Holgate and Kenny back to type in another poor defensive display

1. Another poor Everton defensive display

While the game started with Everton on the front foot and showing their high press like against Leeds the week before, it ended with the usual poor defensive display and players not performing at Premier League level.

Mason Holgate in particular had a very poor display and numerous times he headed the ball into areas where Southampton could attack straight away. Rather than heading it out to wider positions, he would head it straight back in the middle, a couple of these actually started the Saints revival after Everton dominated territory for the first twenty minutes.

His poor management of the game was also in evidence in the second half when he got dragged to far over to leave acres of space for Armstrong to score the first goal.

One moment summed it up for me when rather than clearing it for a throw-in on his weaker left foot he just gave a corner away by clearing in a more comfortable way with his favourable right foot. Thankfully the flag then went up and offside had been given instead.

Holgate’s body language was poor throughout and has been a constant nagging problem for many Evertonians in the last year. Surely when Ben Godfrey is fit again he has to come in for Holgate.

While Holgate was poor, he was not the only one in the back four. Jonjoe Kenny also played back to type after a very good performance last week. The pass where he tried to play it with the outside of his right foot and went straight out of play summed it all up. He also let Armstrong get his shot away too easily for the first all important goal.

Seamus Coleman was also not on his game at Southampton, maybe trying to play this high octane intense style means he cannot do it week in and week out. Coleman seemed to tire very quickly and Kyle Walker-Peters was strolling past him late in the second half. Also the way Shane Long bullied him to head in the second goal showed his fatigue.

Lampard needs to change the defence for me, albeit with the injuries to Yerry Mina and Godfrey he is a little tied to use what he has at the moment in central defence especially.

It says a lot when Michael Keane was by far the best defender on the day and to be fair Che Adams and Armando Broja were marshalled well in the first half. Although a couple of dangerous set pieces we were lucky to get away with, Broja somehow hitting the bar from three yards being the closest they came from these.

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Gomes produces one of the worst midfield displays in woeful second half

2. Everton’s powder puff midfield

Everton and Lampard’s day started to go downhill from the moment Allan picked up a first half booking halfway through the period for breaking up a Southampton counter attack, which was pretty much their first one of the match.

Soon after Allan was pulled up for another foul on the edge of the area which produced the first of many saves from Pickford when not surprisingly James Ward-Prowse produced a good direct free kick. The alarm bells were ringing and everyone knew one more Allan foul and he would have first use of the away changing room showers.

It was of no great surprise that Lampard took Allan off at half time to protect having eleven players on the pitch. Gomes replaced the Brazilian which left a worryingly weak physical Everton midfield with Donny Van De Beek.

While there was worry, Everton fans would not have quite believed the performance of Gomes in the second half. He gave the ball away for the first Southampton goal and left the Everton defence exposed to Armstrong’s space and time to finish at the near post.

That was not the only time Gomes gave the ball away in a display that one of the worst seen in recent times. This one moment below summed up Gomes performance:

Once Southampton had the dominance there was no doubt they would overrun the powder puff Everton midfield, the Saints midfield pounced and pressed more intensely. Gomes and Van De Beek had no answer, even in the away end there were calls to take Gomes off only twenty minutes after coming on.

Again Lampard did have limited options with Abdoulaye Doucoure just making his comeback from a groin injury. Surely he will have to tactically switch to a midfield three when Doucoure is available again.

Van De Beek had nowhere as much influence in the game as he did against Leeds last week, and once Allan went off Southampton knew if they could stop the Dutchman then they would probably see out a comfortable three points.

Alex Iwobi gave another wholehearted performance, which was more than you could say of others, and certainly was unlucky to be subbed off halfway through the second half for Andros Townsend who had little impact with a tiring Coleman not able to offer much support.

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Numerous saves by England’s number one keeps it respectful for Everton

3. Pickford keeps the score down

The only player to really improve his standing despite the poor defeat at Southampton was the goalkeeper Jordon Pickford.

The Saints had eleven shots on goal on Saturday, which means Pickford made nine saves at St Mary’s. In the first half Pickford had a couple of decent efforts to keep out and keep Everton level at the break.

However in the second half it was an avalanche of efforts that Pickford had to deal with. All together Southampton mustered twenty shots on goal. You can compare this to a week ago when Pickford had no Leeds shots on target to deal with at all!

Credit to the England international for some great saves including one to deny Walker-Peters at his near post. As Everton’s defensive shape crumbled Pickford couldn’t believe the space afforded to the Saints wide players especially.

If Everton can somehow get some defensive cohesion then Pickford can produce saves that actually matter like he did at Chelsea for example just before Christmas. He was too exposed to be able to cover the near post entirely for Armstrong’s first goal and Long’s second was too close for Pickford to save.

