By Daniel Feliciano

3rd Mar, 2023 | 12:40pm

Kevin Campbell fumes at Everton board after January window failure, shares verdict on Neal Maupay and Dominic Calvert-Lewin

Kevin Campbell can’t believe Everton didn’t sign a striker during the January transfer window, and says they must find goals to avoid relegation.

The Toffees find themselves in the relegation zone currently after three defeats in five games under Sean Dyche, and have currently scored the least goals in the Premier League with just 17 all season.

And Campbell told Sky Sports (2 March) that Farhad Moshiri and Kevin Thelwell “missed a trick” by not adding firepower to the squad in January and has called for Ellis Simms and Neal Maupay to start up front together in Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s absence to try and increase their chances of survival.

“Evertonians look back at the January window and absolutely feel the club missed a trick,” added Campbell. “Getting a striker or getting some firepower – that’s been missing all season.

“You lose Richarlison, who was in double figures at Everton, and they’ve lost those goals. You can’t now wrap Calvert-Lewin in cotton wool. There’s only so much you can do before he needs to get out there and play.

“Neal Maupay is a good player, but he needs to play off a striker who is bigger and can hold up the ball and work with. If they don’t score the goals, they’ll be in trouble.

“Where’s the goals from midfielders and strikers? Calvert-Lewin unfortunately can’t keep himself fit, but I would go with two up top. It may weaken certain parts of the team, but Ellis Simms is back – he’s scored goals wherever he’s gone on loan.

“He needs a chance. Everton need to win games, not just stay in them. They can then always adjust it to be more defensive once they’re ahead.”

Change

Something has to change, that much is clear, and if that means moving away from the 4-3-3 system that we’ve seen to get more attack-minded players on the pitch then so be it.

Maupay has shown very little to convince us that he’s capable of firing us to safety, even during his previous spell at Brighton, but we’ve not tried to use him in a front two yet.

That could potentially help him do better, and would also help Simms who needs some more experience alongside him to help him find the form he had at Sunderland where he scored 7 in 17 earlier this season.

We also have Demarai Gray who has barely been used, plus Dwight McNeil, Alex Iwobi and Amadou Onana who should all be chipping in with more goals than they have done based on their ability.

Something has to give, and there is no point dwindling on the January transfer window now because it’s been and gone. We have to stay safe, and then we can avoid repeating those mistakes in the summer.