Saturday’s woeful home defeat against relegation-threatened Sunderland was another telling blow in a depressing, below-par season. In many ways, the game functioned as a perfect microcosm for the season as a whole, as the Blues huffed, puffed, but ultimately failed to break the stubborn visiting rearguard down. Then, as so often has been the case this campaign, the defensive unit shot themselves in the foot and gifted victory to a team that otherwise merited little (with the help of fortune the like of which I have rarely seen before, and some bizarre calls by referee Lee Probert, of course). This was a 90 minute re-enactment of this season’s stark, recurrent travails. So what can be done to remedy an ailing Everton side bereft of confidence?
Champions-elect Chelsea hint at a way forward in this regard. Mourinho’s side have few admirers in terms of their pragmatic style of play (although they have played better football that most give them credit for), yet the Portuguese manager caters to his side’s strengths, they have leaders all over the pitch, and they are notoriously hard to beat. Rarely do you see the likes of Terry, Ivanovic, Courtois or Azpilicueta make the mistakes witnessed by the likes of Howard, Distin and Alcaraz this season- indeed, Everton have conceded a league high number of goals from individual errors this year. Pragmatism may be dull, but winning trophies isn’t, and those in the inner-sanctum of the club must remember this.
What is evident when you watch this current Chelsea side is that their defenders refuse to take risks on the ball and accept their limitations going forward. Mourinho’s team do the basics well, and the rest follows. It’s lunacy to expect Phil Jagielka and Sylvain Distin to bring the ball out of defence like modern-day incarnations of Franz Beckenbauer.
Clearly, a solid defensive unit is paramount, and must be able to provide a threat in both penalty areas. Last weekend, John Terry became the top-scoring defender in Premier League history, while Branislav Ivanovic (6) and Gary Cahill (3) also contribute their fair share throughout the course of the season. Everton defenders Phil Jagielka and Leighton Baines do compare well in this aspect, but defensively speaking, crosses are still and achilles heal for the Goodison Park side.
Indeed, the way that Martinez neglects set pieces and other dead ball situations in training is nothing short of criminal, and has cost us numerous points this season. The likes of Chelsea, Barcelona and Real Madrid have shown time and time again that it does not compromise your footballing principles to play to percentages every once in a while.
Still, Everton’s back four defend too narrowly when it comes to crosses, and thus fail to stop enough dangerous balls coming into the box. This must be remedied for next season, as it was ultimately our downfall in the Europa League, as well, when Dinamo Kiev pinpointed an obvious weakness in the air and exploited it ruthlessly. It is still a nonsense that this style of play is as likely to pay dividends against Everton as a piece of extraordinary individual skill from one of the Premier League’s leading lights like Eden Hazard or Sergio Aguero.
Elsewhere, Mourinho’s team rotates infrequently, and looks more settled as a result. I understand that the Europa League took a lot out of the players, but the spine of the team should remain intact whenever possible, so as to improve team chemistry. Jagielka and Stones have shown signs of an improvement since Christmas, but the centre back position should be a priority this summer, along with a new goalkeeper, midfielder, winger and striker.
It must be said that rather than advocating a brand of negative, pragmatic football, I am instead arguing that there are elements of Chelsea’s play that could, and perhaps should, be incorporated into our own game if we are to truly improve. As it stands, we remain flaky defensively- particularly from crosses- and create little going forward. Offensively, possession may be nine-tenths of the law for Barcelona-inspired Martinez, yet the Blues had an astonishing 73% of the ball against Sunderland, and failed to muster any real, sustained pressure on Pantilimon’s goal. Possession, of course, is only truly valuable when you know what to do with it.
The Everton cause hasn’t been helped by injuries to perennially injured duo Leon Osman and Steven Pienaar, both of whom provide the sort of intelligent, creative spark that has been lacking for much of this season. As it stands, only Leighton Baines and Romelu Lukaku have assisted more than 4 goals in 2014/15, with the likes of Mirallas, Barkley and Barry floundering statistically. Herein lies the problem: in order to make waves next year, Martinez must be given the funds to unearth our own budget versions of Cesc Fabregas and Eden Hazard- both of whom are ultimately the difference between three points and one on a regular basis. This summer will be massive for Martinez and Everton in more ways than one. Let’s just hope the Catalan knows how to steady the ship…
