As the curtains close on August, the first official month of Ronald Koeman’s Everton tenure, Premier League managers will be looking back on their first three games of the season.
Predictably, some of the league’s most esteemed bosses got off to a successful start; José Mourinho, Pep Guardiola and Antonio Conte among them, all of whom can reflect on 100% records. Slightly behind the trio lie, Everton, who are unbeaten and who narrowly missed out on matching the leaders’ early feat.
Koeman has made the ideal start to life on Merseyside, as he tries to take the club back into Europe following a period of regression under Roberto Martínez. Although the Toffee’s haven’t set the world on fire with their football thus far this season, they have successfully negotiated positive results against Tottenham, West Brom and Stoke. Off the field, though, the Toffees have not enjoyed so much success.
Transfer deadline day promised so much, yet delivered so very little. Leading up to the final 24 hours, a myriad of players were linked with moves to Goodison Park, and it looked certain that the club were in for a busy day of business. This business never materialised, however, with proposed moves for Yacine Brahimi and Manolo Gabbiadini collapsing, leaving the club to seek out late replacement targets.
Moussa Sissoko became Koeman’s last real effort at making one more big money signing before the close of the window; he was the Hail Mary pass. However, within the last hour of the window, the Frenchman decided to ignorantly refuse Everton, making a last ditch attempt to sign for Tottenham before the deadline.
Enner Valencia joined late on a loan deal with an option for permanent transfer – much to the disappointment of the Everton faithful, and young Sheffield United striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin joined David Unsworth’s U23 setup. All in all, a disappointing window to say the least; especially if you consider the bizarre fact that despite the club now having huge financial backing, the club never invested any money on players that wasn’t recouped from the sale of John Stones.
That isn’t to say the club didn’t make some positive progress on the transfer front, with the signings of Maarten Stekelenburg, Ashley Williams, Idrissa Gueye and Yannick Bolasie bringing undoubted talent and experience to a squad so lacking confidence and inspiration after spending too much time under the tutelage of a man with little clue.
What does leave a bitter taste, though, is the glaring holes in the squad that remain prominent problems unresolved. The fact of the matter is that the club can’t afford to lose significant players to injury, else they’ll suffer the consequences of failing to strengthen more than they did.
Fan frustration will certainly be understandable, and it is assumed that Koeman will also be agitated that the club weren’t able to close deals for players in positions he deemed priority positions. Someone at the club must be responsible for this failure, right? I don’t think so.
The reality is, an injection of money isn’t going to make the club become masters of negotiation all of a sudden, it’s going to take some time to compete on that front to the degree where we can challenge any club for the highest calibre of player. Added to the fact that we have achieved back to back bottom half finishes, we don’t represent the most appealing side in the country in terms of committing to a project that has yet to be really launched into motion.
It’s a sharp learning curve that the club must now follow, a firm reminder that it’s best to try harder to get business done early. Refinements are still required at the back and up front, and the club will have to try and manage as best as possible before the window reopens.
On the field, things are looking much more bright. Whereas Martínez built his team on a weak foundation, trying to outscore opponents whilst neglecting his defensive responsibilities and subsequently lost his job, Koeman has instead focused his efforts on the defensive elements of his side.
Aside from the aforementioned players brought in during the transfer window, Koeman has done well to revitalise the players already in the squad. In particular, Koeman’s introduction of Mason Holgate to the first team setup has paid off in spades, as the young defender signed from Barnsley last year has impressed whilst deputising at right back/right centre back.
Koeman will be itching to get back to work, and Evertonians are excited to see how the team will begin to shape up now that transfer rumours have been put to bed. Everton travel to the Stadium of Light to take on Sunderland once attention switches back from international football, and it’ll be interesting to see how Koeman’s footballing philosophy will begin to unfold.
