Stats that quantify why we aren't good enough...

[Ihaters]

In theory, if you had the ball the whole game and won it right back every time. But relative to our possession numbers, it's not a good thing. Or are you referencing my confusing word smithing?

Just the wording mate (I'm being pedantic - ignore)
Being bad at being dispossessed > being the worst at keeping possession, or being the second worst at unsuccessfully touches is better than the second worst at successful touches.

 

[Eggs]

.....the best stat is the league table.

 

[Papa Shango]

.....the best stat is the league table.

Some would say the only stat.

Ok, I would say the only stat.

 

[tim cahill]

We create a lot of chances which we are not putting away... this is putting pressure on the whole team. They are playing scared. Get a striker who is slotting and it lifts the whole squad. Confidence is a massive factor in football.

I’m not disagreeing about needing a striker. But how many good chances did we have against Leicester?
I heard we lost the ball 60 times in the first half. The striker issue is just part of the problem.

 

[Kurt.]

I’m not disagreeing about needing a striker. But how many good chances did we have against Leicester?
I heard we lost the ball 60 times in the first half. The striker issue is just part of the problem.

Of course you’re going to lose the ball when you have no decent strikers to hit. Stats are misleading... an attempted pass gets intercepted and that shows on the stats as losing possession...so by trying to be positive it ends up as a negative stat.

 

[Jadubsee]

For several seasons in a row now, I have felt like I never see another team as bad at simple passes as us. We give it away all the time. Can't blame the manager for that.

 

[Jimmy Grimble]

That makes sense if we play 3 at the back but if we play with our fullbacks as wingers with 2 CBS who ain't the fastest it leaves us really open defensively to pull the 2 CBS around.

I'd be interested to see the number of goals we've conceded from us being in attacking positions and losing the ball. Early season we couldn't defend set pieces or crosses to save our life, lately goals conceded seem to come from us being in good attacking positions and losing the ball which seems like we aren't balanced tactically. Either way the players aren't doing enough, last game only the back 4 and gana can hold their head high, even with keane's mistake he had a good game and managed vardy pretty well given his pace. If half your team has a poor game you've no chance in this league. Hopefully we see a response from the players over the next week or so.

I agree to a point. We're too hung ho with little end product and We're vulnerable to the counter. If we were to sit a bit deeper we could either do so with 3 at the back or play a back 4, with the DCM dropping into the back line as the full backs bomb on.

 

[degsy]

...most of you who have a brain and know anything about footy can see that our problems are not tactical, it is the quality on the ball. We simply don't have it.

A couple intersting tidbits on Whoscored:

We are DEAD LAST in "unsuccessful touches" and 2nd worst in the league in "dispossessed".

Think about that. Now those stats are a bit dubious and subjective. They are both going to be higher for any team that has the ball a lot. However, those are really high. To be high in one vs. the other might indicate some sort of tactical preference. But is this the fault of Marco Silva's particular tactics? Considering he's never been a Pep type coach that LOVES possession, I don't believe so. It's that our players aren't good enough with the ball.

Now Richarlison is the worst on the team in both categories, and I think it's definitely the weakest part of his game, but he's also been playing up top for us a bit. But Theo Walcott isn't producing like Richarlison and he's #2.

Being "dispossessed" is a relative stat as if you are holding the ball a lot, it's going to happen. Gomes is on the high end, but he has the ball more than anyone and leads our team in successful dribbles. Digne is high, but he averages over 2 key passes a game. Walcott is inexcusable. Coleman isn't great, either.

In terms of "unsuccessful touches", which is defined as 'bad control', against, Richarlison, but Walcott is right behind him. Bernard is high, but he's low on the dispossessed scale and he creates chances. He also is a good passer as his #'s indicate as such. Digne is unreal, he rarely makes a bad touch when we watch him and his numbers indicate the same. Coleman is again too high for his position. Gylfi is high, but he's average over 2 key passes a game and is usually doing so in the opposition's final 3rd.

Sooooo...my conclusions?

Even those we have a lot of possession, that we create a lot of chances, that we even have some decent dribbling numbers, those numbers are WAY too high.

