A slow start to a league campaign is nothing new for Everton or Sean Dyche, but the manner in which the beginning of their season has unfolded might prompt greater concern than years past.
Just like last term, Everton’s season has commenced with three Premier League losses and a Carabao Cup second-round victory over Doncaster Rovers. Sitting at the bottom of the table, below Southampton, the other team yet to pick up a point, has meant a sense of collective fatigue amongst the fanbase has set in even earlier than many anticipated.
Conceding three goals after the 87th minute to lose 3-2 at home to Bournemouth in their last match was difficult for the Goodison crowd to stomach. The two-week international break has meant that the gut-wrenching nature of scuppering such an opportunity to pick up what would have been a moral-boosting inaugural win has been given time to linger.
Dyche admitted that the remarkable capitulation even surprised him and it will be worrying for the Everton manager that his side were so susceptible despite being in a position of command. Such a humiliation will surely be a one-off but Everton have given off the hue of being vulnerable from the first whistle last month.
The usual trait of defensive solidity that is so often associated with Dyche’s teams has been absent during the opening weeks of the season; conceding three goals against Brighton & Hove Albion in their first game and then another four away to Tottenham Hotspur a week later had already suggested a worrying new development in Everton’s rearguard.
One of the best defensive units in the league last season has, with minimal upheaval, shipped ten goals in three games, which is the most in the division.
Dyche will correctly point out that a number of those concessions have come from individual errors — such as Jordan Pickford’s against Tottenham and another from Idrissa Gueye — rather than any pertinent structural issue. Yet, the manager has so far been unable to halt the glut of goals.
Only Ipswich Town and West Ham United have allowed their opponents a higher expected goals total than Everton, which again points to them being too open during the first few games.
Everton lost midfielder Amadou Onana to Aston Villa in the summer and although the Belgian international was hardly prolific in the final third, he was a presence in the centre of the pitch and disrupted play. Currently, teams appear to be locating an easy route towards Pickford’s goal.
Offering up chances, conceding goals and being far too open are rare blots in the Dyche playbook. Since the former Burnley manager moved to Goodison 20 months ago, Everton have been a relatively solid if unspectacular side, the recent signs of fallibility therefore require addressing.
Run of favourable fixtures could turn the tide
Fixing leaky defences is something to which Dyche is well accustomed and it will surely be the focus as they progress through these next set of fixtures and attempt to pick up their first point let alone victory.
Everton travel to Villa on Saturday to face an opponent they have not defeated in the league in their last ten attempts. Unai Emery’s team may have the start of their Champions League campaign to look forward to on Tuesday but there is little chance that the home side’s focus will not be entirely on this game and the chance for them to extend their decent start to the season.
Nevertheless, improvements from an Everton point of view must be sought even though Dyche remains without Jarrad Branthwaite, who underwent surgery on a long-standing groin complaint over the summer and is due to return at some point this month.
Ashley Young will be back available following his one-game suspension and will likely come back into the lineup to face his former club. Pickford, who returns to club action having just kept two clean sheets with England, James Tarkowski and Vitaliy Mykolenko will all be hoping to put in improved performances.
Admitting mistakes were made, learning the lessons and putting the first three games behind them might serve Everton well. Particularly because after this weekend their next seven matches see them face all three promoted clubs plus winnable games at home to Fulham and Crystal Palace.
Prior to the surrender, there were positives for Everton to take from the first 80 or so minutes against Bournemouth during which they broke their duck and scored their first two goals of the league campaign.
Iliman Ndiaye, the 24-year-old forward signed from Marseille, and former Villa midfielder Tim Iroegbunam caught the eye and brought more creativity. Armando Broja, having arrived on loan from Chelsea, is still to make his first appearance, too.
As has been the case for some time, the club’s wider future remains up in the air. Everton have said this week that there “remains some work to be done” regarding any takeover bid by American businessman, John Textor, who is currently the co-owner of Crystal Palace but has been granted a period of exclusivity to reach a deal with the Merseyside club.
It means a familiar and frantic working backdrop against which Dyche has to again seek improvements to a revolving set of problems.
