Michael Ball slates Everton man Michael Keane
Michael Ball has ripped into Everton defender Michael Keane for his display against Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The 28-year-old centre-back was arguably at fault for the first goal as he failed to read the flight of the cross that ended up with Max Kilman scoring.
Speaking in his column for the Liverpool Echo, the former Toffees man slated Keane for not concentrating and not fulfilling his role on the corner that led to the goal.
He said: “Last week I asked whether Everton manager Rafa Benitez would be stubborn over his zonal marking, but he wasn’t, and he went man-to-man, but it wasn’t full man-to-man, he went 50/50 with three players picking up Wolves players and Michael Keane as the free guy.
“That’s perfectly fine, but he doesn’t seem to be switched on and looked to be held back.
“Wolves ended up scoring from a corner, right in the middle of the area where the free man should be.”
Keane is not the only one at fault, but he is struggling.
Now, pretty much every single Everton defender was poor on Monday, so Keane wasn’t the only one to blame.
However, you would have to say that his confidence looks shot and defensively, he looks very shaky.
Now, he has actually picked up two assists in his last two matches for the Toffees, but if he can’t do his job at the back, then do those assists really matter?
We would argue not, and we would also say that it is probably time for Keane to come out of the team.
Now, you could argue that would destroy his confidence even more, but unfortunately, you can’t keep justifying poor performances with starts if other options are available.
Things don’t get any easier for the Toffees as they face Tottenham Hotspur next with Antonio Conte, the club’s new manager, so you have to wonder what Rafael Benitez can do to stop Spurs.
In other Everton news, the Toffees have held transfer talks over two targets in January.
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