Goodison View: Everton must guard against defensive liability Tom Davies
Just when Everton midfielder Tom Davies looks like he’s turned a corner he always manages to find a way to prove the doubters right again.
The 22-year-old has endured a tumultuous career with the Blues, even though he is still in his fledgling years as a professional.
His erratic Everton displays have seen him receive praise and criticism aplenty but he looked like he was beginning to nail down some consistency for once.
But some poor performances of late suggests that complacency has crept back in.
He was absent from our FA Cup clash with Manchester City on March 20 but he accumulated 118 minutes of action in prior encounters v Burnley and Chelsea where he lost 75% (3/4) and 100% (3/3) of his defensive duels respectively [Wyscout].
Davies was called up to the England U21s squad for the group stages of their European Championship campaign this month and the hope was that he would set the tournament alight given his seniority compared to most others.
However, he started poorly with a shocking defensive display versus Switzerland on Thursday and at Goodison News, we have highlighted a couple of examples that concern us ahead of the concluding months of our season.
This first example below shows his lack of defensive nous and desire to retrieve the ball or block an effort on goal.
With the Switzerland player in possession and his teammate bombing up on his left-hand side the England defence was outnumbered and needed reinforcements.
However Davies barely makes it out of a jog and stands motionless as the attacker is left in oceans of space to fire a shot that nearly creeps into the goal.
If his lack of effort was bad his lackadaisical approach on the ball really highlighted his sloppiness.
With his back to play Davies attempts a pass round the corner of the Swiss midfield.
But he doesn’t get nearly the amount of distance required and the ball is pounced upon with ease by the opposition.
One would expect Davies to show a burst of enthusiasm to retrieve possession and make up for his error.
He has the choice to either press the man in possession or to scurry back and block a forward pass to the striker.
He elects to do neither and finds himself in the middle of both as the ball is fed forwards.
Davies then starts to break out into a sprint but by then it is too late and the danger zone has been breached.
This is not a new phenomenon, though. According to Wyscout Davies cedes possession of the ball 7.82 times per 90 this season, with 54.3% of losses coming within his own half.
For context, Allan loses it 6.64 times and just over half (50.8%) of the time in his own half.
Andre Gomes has also played deeper on occasion and his stats read as 7.61 per 90 and 65.5%.
Not only does Davies give the ball away with more regularity and in dangerous areas but his defensive statistics also don’t stack up favourably next to his midfield cohorts.
He attempts just 8.44 defensive duels per 90 at a 52.3% success rate while Gomes records 9.02 and 53%. Allan attempts 10.27 and completes 57.9% of them.
We’re not too enthused by the sight of Davies struggling to contain and hold his own against players of the same age or even younger.
He should be starting to dominate midfields, particularly in his own age groups, but he is failing to hit the heights expected of him.
If he continues to start in the Everton midfield we would advocate a more advanced role to relinquish some of his defensive duties or at least the inclusion of Allan alongside him to cover for his deficiencies.
In other Everton news, our view on why Blues require Mason Holgate upgrade at right-back.