Pundit slams Everton midfielder Abdoulaye Doucoure for Nottingham Forest display
Michael Ball wasn’t quite impressed with the performance of Everton midfielder Abdoulaye Doucoure in the 2-2 draw against Nottingham Forest.
He believes that Doucoure needed to show more confidence while retaining the ball in the game at the City Ground on 5 March.
The Toffees remain in the relegation zone but Sean Dyche secured his first away point as Everton manager over the weekend.
Ball told the Liverpool Echo, “There were individual errors again – Onana could have cleared it, Idrissa Gueye could have cleared it – and Abdoulaye Doucoure needs to have more pride in retaining possession. He’s the one who lost the ball and got penalised but everybody lost the ball – Alex Iwobi lost it far too often and Michael Keane did in positions.
“You need to have pride in protecting the ball and if a pass is not on, keep it and try and find a better solution. The amount of interceptions in that game was far too high.”
Spot on
While it was a decent performance and result it could’ve been a lot better had the Toffees played as well as we know they can.
Individual errors in key moments are something that have happened under Rafa Benitez and Frank Lampard very often and have cost the side time and again.
Doucoure, to his credit, has fared decently under Dyche, but he’s certainly got plenty more in his tank to offer in the coming months.
Hopefully, the former Burnley boss can take everyone’s game to the next level as that’s going to help them stay in the Premier League.
Getting relegated is still a very real threat for Everton and March is going to be decisive and if they’re out of it come April, it’s going to do their confidence a world of good.
We cannot wait to see how the boys fare against Brentford as they’ve proven to be mighty good this season and it’s going to be tough to beat them.