Goodison Tactics: How can Everton hurt Bentford?

Fri 26 November 2021 19:10, UK

Everton need a win in the Premier League; they have failed to win in their last six and are dropping down the table.

Their next opponents are Brentford, who have failed to win in their last five games, so they will be looking to change that at home on Sunday.

WhoScored claim that one of the Bees’ weaknesses and, therefore, something that the Toffees could exploit is their ability to win aerial duels as a team.

However, that also comes into their apparent failure to deal with crosses into their box in various matches this season.

So, with that in mind, we are going to look at three goals that the Bees have conceded this season and analyse how the Toffees could copy and exploit Brentford’s weakness.

N’Golo Kante has space on the right. Romelu Lukaku has drawn the attention of all of the Brentford players in the box. Ben Chilwell is totally free.

As the cross comes in Lukaku is making a nuisance of himself. Chilwell is still free.

The Bees clear the ball as far as Chilwell who thumps his shot into the net. Two Brentford players could be closer and Chilwell didn’t have to move to create the space.

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This was a great finish from the Chelsea left-wing-back; however, he managed to escape the attention of the whole Brentford defence and midfield by standing still.

Now, the Toffees don’t really play with wing-backs, so you wouldn’t expect Lucas Digne to pop up in this position.

However, if they decide to play Salomon Rondon, he could fill the same role as Lukaku did here and occupy defenders and just be a nuisance.

If he can do that and Everton can get men in and around him, then something might fall for them.

Charlie Taylor has a lot of time and space to get his cross into the box. The goalscorer Matt Lowton is unmarked.

As the cross comes in, Lowton has peeled onto Rico Henry. The goalkeeper has come off his line and left himself in a poor position.

Lowton rises unopposed to nod the ball into the net. Henry doesn’t get off the ground to stop Lowton from scoring.

This was such an easy goal. The cross from the left wasn’t even that good, but once it went over the goalkeeper, he was in trouble.

Henry at the back post did nothing, and you would think that if the Toffees could get crosses in from the left, they might have a bit of joy because Henry really couldn’t deal with this cross.

So, if Everton can get Digne sending crosses into that back post area, they could have some joy.

Ryan Fraser receives the ball on the right and no one closes him down.

Fraser sends in a cross to the back post and Allan Saint-Maximin has got ahead of his marker.

As the Frenchman makes contact with a volley to send the ball into the net, Sergi Canos is nowhere near his man.

This was a good goal from Newcastle United, and the cross to the back post from Fraser was fantastic.

However, it is clear that Canos could be exploited by Everton as well as Henry.

Here he didn’t even try to follow his man, and the Bees were punished.

So, if the Toffees can get crosses in from either side to the back post, you would think they can cause Brentford many problems as both of their wing-backs appear to be suspect defensively.

In other Everton news, Jean-Philippe Gbamin has been tipped to make a move to the Championship in January.

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