The start to Everton's season has had its ups and downs. The attack has often looked much improved with Jack Grealish and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall helping last year's star man Iliman Ndiaye, while James Garner has been much improved.
Still, while few would have predicted an 8th-place spot in the table at this juncture in the season, injuries and inconsistent play, even from half to half, have marred some of the Blues' better performances, even Sunday's 2-1 win over Crystal Palace at home.
Not having Jarrad Branthwaite and the lack of modern fullbacks in the squad, plus poor starts to the year from both strikers should indicate that better things could be in store for Everton as the season progresses, since increased health, improved play from the center forwards, and maybe a January transfer coup or two could push the Toffees into very interesting territory.
In the mean time, January is still a ways away, so manager David Moyes will need to drum up other ways to stir his team, after the increased reliance on the same starting XI week in and week out appears to have stagnated the team a bit, as evidence by the 1-1 draw at home against West Ham last week and a similar blah showing in drawing Aston Villa 0-0 a few weeks ago.
The ability to be a bit malleable isn't a bad thing for a Premier League manager, either, so some consideration should be taken regarding what else Moyes can coax out of this squad. The absence of Dewsbury-Hall against Palace forced his hand, but it wasn't terribly outside the box thinking to slide Tyler Dibling in and Ndiaye over.
And if Moyes wants to use this still rather thin squad as best he can, he'll need to try a thing or two. In this instance, the first in a series we'll run through the international break, we try to take the burden off of two struggling strikers by making two moves to the starting unit.
The first, and possibly most major, of the changes is to move Iliman Ndiaye to center forward. He's very obviously a different player than both Beto and Thierno Barry, smaller and quicker than both, but his game allows him to not need to be close to the box to score.
This would mean no more long balls from the back line, because Ndiaye is not going to hold the ball up for others. Instead, the play would be to use the passing of Grealish (still on the left), Dewsbury-Hall, and Dibling to get the ball to Ndiaye's feet, where the Senegal international can use his superb dribbling skills to create his own shot or find the forward runs of the rest of his attacking quartet.
The tactic might also allow the likes of Idrissa Gana Gueye and Garner in midfield to carry the ball a bit more, but its generally predicated on quality short-to-medium passing, something this team should be able to do well.
It will be most effective when Branthwaite returns, both due to how much he shores up the defense, but also in that he's a good passer himself, but could benefit from fewer long balls to the isolated center forward.
To be sure, this tactical plan wouldn't work against teams with a bruising pair of center backs who could bully Ndiaye off the ball, but in a setup like Palace threw at Everton on Sunday, there would be plenty of space for Ndiaye to exploit. It might also take some pressure off of Grealish, as the defenders would have to pay attention to the pair rather than just lock in on the Manchester City loanee.
Dewsbury-Hall could also be subbed out for Charly Alcaraz, who could push further forward as a true no.10, especially if Everton are chasing the game or need a goal when the score is tied.
The goal here is to create options, not to change the formula altogether, so be on the lookout for more tactical ideas in the coming days.