There is plenty of frustration being directed at David Moyes, and fairly so. But he isn’t the cause of all of Everton’s on-field issues.
As the manager, he isn’t currently doing enough. The performances have largely been drab and there are glaring issues that aren’t being addressed.
However, for Moyes’s faults, it must also be said that some of Everton’s key players just aren’t performing. And it’s becoming a big problem.
Because Everton don’t have the luxury of a large squad, and they don’t have top quality at every turn. So, when the majority of your big names are off it, it is felt… badly.
James Garner has been well short of the standards he set last season. There are obvious caveats, especially that he missed pre-season due to injury, but having been rushed back through necessity, Garner has not then been handed a chance to really recover his fitness.
To an extent, that’s on Moyes, but that does not excuse just how off it Garner has been. Last term, he was ranking up there statistically with Elliot Anderson for winning tackles and interceptions. He led Everton for chances created, too, with plenty of these coming from set-pieces.
He is nowhere near those levels at the moment, and doesn’t seem like he is playing himself into form, which is seemingly what Moyes is hoping for as he persists with playing Garner at the heart of a dysfunctional midfield.
Then there is Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. The issue here is that Dewsbury-Hall is one of Everton’s only goal threats. And he always shows the effort and endeavour required; he is always trying to make something happen.
He has had flashes of good performances, but nothing sustained. And against Arsenal last weekend, he was hanging onto possession far too long when breaks were on, and ultimately — as clever as Dewsbury-Hall is at getting his body between ball and man — he lacks the pace to really get away from defenders who are backtracking at full pelt.
Jack Grealish, as I wrote last week, has not come close to finding his best yet, either. He missed the trip to Arsenal due to “illness”; Everton have not expanded on that, and so as far as we know, Grealish was sick, but that has not stopped rumours swirling surrounding exactly why he was under the weather. In this instance, Grealish’s past doesn’t help — even if the rumours are just that, and are unfounded, the fact is there will always be that kind of speculation whenever the 31-year-old is out due to anything other than injury.
But perhaps the most worrying aspect is the form of Jordan Pickford.
Not because Pickford has suddenly turned into a bad goalkeeper, but because as the last line of Everton’s defence, he has so often dragged the Toffees out of trouble.
He is still making some excellent saves — he pulled off a fabulous stop against Chelsea to deny Joao Pedro — but there has been a drop-off.
Perhaps it’s post-World Cup fatigue, and whenever a goalkeeper makes an error, it’s always compounded.
However, Pickford just seems a tad more erratic, and there have been a few examples of him failing to make saves he should have done, notably against Manchester United and Hull City. There’s a decent argument to say that, having got down to Pedro Neto’s shot against Chelsea for their opening goal, Pickford could have done better there, too.
At Arsenal, Pickford seemed to misjudge the flight of the ball as he attempted to push it over the crossbar, and his failure to do so resulted in Ezri Konsa tucking home the rebound. There were other players at fault, too, but when your goalkeeper isn’t standing on his head, so to speak, then if you give up chances, it becomes pretty noticeable just how much Pickford has dragged Everton out of bother previously.
The good news is it’s early in the campaign. Everton have only played 8 Premier League games, and there’s now a big week coming up.
Not just for Moyes, but also Everton’s key players, who have to now start delivering again.
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