West Ham win simply has to be the turning point for Everton and Marco Silva
When you break it down, Everton’s weekend win over West Ham – ending a run of four Premier League defeats with victory over a team with similar ambitions – could prove absolutely massive.
They mustn’t celebrate it too much, though. For the sake of their season and Marco Silva’s prospects of still being manager in a month’s time, it simply has to be the turning point.
More than a year into his tenure, a sense of underachievement continues to surround Everton, who lie 15th in the table with just three wins from nine games.
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It is not because the squad is poor; man for man, the quality is there and they are mostly seasoned players. On paper, the team should be a lot better than it is.
What seems to be missing is a model. Silva is still grappling with questions about his best formula.
It is like he has the right ingredients but they are all a bit under-ripe.
Meanwhile, the back pages of the local papers are being dominated by the club’s local rivals.
Players don’t want to see Liverpool’s success splashed across the news week after week; it gets draining.
Manchester United will be going through a similar thing. It can be hard to get recognition as a club going somewhere.
Apportioning blame
If you want to apportion blame for results, it should probably be 50-50 between the players and manager. But players never get sacked, so inevitably it will fall at Silva’s door.
The former Watford and Hull boss is a studious and talented coach. He doesn’t spend all week preparing them to lose and you can see the disappointment all over his face at times.
But what I’d like to know is whether his instructions are clear enough. Or are they simply ‘go out there and play’? Because you can’t do that when a team is struggling like Everton are.
Toffees manager Howard Kendall used to tell me: ‘Stay wide so that we can spread the opposition’s defence.’ It was the same message for Kevin Sheedy on the left flank. We knew exactly what we had to do.
If you’re seeing individual errors week after week, the only way to combat it is to work incredibly hard. People sometimes misunderstand what that means. It isn’t about running around; it’s staying close to people, tracking runs, getting challenges in.
The saying goes that talent will get you so far, but hard work can take you anywhere. Everton need to make sure that if their talent doesn’t get them the points, their hard work does.
Tough December run
December holds a tough run of successive games against Leicester, Liverpool, Chelsea, United and Arsenal, but the four league fixtures before then are winnable.
A flurry of victories can go a long way, and that with a strong November Everton could be up to seventh or eighth. The league is like a one-armed bandit: giving up nothing until suddenly you get three cherries.
We now need to see a reaction to the West Ham win. This can be a dangerous time of year for managers under pressure, so building momentum looks absolutely crucial for Everton and Silva.
Main image credit: Getty