Jamie Carragher ridicules Jarrad Branthwaite after Everton footage on Sky Sports
Jamie Carragher has explained why teams are targeting Everton with short corners this season after it was revealed the Toffees have faced them more than any other Premier League side.
Sky Sports revealed on Monday Night Football (2 October) that of the 27 corners the Toffees have faced this season, 63 per cent of them have been passed short rather than swung into the penalty area, with the next highest percentage faced being Luton Town at 28 per cent.
Jarrad Branthwaite was singled out for his role in one of the goals, with the young defender ridiculed for his efforts in trying to mark Tom Lockyer.
Speaking on Monday Night Football (2 October) he said: “All the teams analyse the opposition, we know how good Everton are at attacking set pieces and the reason teams go short is because Sean Dyche sets his team up with all 11 back, two on the post and everyone is in what we would call the two six-yard boxes.
“They [Luton] acted like they were defending, if you look at the Luton players especially Morris there at number nine, he’s trying to create space for Lockyer and they’re just too powerful and too strong for Everton. The centre-forward has got two Everton players holding him back to create space.
“Look at that, he [Lockyer] is the goalscorer, he’s almost in a headlock with Branthwaite, again they create the space for Morris and what I love about it, look at this, these two here [Branthwaite and Lockyer]. You know what it reminds me of when you’re coming home from the pub when you’ve had a couple of bevvies.”
More problems
On the face of it, Dyche seems to have found a tactic that makes it incredibly difficult for sides to score goals from set-pieces against the Toffees, by packing the box full of defenders so that there is little to no space for opposition players to operate.
But now Arsenal and Luton have managed to unpick that defensive structure in two completely different ways, the Gunners, like most of the Premier League, took almost all their corners short in a bid to take the Blues’ physical dominance out of the equation and it lead to their winner.
Luton instead matched Everton’s physicality and exploited their lack of practice against crosses from corners and also managed to score, which should worry fans at Goodison Park as they seemingly can be picked apart in a whole manner of different ways.
Even if the Toffees do win the initial header from a corner, they are then inviting pressure straight back onto themselves as all 11 players are in the penalty area, meaning there is no target to aim for with a clearance to relieve pressure.
The statistics show that the whole league know that they can exploit Dyche’s side from set-pieces and the Everton boss needs to find a way to stop it being so effective, especially in home matches.
In other Everton news, Alan Pardew has been vocal in his fears that Everton could be relegated this season