It might have been some defensive mistakes that cost Everton all 3 points against Hull City on Sunday.
And it’s also valid to point out that Everton have a serious lack of depth up top, with Thierno Barry missing plenty of opportunities — in fact, he leads the Premier League for big chances missed, with 10.
Barry, though, is getting goals. He netted his 3rd in the league this season when he put Everton 2-1 up at the MKM Stadium, and at that stage, Everton simply needed to control the game for a spell, to dictate the tempo and just keep Hull at arm’s length.
Yet that is when you need your midfield to step up. That’s when you need your senior spine players, right through the team, to be disciplined and organised and composed. But right now, the balance for Everton in the middle of the park just isn’t right.
James Garner, Harrison Armstrong and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall has been David Moyes’s go-to starting trio since the Bournemouth game at the end of August.
Garner, of course, missed pre-season and it has been clear, was — and still is, arguably — playing catch-up. But you need more from him in those situations, when cool heads prevail.
Dewsbury-Hall has been out of form, but he is always likely to come up with a big play in a big moment: On Sunday, he delivered twice, scoring and then assisting. He can provide that craft in possession, but he is also about tenacity and applying pressure.
Then there’s Armstrong. Clear class, but a player who is still learning. He went into the weekend having covered more distance than any other Premier League player, but it was possibly his poorest performance of the season, especially in the first half, as he started with a couple of sloppy passes.
Everton’s usual starting midfield is full of hustle and bustle, energy and fight. But the balance just isn’t right. Too often, they are being found out of position. Garner is not a natural Number 6, and it shows when he is left to chase back and fill a vacant space.
And when playing against tight defences, Everton don’t have the required skillset in their midfield to really break those teams down. So, everything relies on quick transitions, which in turn mean players are more likely to rush forward at speed and then turn over possession. The alternative is too often to then funnel all of the play out to Jack Grealish, who slows play down too much at times and, at other times, just doesn’t have the support down the left flank.
It’s not just a personnel issue — it’s a tactical flaw with how Moyes sets up, and when Brennan Johnson is starting out on the right, it simply compounds the problem, as the Wales international is clearly being directed to play off the last man. He is not great in the build-up anyway, so essentially, an entire flank becomes underused unless Ainsley Maitland-Niles is far forward enough to deliver a cross.
Christian Norgaard’s return to action should help, and though Everton need to be careful with the Dane, he is a profile that is missing from midfield. He can sit, distribute the ball well, and anchor the play. But there are some alternatives Moyes can be looking at earlier in matches.
Hayden Hackney is still suited to a substitute role, but as he showed against Hull, he is able to come in and get his foot on the ball and provide a bit of control. This is excellent when chasing a game, but Moyes should have looked to use Hackney earlier on Sunday, perhaps just after Everton had gone ahead.
Hull were starting to build up momentum. Why not introduce Hackney then, to disrupt the play off the ball and, when on it, help Everton go the other way through his ability to carry it, which he has proved throughout his career.
It’s unlikely too much is going to change until Norgaard is fit to start but, right now, it feels as though the balance is off, and at some point, that is going to prove even more costly than it has so far.