Following Everton’s draw with Manchester United, Gylfi Sigurdsson has once again found himself on the receiving end of fan criticism, with it now looking as though he could be left behind by Carlo Ancelotti this summer.
However, could the Iceland international be the victim of a system that just isn’t suited to his talents?
Since Ancelotti was appointed manager of the Toffees in December, the club has undergone a radical change in formation and tactics. Marco Silva had often experimented with his formation, but he largely stuck to a 4-2-3-1 lineup, that saw the club experience mixed results.
However Ancelotti has almost exclusively led with a traditional 4-4-2 formation, which is noticeably a formation that doesn’t allow for much freedom from its midfield duo.
In this system, Sigurdsson has played as both a left-sided midfielder and in the centre, and his influence on the field has waned as his preferred position has effectively been eradicated under Ancelotti.
Despite drastically improving his passing completion percentage figures from 76.2 per cent to 81.3 per cent, his direct involvement in creating chances and scoring goals has dropped massively.
After 25 appearances last season, Sigurdsson had nine Premier League goals and three assists to his name, with the 30-year old finish the season with 13 and six respectively. After the same amount of games this season however, Sigurdsson has just one goal to his name, having assisted twice.
With the formation changes at Goodison Park, the onus has been taken off Sigurdsson to be the creator for the Blues. When deployed as a central midfielder alongside any one of Fabian Delph, Morgan Schneiderlin or Andre Gomes, Sigurdsson has to aid them in breaking up play, distributing the ball and keeping the tempo ticking along.
Richarlison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin are now relied upon to score the goals, and to support each-other, which Sigurdsson has been forced into a role he isn’t familiar with and isn’t equipped to operate.
There is a case to be made that Gylfi simply needs to adapt to his new environment, as many other players have done when moved out of their usual position, but Sigurdsson seems to be struggling to overcome that hurdle.
Ultimately, Ancelotti possesses players in his squad now that boast better energy levels and more suitability to play the currently needed central midfield role, and while perhaps a victim of sudden change, Sigurdsson has put himself in danger of being left behind by the Blues.
