View: Three things we learned about Everton in shock 2-0 defeat to Fulham
Everton saved their worst performance of the season for the visit of Fulham on Sunday as the relegation candidates outclassed the Blues 2-0 at Goodison Park.
This should have been a comfortable win for the hosts against a side that had not won in the Premier League since November 30 and we expected the Blues to swat them aside with consummate ease to push on in the hunt for European football next season.
However Carlo Ancelotti’s side produced a truly awful display as they were comfortably beaten by the Cottagers in a game that was concerning in a number of different ways.
At Goodison News we have picked out three things we learned from the defeat…
1. Pace and width sorely missing
With star striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin missing with a hamstring injury many expected Joshua King to make his first Everton start since his deadline-day arrival from Bournemouth.
However Ancelotti sprung a surprise when he named Richarlison as the lone frontman and there were further eyebrows raised with the exclusion of both Alex Iwobi and Bernard from the starting XI.
Bernard was the hero in midweek after his FA Cup winner v Spurs while Iwobi has impressed this season with a series of industrious displays down the right-hand side.
Both provide an element of width and pace to the side but Ancelotti instead opted to field Gylfi Sigurdsson and James Rodriguez as the advanced options to support Richarlison.
As you can see below [images taken from Wyscout] Ancelotti opted for a diamond of sorts in the first 20 minutes v Fulham with Sigurdsson (10) behind Richarlison (7) and Rodriguez (19), before re-adjusting to a 4-2-3-1 with the Colombian moved to a number ten role and the Icelandic international pushed out to a wide left role
But while they possess an abundance of skill and creativity both seriously struggle for pace and that meant a lack of urgency and forward running.
The only player providing any sort of width going forwards was left-back Lucas Digne and he had one of his poorest performances as the absence of DCL took its toll.
The answer is clear – without the services of the England international Ancelotti must start with at least one of Iwobi, Bernard or King.
2. Negativity spreads like wildfire
This was a Fulham team that arrived in Merseyside without a Premier League victory in their last 12 games and they had failed to score in four of their last five outings.
No team had scored fewer than their total of 15 league goals, so you would expect the Blues to assert themselves on prove why there was 22 points between the sides heading into this game, especially at home.
That means front-football and pressing from the front, but we saw none of that on Sunday, as you can see from the average positions of the players below.
The fact that Digne, our left-back, was our further forward player tells you all you need to know about our approach to this game.
It was dull, negative and quite frankly pathetic.
We barely got over the half-way line and it is a growing problem, especially without DCL as a focal point.
Everton rank in the bottom half for ball possession figures in the Premier League this season and that is a rather concerning statistic considering the level of ball-playing talent on our hands.
Why are we not holding onto the ball?
Well the answer probably lies in that graphic above in that it is difficult to retain possession in your own half with the threat of conceding an imminent thought meaning the side are more prone to hitting hopeful long passes.
3. Defensive woes continue
The Blues have now conceded at least twice in four of the last five games, shipping 12 goals in this period including four and three against Spurs and Manchester United respectively.
Whatever happened to the solidity of the sides that kept clean sheets against Chelsea, Leicester City and Sheffield United in December?
Ancelotti has chopped and changed his defence in recent games and perhaps that is a factor.
Jordan Pickford has been missing through injury for the past four games and his replacement Robin Olsen has been poor to say the least while Yerry Mina, Michael Keane, Ben Godfrey and Mason Holgate have all rotated in the heart of the Blues backline.
Ancelotti must now choose a pairing and stick with it to bring some consistency to a side that is seriously lacking in this department.
In other Everton news, this Blues performer failed to impress fans in Fulham shocker.