View: More performances like Wolves could turn Iwobi into a complete player for Everton
Alex Iwobi needs to build upon his goal against Wolves to try and become the complete player for Everton.
The Nigerian international is enjoying a brilliant run of form for the Toffees after being moved into a more attacking role.
Throughout his career, doubts over his end product have followed him from Arsenal to Everton and he is finally starting to put those to rest.
In fact, figures have shown that Iwobi is becoming one of the best creators throughout the entire Premier League as a result of Carlo Ancelotti’s recent tactical switch.
However, goals have been an element of his game that have always been missing, at least on a regular and consistent basis.
Using the graph below – courtesy of Wyscout – you can see that Iwobi ranks very highly for crosses per 90, successful dribbles and key passes per 90.
However, the numbers soon fall down when you look at his touches in the opposition penalty area and shots per 90 minutes.
A lack of goals can often be an easy stick to beat players with, but with Everton, it comes at a time of need.
The Blues are among the lowest scorers (28) in the top half of the Premier League and four of their last seven league goals have come from either a defender or an own goal.
What we saw from Iwobi against Wolves was a willingness to get into the box and attack space.
Reading the game is something we have see the wide man do much better this season and as we see below, this is a great example of Iwobi having the freedom and intelligence to drift inside into vacated space.
James Rodriguez’ searching ball across to Lucas Digne leaves Wolves’ defence all over the place and that plays perfectly into Iwobi’s hands, who finds space on the edge of the area to finish brilliantly.
We need to see more of the same from Iwobi. As per Wyscout, he attempted three shots on goal against Wolves – a stark improvement on the 0.79 he has averaged per 90 minutes this season.
Couple that with five touches in the penalty area – the joint-highest figure he has recorded in the Premier League this season.
This shows that Iwobi can provide more of a goalscoring threat without losing any of the creativity that he has shown in recent weeks.
Below, we see an example where a similar opportunity presents itself against Sheffield United, but it was a run that Iwobi opted not to utilise.
Perhaps missing Dominic Calvert-Lewin provided with Iwobi with that extra emphasis to push deeper into the opposition third, but he must retain that desire when the striker comes back into the side.
Should Iwobi go on to add more consistent goals to his game during the second half of the campaign, he will make the £35million that Everton paid for him look like a bargain.
In other Everton news, Fabrizio Romano says Everton have been offered the chance to sign Anderson