Monday 23 October 2017

Everton: So Far Away From Being The Almost Club



At the end of the 2013/14 season, then Everton manager Roberto Martinez guided the Toffees to fifth in the Premier League, their highest finish since 2005.



Since then it's been a slow fall from being the 'almost club' of England's top flight, the team that came close to breaking the lauded top four (a.k.a Champions League qualification places).

The Blues only stayed up the following season due to a resurgence of form, mainly down to then record signing Romelu Lukaku, that saw them beat Newcastle, Southampton, Burnley and Manchester United in a thrilling 3-0 win at Goodison Park.




Roberto Martinez was then sacked in May 2016 after a poor campaign that saw him pick up just one win in 10 matches in all competitions.




Ronald Koeman was then chosen to get Everton back in the quest for European Football, specifically the Champions League.

Despite finishing seventh, Europa League Football was secured via the play-offs and Koeman was set to have a summer of splashing the cash, thanks to British investor Farhad Moshiri buying a 49.9% stake in the club for £200 million.





Everton then went on to spend the most money you'd spent in one transfer window, spending £158.5 million on the following players:

- Michael Keane (£30 million)

- Jordan Pickford (£30 million)

- Wayne Rooney (£10 million)

- Sandro Ramirez (£5.5 million)

- Davy Klaassen (£24 million)

- Nikola Vlasic (£7 million)

- Henry Onyekuru (£7 million)

- Gylfi Sigurdsson (£45 million)

- Cuco Martina (Free)


They also notably sold Romelu Lukaku to Manchester United for £75 million plus add-ons.




By this notion, you'd have thought Koeman would have replaced his best player.

Yes, he'd signed Wayne Rooney in a great nostalgia moment for the club, as the boy had finally come home after years of winning trophies elsewhere, but Rooney hadn't played as a striker for a number of seasons at United so surely Koeman knew he had to get a striker that could easily play 90 minutes.

However, this didn't happen.




Forward fast to now and Everton are currently 18th in the Premier League, having played nine games of which they've win two, drew four and lost five.

They're also bottom of their Europa League group after playing three games, losing away to Atlanta, drawing at home to Apollo Limassol and losing to Lyon on Thursday.

On Monday, the day after losing to Arsenal 5-2 at Goodison Park, Everton then announced that they had sacked Koeman after 16 months in charge.





So, aside from not buying a striker, has lead to this awful form?

Firstly, Koeman doesn't start players with pace, such as Kevin Mirallas and Ademola Lookman. Instead, midfielders such as Sigurdsson and Tom Davies are expected to not only win the ball on the wing but run towards goal with the pace of a winger.

Secondly, Leighton Baines has slowed down significantly in the last two seasons and his replacement, Luke Garbutt, has been assigned to the reserves and not included in the first team.

Third and finally, Rooney has been a burden for the team.

Yes, it's nice to see Rooney back at Goodison, especially for myself having never seen him play in his two years before leaving for Old Trafford, but as mentioned above Rooney is a throwback that has unfortunately come back at a time when Everton needed someone coming into their prime, not a player who is coming to the end of his career.








For Everton, the priority is to steady the ship, whether that be Under-23s coach David Unsworth or another manager.

Fans can argue till the cows come home at how and why Koeman didn't buy a striker, weather he was held back by Director of Football Steve Walsh or the fact that they weren't in the Champions League, but the main focus should be getting the club has far away from the relegation zone as possible.
 




As the Koeman era ends, it's painfully obviously for the Everton faithful that they're nowhere near where they thought they'd be at this point of the season (knocking on the door of the top four).

With the right personnel up front and in the dugout, the season could be turned around, which it drastically needs, and Everton will start again.

That is if the current rut stops.







Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)