Everton kick off a somewhat gruelling pre-season programme this Saturday against League One Swindon Town. We look at the things to keep an eye out for this summer.
1. Ross Barkley’s position
2014/15 was expected to be Barkley’s ‘coming of age’ season, and while the youngster can shoulder little blame for being played out of position for large swathes of the campaign (he’s not a left midfielder, let’s face it), doubts remain over the 21-year-old’s ability to play behind the striker as a conventional, creative attacking midfielder. As it stands, Barkley’s decision-making leaves a lot to be desired, and this is something that the Everton and England midfielder must perfect if he is to have a future in a particular position of such importance.
Indeed, as Barkley mustered a paltry 2 goals and 2 assists in 36 appearances, an argument could be made for dropping the Wavertree-born player back into a deeper position. Roberto Martinez, himself, seems to be of a similar mind, and the Catalan is believed to be in the market for a new number 10 this summer.
With some suggesting the gifted academy graduate would be best served moving forward from deep, and pointing to his man-of-the-match performance in last December’s 3-1 victory over QPR as evidence, is now the time to experiment with a fluid 4-3-3 formation, with Barkley fulfilling a similar role to the one played by the likes of Yaya Toure and Paul Pogba?
2. Which youngsters will come to the fore?
The beauty of pre-season is that youth, invariably, will get a chance to impress. At the moment, a fairly large cohort of U21 players are training with the first-team, with versatile duo Tyias Browning and Brendan Galloway perhaps most prominent among them. Both players appeared for Martinez’s men last year- the latter, in particular, impressed at left-back in the absence of Leighton Baines- and will hope to stake a claim for a permanent place in the senior set-up after the departures of veteran centre-backs Sylvain Distin and Antolin Alcaraz.
Others to keep an eye out for include new (permanent) signing David Henen, midfielder Ryan Ledson and forwards Conor McAleny and Chris Long; all of whom should feature at some point during the summer.
3. Where does new signing Tom Cleverley fit in?
This pre-season will also give Everton fans a taste of what to expect from new signings Gerard Deulofeu and Tom Cleverley. Yet while the former is well known to Evertonians after his dazzling wing displays in the 2013/14 season, it is the case of the latter that is perhaps most intriguing, for Cleverley’s role in Roberto Martinez’s midfield is still to be defined.
During his recent renaissance at Aston Villa, the 25-year-old played as a high energy box-to-box midfielder in Sherwood’s 4-3-3 system, while under Martinez’s tutelage at Wigan, Cleverley performed well in a more advanced, left-sided role. However, although his versatility is admirable, the former Manchester United player will want to nail down a regular place in what is already a competitive Everton midfield. One thing is for sure: Martinez’s use of the England international will serve as an indicator of what is to follow, and is definitely one of the things to watch out for in the coming weeks.
4. A time to experiment with new formation(s)?
Did 4-2-3-1 go stale last season? Probably. Was this because of the system or the personnel? Maybe both. Either way, the relative merits of the system are up for debate after a tactical shift in continental football over the past year, and Martinez’s tactical setup will be scrutinised like never before over the coming 12 months. The signings of Deulofeu and Cleverley may go some way to rectifying the, at times, static, narrow attacking play seen at times last campaign, but do they hint at an entirely new way of playing? Martinez used 4-1-4-1, 4-4-2 and 3-5-2 fleetingly last season, and may decide to experiment with new components at his disposal. This wouldn’t be the worse thing in the world- all things considered, the Blues could definitely do with being more versatile.
5. A possible changing of the guard
Howard or Robles? Barry or Besic? Osman or Cleverley? Martinez has some big decisions to make over the course of the new few months- ones that could, in all honesty, shape the immediate future of the club. The Catalan has already taken two giants leaps forward in releasing the stale pairing of Distin and Alcaraz and placing faith in the likes of Galloway and Browning, yet more needs to be done to reduce the average age of the squad. In Stones, Barkley, Deulofeu and Lukaku, the Blues are blessed with the finest young talent in the country. Let’s just hope that Martinez finds the right balance to help Everton right the wrongs of last season’s slow start, for, all things considered, this pre-season may just be the most important in living memory.
