Goodison Tactics: Everton must make most of Richarlison to exploit weak link Bednarek v S’ton
After six losses in their last eight games, Southampton are on the ropes and Everton can easily exploit their defensive deficiencies on Monday evening.
The south-coast side were battered 3-0 at Leeds on Tuesday and their season is falling apart with injuries haunting manager Ralph Hasenhuttl ahead of a trip to Merseyside.
Meanwhile, Carlo Ancelotti and co are riding high after tasting sweet success at Anfield last time out and will be confident of taking all three points against a team with a clear weak point in their team – Jan Bednarek.
The Poland international is a centre-back by trade but has been forced to operate at right-back in the absence of Kyle Walker-Peters and he is set to continue in this role at Goodison Park with Hassenhuttl confirming that his 23-year-old full-back is still out injured [Hampshire Live].
After his Leeds horror-show, we have picked out how the Blues, and Richarlison in particular, can exploit this Southampton problem position.
Take a look at the first image below where Tyler Roberts takes possession of the ball in midfield with Patrick Bamford positioned ahead of him in acres of space in between Bednarek and his right-centre back.
It is an easy pass to make and Bednarek is slow to realise the space left behind with his body position all wrong.
Bednarek is left horribly exposed and his lack of pace means he is unable to recover which leaves Bamford with just Jannik Vestergaard to beat, which he does so with consummate ease as the Danish ace also struggles against speed.
Bamford then scored to open the floodgates at Elland Road.
We have visions of James Rodriguez picking the ball up with the freedom of Goodison Park to pick out a pass for the onrushing Richarlison.
As seen below, this is similar to how we scored the opener against Liverpool with the only difference being that the ball was played between the centre-backs rather than the full-back.
Take a look at another example of Bednarek struggling in an unfamiliar position.
Here he is faced with a two-on-one as Leeds regularly looked to trouble him as quickly as possible.
He takes a different decision this time.
Bednarek choose to cover a more central position and engage more with the ball rather than watching the simple ball to the left which immediately puts his team under more severe pressure
The third example again shows his propencity to drop into a more central position and cover the ball rather than worrying about what is behind, or indeed alongside him.
Leeds actually score here from a terrific finish from Stuart Dallas despite Bednarek’s attempts to block the ball but they could have had an easier chance by passing the ball to Bamford who had a clear sight on goal after being left by the Saints defender.
Carlo Ancelotti has a wealth of Everton options ready to take advantage of this weak spot.
Richarlison is usually the man tasked with starting from the left, while Bernard, Alex Iwobi and Joshua King are also adept at using their speed and mobility to exploit one-paced full-backs.
But as the images above show it is not just the opposing winger that Bednarek has to deal with.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin could be back to start after coming off the bench against Liverpool and while he is more known for his physical stature and heading ability, he also possesses the attacking nous and mobility to make similar runs to that of Bamford and expose this Southampton defence.
If not, Ancelotti could even opt to rotate between Richarlison and King as centre-forward and left-winger to create chaos in the opposition.
Regardless of who he selects, it is clear to spot the weak link that Everton must target.
In other Everton news, see our three things to watch out for in Blues v Southampton.