The blunt refrain from the supporter sitting just behind the press box at Goodison Park on Sunday was a familiar one — “get up, you bloody idiot” — but the difference on this occasion was the target of the invective.
This was not an irate Everton fan letting off steam at a Tottenham Hotspur player, but one utterly exasperated by the antics of Richarlison, the Everton forward, whose insistence upon falling to the floor in a heap almost every time he was touched became an embarrassment — not to mention counter-productive.
There was a moment in the 60th minute when, with the match goalless, Davinson Sánchez scurried across his penalty area to close down the Brazilian attacker and looked to have impeded Richarlison who, it seemed, could not help but take a tumble.
Yet the referee Martin Atkinson was not interested, there was no VAR review, and it is not a leap of faith to suggest that Richarlison had paid the price for the theatrics, which were not just prevalent in this game but have been a feature of recent matches also.
The horrific setback suffered by André Gomes, his season in tatters due to the fracture dislocation of the right ankle which required surgery yesterday, is a sobering reminder of the perils footballers face. But the regularity with which Richarlison drops to the turf has become so prevalent that Marco Silva, who, frankly, has enough issues to contend with, must now intervene and call him into account.
It has been noted that Richarlison’s own team-mates now invariably play on when the 22-year-old rolls around, holding his face or another body part, clearly unconvinced that he has been hurt.
In Everton dressing rooms in the past, senior players would have already taken matters into their own hands and spelt out exactly how the behaviour was actually harming their chances of securing a result. If that has happened, and it is doubtful given this is a squad lacking leaders, then he is patently not listening.
Richarlison’s propensity to go down earlier in the match could have contributed towards him not being awarded a penaltyOLI SCARFF/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Plenty of Premier League players find themselves at the centre of diving debates. There was scrutiny on Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah last season and Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola called out Sadio Mané at the weekend, claiming he goes to ground too easily.
Richarlison has to nip it in the bud now. He has to channel his skills more effectively, putting the team first, at a point when Silva’s reign lurches from game to game with Southampton at St Mary’s next Saturday the next fixture likely to shape his future. It could well be win or bust.
Silva has provided a platform for the player having brought him from Watford for a club-record £45 million fee in 2018 and has now started deploying him again in his favoured central striking position.
There have been four goals this season from Richarlison — including strikes for Brazil he reached the threshold of 20 last term — and there is plenty to like about his talent when he focuses on harnessing it properly.
His work rate can be unstinting and that harrying of defenders is a useful weapon for an Everton side that does not have too many strings to its bow.
He doesn’t need to indulge in dark arts in the mistaken belief he is going to earn a free kick and then smash the set piece in the top corner.
Silva will now be without Gomes for the rest of the season, having seen Idrissa Gana Gueye leave for Paris Saint-Germain for £30 million and hopes of securing Kurt Zouma permanently from Chelsea in the summer flounder. They were arguably Everton’s three most influential players in the second half of last season. Jean-Philippe Gbamin, recruited to replace Gueye, is out until the new year having managed only 135 minutes so far this season.
Moise Kean, the £25 million striker brought in from Juventus by director of football, Marcel Brands, is not equipped to propel Everton forward at present.
As a result the club sits in 17th in the league, three points above Southampton, with a December schedule which includes games against Leicester City (a), Liverpool (a), Chelsea (h), Manchester United (a), Leicester (Carabao Cup, h) and Arsenal (h) up to Boxing Day.
The opportunity is there for Richarlison to be the hero should he accept, rather than abdicate, responsibility and repay the manager who has placed so much faith in him.
Against Southampton, there must be no repeat of the tomfoolery scarring recent outings. More than ever Everton — and Silva — need Richarlison to stand up and be counted
pretty accurate to be fair, but I do understand the frustration Richarlison must feel, he got given NOTHING even when he wasn’t as fast for falling over. He’s going the wrong way to fix the problem though.
Joyce would never write something like that about the reds.
But he's obviously right to an extent. Richarlison does need to be a bit more physical and aggressive. But equally referees and the joke that is VAR, need to do their jobs properly too.
