As a life-long Everton fan, I've been concerned by the apparent decline in the performances of the team over recent weeks. Most commentators, including the manager and the team captain, characterised Sunday's game, away to Bolton, as a very poor performance. I don't quite see it that way. Bolton only created three clear-cut chances all afternoon. The problem is, they scored from two of them.
I think that there are a number of reasons to be optimistic and I believe that it is a change in tactics that is needed, rather than for the team to simply 'play better'.
Firstly, I believe that technically, this is the best Everton side I've ever seen. They tend to dominate possesion, with a very neat passing game, almost like a mini Spain. Even on Sunday, apart from the first 10 minutes, they looked much better when they had the ball than did Bolton.
Secondly, the emphasis in the commentariat has been their lack of goals, particularly from the strikers. I think that a much more serious problem is they concede too many goals. Much has been made of Leighton Baines' ability on the wing but I think that their over-reliance on him (and to an exent Seamus Coleman on the right) to supply balls into the box has left the excellent Sylain Distin with too much to do. We have conceded far too many goals through the channel between a retreating Baines and Distin trying to cover both the attacking winger and the striker. Indeed, this was exactly how the second Bolton goal was conceded on Sunday, with Sturridge exploiting acres of space between Distin and Baines. I think that the solution to this is to change formation to three central defenders, with Baines and Coleman operating as wing-backs and Distin, Jagielka and Neville patrolling the centre. This system was used very effectively by Liverpool in their defeat of Chelsea earlier this month (shows that King Kenny hasn't wasted his ten years out of management). In front of them I'd play a mid-field diamond with Heitinga or Fellaini in the holding role, Arteta, Fellaini or Bilyaletdinov in the centre and Cahill behind the striker. Up front Saha is obviously first choice when fit, with Anichebe filling in otherwise. This setup has the great advantage of providing a lot of cover in defence, whilst playing to the strengths of the team. Even with injuries there are a lot of options, as Heitinga can play in central defence, Fellaini or Neville can play the holding role and Fellaini or Rodwell can play at the head of the diamond.
The next thing that needs to be sorted out is what the team does when they regain possession. Currently they have two modes of attack: The first is to pump the ball up to the striker (route one), and the second is to play the ball out of defence. Now, I can't remember the last time Everton scored from a route one attack and Saha is no-one's idea of a target man so in terms of scoring goals it's not a very effective tactic. However, it does force the defenders to track back to cover the striker so as a tactic to stretch the defending side we need to keep it in our armoury.
The second mode of attack, playing the ball out of defence looks very effective and leads to long periods of possession. The problem is that, by the time we get into the opponents half, they have dropped deep and the team ends up having to play through all eleven men to get a sight of goal. With the departure of Peinaar, there's only really Coleman who can run past players and he's not yet the finished article in terms of delivery so this is not a strategy that is going to produce many goals.
The other thing I've noticed is that they tend to be very predictable in how they use the two tactics. Rather than mixing them up, they tend to use one strategy for 10 minutes then switch to the other. This makes them easy to defend against as the opposition knows that, when they're in long ball mode, they can stay up and let the central defenders deal with the lone striker, and when they're in passing mode they just drop deep and take up their defensive positions.
What needs to be added is a third mode of attack, the quick breakaway. In order to do this, they need to drop deeper when the opposition has the ball, with the furthest man forward (typically Saha) no more than mid way between the top of the penalty area and the half way line. This would give Everton's quick men (Saha and Coleman, plus Anichebe when on) a lot more space to run into and would make it a lot harder for the opposition to score. If I were Moyes, I would be spending all my time drilling the team in this mode of defence and attack, firstly making everyone run back into their defensive positions as soon as we lose possession and then as soon as we regain it, getting Saha and Coleman into the channels and getting the ball to them. They also need to work on mixing up their attack, to keep the opposition guessing so that they have to cover the whole field, rather than just a few predictable areas. If the team could add this mode to their offensive capabilities they would be a team to be feared and would climb up the table.
Nil desperandum Moysey.
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