Goodison Tactics: Lack of pressure proves pivotal as Everton leak goals at an alarming rate
Carlo Ancelotti hasn’t got much wrong since joining Everton in December 2019 but recent performances have laid bare one pressing issue in this Blues side.
And the clue is in the name – pressing. Or the lack of, we should say.
For all of the good work done on the ball and attempts to remain organised and resolute, the Toffees are failing to do the leg work required of them in a physical Premier League.
There are no gimmies in this division and you have to work hard to earn your right to be on the ball.
We could have picked apart any number of tactical nuances in recent Everton displays but the main thing that has caught our eyes at Goodison News is the severe lack of intensity in our play, both offensively and defensively.
It is the latter that we will focus on here as our defence looks to have crumbled since the end of January.
The 2-0 defeat to Newcastle on January 30 was the beginning of the demise and we have now shipped 15 goals in our last six games – a staggering statistic considering our miserly rearguard before this.
Prior to that fateful day, Everton had not conceded more than twice in a game since November 22, ironically in a 3-2 win at Fulham.
Between that game and Newcastle the defence had been breached on just nine occasions in 12 games, a pretty solid record.
So just what exactly has gone so wrong?
We have picked out an example from our two most recent games, against Manchester City on Wednesday and Fulham on Valentine’s Day.
Both were at Goodison Park yet we seemed so lost.
The first collection of images show Bernardo Silva’s route to the Everton net as he fired Manchester City’s third goal of the game in a 3-1 win.
As you can see in the above image Silva receives the ball just outside the penalty area, with Michael Keane positioned on the edge of the box.
One would expect the England international to recognise the oncoming danger and engage with the City midfielder.
Yet he fails to do so and instead keeps his position which has little to no impact on the Portuguese magician who draws ever nearer to the Everton goal.
Just as Silva gets to the 18-yard line Keane makes an attempt to thwart his path but the flat-footed nature of his defending renders his efforts utterly redundant and futile.
Unopposed Silva simply slots the ball past Jordan Pickford and the game is pretty much done at this point.
This is just one example of the poor individualistic choices being made by experienced Everton defenders.
To tell the truth we could have picked out any one of their mistakes in the past month but this was just typical of the negativity that has haunted our defenders.
The next example focuses on the attackers in the 2-0 reversal to Fulham but is no less important, despite it happening much further away from our goal.
As you can see below James Rodriguez and Gylfi Sigurdsson are the two closest challengers to Harrison Reed who is in possession.
Reed is in bucketloads of space so you would expect at least one attacker to chase him down and stop any attack from being built up.
Sigurdsson and Rodriguez are not exactly known for their die-hard efforts to the defensive cause and this much is shown in their lack of desire to press.
Neither show any willingness to block the ball and thus Reed is afford the luxury of sizing his options and picking out a pass.
He launches a long ball over the top which sails over the heads of the defenders for Ruben Loftus-Cheek to bear down on goal.
Luckily he is ruled marginally offside but it shows the potential pitfalls of dropping off and not applying pressure.
He may not have enjoyed the best start to life at Liverpool, but can you imagine what Thiago Alcantara would be able to do against us in Saturday’s Merseyside derby if afforded this vast amount of space?
It will not be Loftus-Cheek running on to the end of those but instead top Premier League marksman Mohamed Salah.
This is a frightening thought to say the least and therefore we must be more pro-active in our defending to avoid being picked off at ease.
Joshua King should be considered to start on Saturday to bring some more energy to our attack and close down a Liverpool backline that has been decimated by injuries.
Meanwhile Ancelotti must instruct his defenders to be more ambitious in their approach, otherwise we will continue to see suffer.
A Merseyside derby is the perfect game to turn things around so let’s hope we see a vast improvement.
In other Everton news, Carlo Ancelotti details reason for Allan’s omission v Manchester City.