It is noticeable that those nine saves Pickford made yesterday were in the first 75 minutes to show how much he was exposed at Southampton.

Unfortunately for Pickford the next game means he will be equally if not more busy as the champions Manchester City come to Goodison Park.

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No shots on target means microscope now on Everton’s strikeforce

4. DCL body language and input a worry for Lampard

Last week against Leeds there was a barrage of shots on goal and attacking intent, at Southampton on Saturday it was the opposite as the Everton players failed to register a single shot on target.

As I discussed in our match preview one of the key’s to getting Everton firing more consistently is to get Calvert-Lewin back amongst the goals. This did not happen at Southampton and apart from finishing a move that was quickly ruled out for offside, he did not have much impact on the game at all except for picking up a booking for a needless foul.

The most worrying aspect from the match on Saturday was the lack of desire and negative body language through the whole game from Calvert-Lewin. While Richarlison was running around and harassing the Saints backline in the first half especially, his strike partner seemed less motivated to do so.

Of course Calvert-Lewin has been out for 4 months and his fitness will take time to fully return, but now after a couple of starts we should see that coming back. Worryingly he didn’t win many headers either and was well marshalled by the Southampton centre halves in the main.

As a team it is like Jekyll and Hyde at the moment with a clear difference between home and away performances especially going forward. A look at xG stats for Everton since Lampard took over clearly backs this up, as this tweet neatly sums up:

The first twenty minutes witnessed the intense high press seen at home at Southampton but when Everton had the ball the final third movement and passing was way off the previous week’s play against Leeds.

Many good opportunities were there in those early stages, but Anthony Gordon, Richarlison and Iwobi were guilty of producing mediocrity and this would not help Calvert-Lewin’s state of mind.

As the game went on and Southampton dominated more and more of course the lack of forward play was limited to sporadic hopeful balls up to the front two.

Everton and Lampard will need more from Calvert-Lewin, it was one of his worst games I’ve seen in a blue shirt as his control and heading ability lacked any sharpness either.

This will be a big worry going forward as you would think Lampard has to play Calvert-Lewin at every opportunity, probably aside from the upcoming FA Cup game against Boreham Wood, although the return of Demarai Gray will offer more options.

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Switch to a 4-3-3 formation has to happen when Doucoure returns

5. What options does Lampard have going forward?

While the two home games offer Everton fans hope that enough points can be secured for Premier League safety, this cannot be relied upon especially when Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea still have to visit Goodison Park.

Trips to Burnley, Watford and Leicester will offer chances to get points away from home, but Lampard will need to change the tactics and mindset of the players when playing away.

The mindset will be the hardest to implement as it has been an ingrained problem for sometime, weak and negative players have been causing issues for many years.

However tactically Lampard can look at changing things immediately and positively. Returning players from injury will assist with this but some answers are already in the wings.

A 4-3-3 formation will be the best way to play, especially with Doucoure offering more energy and steel in the middle of the park when he returns possibly for the Manchester City game.

Two changes can be made right away at full back, defensively at Southampton Coleman and Kenny were poor which means VitaliyMykolenko and Nathan Patterson should be included as soon as possible. There is no doubt Patterson will be earmarked for the Boreham Wood match, but even giving him a go against Manchester City would be fine.

This would give Everton more guile and attacking accuracy on both flanks, while shoring up the midfield with Allan and Van De Beek joining Doucoure in the midfield.

The three attacking areas is probably the most interesting area to concentrate on to get Everton firing away from home as well as at Goodison Park. While you would think Calvert-Lewin is a massive asset and has to play every week, once Gray returns from injury you could in theory leave the England striker out if need be.

Lampard could be justified in playing Gray, Richarlison and Gordon in a more mobile front three should Calvert-Lewin produce anymore abject performances like he did at Southampton. This would give more fluidity and movement up top and give them an ability to roam and change positions at every attacking opportunity.

Elsewhere you would have to bring Godfrey back in when available again, this might be for the Spurs away game or the two crucial home games in five days against Wolves and Newcastle, at the expense of Holgate. With Godfrey back in the side with his pace he can cover the more progressive full backs of Mykolenko and Patterson far more effectively than Holgate.

With Manchester City the next home game Lampard can ill afford to just concentrate on home games for points and games will come thick and fast after the international break at the end of March.

Even though the Newcastle game has been rearranged, they will still have the away game at Burnley and the home match with Leicester to be scheduled, and it would seem likely Watford away will also be rearranged in that time as the FA Cup Quarter-Finals are to be played that weekend.

A hard and tough week on the training ground awaits Lampard and his staff as it will be the last full week of training before fixtures come thick and fast. Picking the players up will be of course at the top of the agenda, but a more mobile and tough style must be sought away from home otherwise Everton will be facing a very stressful end to the season.