Goodison View: Allan’s Everton return goes awry after three successive defeats
Allan’s return from injury has not gone according to plan and the Everton enforcer is struggling to capture his previous levels of performance.
The Brazilian missed 15 matches after suffering an injury against Leicester City on December 16 and only came back into the team on March 1 in a 1-0 win v Southampton.
He started that victorious encounter before appearing as a second-half substitute in a 1-0 win at West Brom three days later but a run of three successive starts since that trip to The Hawthorns has yielded three defeats.
The Blues suffered Premier League defeats to Chelsea and Burnley before bowing out of the FA Cup to Manchester City on Saturday to make it a rather unwelcome return for Allan.
The last two matches have really highlighted his ring-rustiness.
According to Wyscout Allan averages 7.5 recoveries per 90 for Everton this season but he only made six v Manchester City and his inability to retrieve the ball was summed up by his total of three fouls, one of which resulted in an early booking.
He was constantly bypassed by City attackers on Saturday as seen below.
This first example shows Raheem Sterling streaking ahead of him with Allan left trailing in his wake.
The move progresses and ends up with Sterling in oceans of space in Everton’s box.
He is able to shoot with Allan nowhere near close enough.
If Allan lost that running battle this next example was more about the fleet-footedness of Phil Foden and how he outsmarted our number six.
This time Allan gets a bit closer to his opponent but he is too aggressive and Foden easily jinks to his left to fashion a shooting opportunity.
Allan is left stranded on the edge of our own box and this was emblematic of his troubles on Saturday.
Our previous fixture v Burnley was even more troublesome for him as he recorded a dismal defensive duel success rate of just 44% [Wyscout].
He has only had a worse completion rate in the Premier League on one occasion [v Leeds United on November 28].
There were countless examples of him being beaten but the worst resulted in Burnley’s second goal.
Here Allan faces Dwight McNeil up but the 21-year-old shimmies past him after dummying a shot.
Allan is completely sold by it and is left in McNeil’s dust as he bends the ball into the back of the Everton net.
It has been a rather worrying drop in his usual standards but perhaps this should be expected after such a long absence from the side.
His successful return v Southampton and West Brom was a red herring and we need to allow him some time to settle back into proceedings.
With CONMEBOL suspending international matches in South America now is the perfect time for Allan to rest, recuperate and sort himself out on the training ground ahead of our next clash v Crystal Palace on April 5.
In other Everton news, our view on why DCL & Richarlison need to work on their strike partnership.