In my opinion there’s been an undeserved air of negativity surrounding the good town of Everton over the last season and building into the upcoming campaign.
It may be an unpopular opinion but I believe that we could be on the cusp of a very exciting time this season and in the coming years. A few reasons for this below that are obviously purely subjective and open to the rigorous challenge of this community of scrutiny.
1. Silva: There’s some very positive underlying stats behind Silva’s play last season that didn’t necessarily correlate into the results and were not always picked up on. Not least in the defensive aspect where we rank 4th for clean sheets nestled in between Chelsea and Spurs. In open play goals conceded as well we are placed in the top 6 of the league. On goals conceded we were joint 5th best in the league, a tally not helped by the pummelling from Spurs in a single game, but probably better than spreading those 6 goals over numerous games. So for a team with a new manager, a team with half a new defence, a set of players getting used to a new way of playing, an obvious set piece issue that was somewhat solved in the second half of the season, and a group of players who didn’t get a preseason (Mina, Zouma) we managed to put out a team with a top 6 defence with arguably a large scope for improvement next season (settled players, full pre season, familiarity with set piece tactics etc.)
In the attacking sense the numbers are positive too. The stats show we’re solidly in the top 8 and that’s without a recognised striker, multiple rotations of the front line, and that period of form where we were frankly useless. The period pre and post both derbies would have us in the top 6 for attacking stats also (that’s not to ignore the poor form in the middle, just to show instead what the team is capable of over extended periods)
Silva has also shown he has the tactical nouse to play the top 6 home and away (apart from City no one played as well as us home and away against Liverpool)
He’s received a lot of criticism at times last season, but I think the turnaround job Silva has done from the depths of the 17/18 season has been nothing short of remarkable.
2. Recruitment: We are starting to recruit far better than before. There can be no denying that Digne Richarlison Bernard Gomes and Zouma are among our best players now. With Mina looking good in spells too we are looking at a 100% hit rate in that last window with poor performers such as Klaassen Bolasie Williams Mirallas Sandro all being moved out. If this pattern continues to occur we will be looking at the same sort of squad improvement seen at Spurs and Liverpool when good managers started to recruit well. Moshiri’s money behind a good recruitment team will have us in a far better situation in the near future.
3. Balance of power in the top 6: City and Liverpool are off in the stratosphere at the moment but the same cannot be said of the rest. Spurs are looking at the break up of their team, whether this window or next it looks like Pochettino Eriksen Alderweireld at a minimum will be off. Who is to say they wouldn’t revert to the Europa league level they historically were before Pochettino and Kane arrived. Chelsea could be looking at a disrupted off season needing a new manager and a transfer ban after losing Hazard and have season long injuries to Hudson Odoi and Loftus Cheek. Arsenal have a good manager in my opinion but need serious rebuilding in defence and have lost their best midfielder. United look a complete and utter shambles and Solskjaer could be out the door at any point in the season.
A few seasons ago with Guardiola Conte Mourinho Klopp Wenger and Pochettino in place the top 6 looked absolutely unbreakable, but there’s a few in flux at the moment and for once we have a stable manager coming into the season with a full preseason and arguably better working conditions than some of his counterparts at United Arsenal and Chelsea.
I know this will in all likelihood be responded to with TL DR, but for the first time since probably 2008/9 I am actually excited about the season ahead in terms of what the team could achieve. Of course this could all be spiked by a poor window or injury crisis, but this is the first time in a long time I believe we have a good manager with good players, making good transfer decisions, with financial backing behind him, and no major exits on the horizon and the top 6 potentially not as strong as they have been.
We’ve had false dawns before with Martinez and Koeman but both of them were tempered with the nagging feeling of it not being sustainable (Martinez’s style of play starting to regress even towards the end of the first season, Koeman having no determinable style apart from relying on Lukaku. Both with poor recruitment). Silva’s tenure has the feel that we’ve arguably underperformed and have huge scope for improvement, there’s no star player carrying us, there’s no new manager bounce on the back of an old managers work like Solskjaer or Martinez had. He’s turned around a horrendous situation from last season and arguably led us out of a bad dip mid season too.
I’m honestly confident a good season is ahead for all of us and with Moshiri Brands and Silva in place we’re far better placed for improvement than at any point in our premier league history.
Up the toffees. Nil Satis Nisi Optimum.
