Richarlison expresses desire to be Everton number nine

In an interesting aside to current events Everton forward Richarlison has expressed a desire to play as the team’s number nine going forward.

Despite having an England international centre-forward Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Everton still haven’t actually got an established forward line that is clearly their obvious first-choice line-up.

This is partly because of Calvert-Lewin’s injury problems, which have been a constant issue over the past two season’s in particular.

These injuries have hugely hampered the Blues’ and undermined attempts by successive managers to build a coherent attack.

Both Carlo Ancelotti and Rafa Benitez struggled because of these injury problems, problems that also of course massively afflicted other areas of the team.

While much of the focus on this has been on the midfield or defence, the lack of a consistent focul point in attack has also hindered the Toffees’ for a long time.

I’ve written that I’m not convinced that long-term Calvert-Lewin is the solution and given his increasingly worrying tendancy to spend long periods out hurt the issue has brought into starker contrast.

Now his sometime partner up front Brazilian star Richarlison has been in conversation with manager Frank Lampard over his future role.

While he has often played wide or behind the centre-forward, Richarlison has apparently revealed to Lampard that his preferred posiiton is the play as a number nine for the team.

Recently, the former Watford player has been leading the line for Everton and although he doesn’t possess Calvert-Lewin’s ability to hold the ball up and his exceptional prowess in the air (although the Brazilian has become a good header of the ball) he has done well overall looking sharp and a constant threat.

I personally think that this is the potential way forward for the team to play the more dynamic, modern, pressing type of football that I believe the Blues’ should going forward.

This is the kind of football that Lampard wants to instill and he has gone some way to doing so with evidence in recent home performances – although so far not away – something which hopefully might change later tonight.

But, I do think Richarlison would not suit playing as a lone tranditonal centre-forward as Calvert-Lewin has done. He can I think play as the central striker in a flexible front three.

That is the type of position that suits Calvert-Lewin best especially when he has enough width to provide the sort of service he needs to thrive in that role.

However, as I say, I’m not sure this is the best way for the Toffees to go and sometimes Calvert-Lewin in the team can distort how the side plays tempting the team to play long too much particularly when they are behind and looking for a quick goal.

We will see what decision Lampard makes both tonight and going forward from this match for the remainder of the season.