The right side is indeed the problem, they aren't taking care of the ball, and it's pretty obvious. Coleman needs to sit down along with Walcott, but the team as a whole needs to do better. Silva might want to even consider sitting down Richarlison and playing Lookman out left, but he probably just needs a rest and better support.

I might do a more thorough analysis with those numbers relative to possession.

Too long.
A quick look at the last half dozen or so results would've sufficed

 

[tim cahill]

For several seasons in a row now, I have felt like I never see another team as bad at simple passes as us. We give it away all the time. Can't blame the manager for that.

I think that’s something a manager should be able work on to be honest.

 

[Lanolin]

I mentioned in the Gomes thread that I think one of our main problems recently has been his lack of form. When he was playing well he gave us creativity in the middle of the park, picking out good, incisive, passes to the forward players and allowing everyone to do jobs they're good at - Sigurdsson milling around the box picking the odd through ball and getting on the end of things, Walcott and Bernard running at people in space etc. At the moment he's not doing that though, we're lacking that creativity and 'transition' from deep to attacking positions.

Because of this we're committing more players forward to compensate for the lack of creativity, and the attacking players are getting the ball in places they're not very good. Yes we've got an issue on the right hand side but nobody should be surprised if we lose the ball when Walcott's getting it with his back to goal and Coleman/Kenny is trying to take the ball from a lay off on the overlap, you'll always lose that more often than not. Sigurdsson is often looking like a waste of a player because he's up the field taking up the same positions as he was before but we're not getting him the ball anymore, so he contributes very little.

Our current style of play is almost totally reliant on having someone in midfield orchestrating the game. When we don't have it the whole team struggles. We need to ensure Gomes gets his mojo back and that we have someone else who can play his role for when he's off it/injured, and have a plan B which allows us to be effective when plan A isn't working.

 

[davids]

.....the best stat is the league table.

The only ones that matter.

 

[Borussin]

For several seasons in a row now, I have felt like I never see another team as bad at simple passes as us. We give it away all the time. Can't blame the manager for that.

I would think he should be the first person that should be looked at for that. It's his and his coaches job to run the drills and training sessions to improve the players, even seemingly simple things such as good ball retention and passing, are not as simple as it seems!

 

[Abraders]

I think the most telling stat about Everton is about half time/full time results.

We almost never ever go on to win a game when we are losing at half time.

In the last 10 odd years following Everton i can only think of ONE single result where we turned a game around. This was Vs West Bromwich when we had Lukaku.

In recent times, I am completely resigned to us not winning a game if we are down at half time as we have absolutely no fight.

 

[Lanolin]

I think the most telling stat about Everton is about half time/full time results.

We almost never ever go on to win a game when we are losing at half time.

In the last 10 odd years following Everton i can only think of ONE single result where we turned a game around. This was Vs West Bromwich when we had Lukaku.

In recent times, I am completely resigned to us not winning a game if we are down at half time as we have absolutely no fight.

I don't think it's necessarily fight - we've been quite good at fighting back to get draws this year to be fair so it's not like we don't work hard to get back into games - we struggle to score a lot of goals though, so we'll always find it very difficult to score 3 goals in 45 minutes. That then has a knock on effect on the team as a whole, it's very easy to lose belief when you know that the game may well be beyond you, so the whole thing can go to pot. It's very easy to stick to the game plan and play with a swagger when you know you possess the quality to score goals, but when you don't it's disheartening and you can start to make bad decisions all over the pitch.

 

[Abraders]

I don't think it's necessarily fight - we've been quite good at fighting back to get draws this year to be fair so it's not like we don't work hard to get back into games - we struggle to score a lot of goals though, so we'll always find it very difficult to score 3 goals in 45 minutes. That then has a knock on effect on the team as a whole, it's very easy to lose belief when you know that the game may well be beyond you, so the whole thing can go to pot. It's very easy to stick to the game plan and play with a swagger when you know you possess the quality to score goals, but when you don't it's disheartening and you can start to make bad decisions all over the pitch.

We've also been quite good at giving the opposition a draw when we've been in front.

Still though, can you think of any results when losing at half time we've gone on to win? I'm not having that it's too hard or very easy to lose belief, that totally begs my point of having no fight.

I understand we don't have many goals. But even when we've had Lukaku etc I'm almost certain we only managed it once, the game Vs West Bromwich.