Jeff Stelling and Kris Boyd deride Richarlison’s Everton goalscoring record
Jeff Stelling and Kris Boyd are in agreement that Everton star Richarlison needs to add more goals and consistency to his game next season.
The duo discussed the Brazilian before the Blues were thrashed 5-0 by Manchester City on Sunday to dash any hopes of bringing European football back to Goodison Park next season.
Speaking on Sky Sports Soccer Saturday [23/05/21] Boyd initiated the conversation on the 24-year-old by questioning his patchy form in front of goal.
“Richarlison has had a lot of plaudits this season,” he said.
“But he goes on a run of games where he scores two or three goals, then he doesn’t do anything for five or six, then he comes back.
“To perform at the elite level week in, week out, you’ve got to be consistent.
“If Everton are going to improve I think Richarlison has got to do more but there have been spells this season where he has been unplayable.
“But you’re still looking for more in terms of scoring goals.”
“He’s got seven Premier League goals Kris, that tells you everything doesn’t it,” Stelling sniped.
Boyd: “Sometime’s he’s unstoppable but he has missed a lot of chances this season.”
Braced for a big season
Richarlison has endured his worst season yet at the Blues, at least going by the numbers.
A tally of 7 Premier League goals is a huge dropdown from the 13 he has scored for the past two seasons.
Remarkably, four of those efforts came in the space of 15 days as he struck consecutively against Manchester City, Liverpool, Southampton and West Brom.
He outperformed his xG during the 2018/19 and 2019/20 campaigns but he’s severely under his total this season, scoring at a rate of once every 0.21 games while his xG stands at 0.34. [Wyscout]
It’s not all his fault, with the Blues often set up to soak up pressure and hit teams on the counter-attack, thus giving the Brazilian fewer opportunities than if he was in a more attack-minded team.
Some summer signings might help in that regard next season.
But he also needs to look at himself and demand more – he recently turned 24 and should be starting to develop into a player heading into his prime years.
Next season could be huge for Richarlison.
In other Everton news, ‘They would take him’ – Pundit backs Blues to sign ‘Incredible’ 9-goal PL attacker.
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