A Home Team Should Play Like One
I experienced the first inkling of Everton-related trepidation regarding Chelsea’s visit to Hill Dickinson Stadium after listening to David Moyes’ pregame comments. Of course, managers routinely big up the opposition – out of professional courtesy, but also as a kind of insurance against a bad result – but hearing the veteran manager describe the Londoners as always having been a strong outfit during his time in the game came off as an exaggeration. Despite spending exorbitant sums over the past two decades plus, first under Roman Abramovich and then Clearlake Capital, Chelsea have hardly looked invincible in recent years, finishing 12th in 2022/23 and 10th last season. Moreover, although Everton’s record at Stamford Bridge is bleak indeed, at home the Blues had beaten the visitors in six of the previous nine, losing just once.
But the way Moyes set the side up on Saturday, to stifle the game, to keep things tight, you’d have imagined that this was the peak Chelsea from 2003/4 through to 2016/17 he was facing, a period in which they won five league titles, rather than the more erratic version of the past decade (highest placing: third). It speaks of suffering from an inferiority complex when faced with high profile opposition; an impression confirmed by the manager revealing post match that midfielder Merlin Röhl was deployed as a right winger to counter the threat of Chelsea wingback Pep Chavarría — who ended up not starting for Xabi Alonso’s side. On home turf Everton should be asking questions of the visitors, not hamstringing their own attack due to an excess of caution.
If Everton’s team selection accorded overmuch respect to opposition who’d failed to obtain a clean sheet so far this season – except in a EFL Cup win over third tier Luton – then the tactics were equally puzzling. In March, in what would turn out to be the Blues’ final victory of the campaign prior, they’d demonstrated energy and aggressive pressing to knock the same opponents out of their stride, en route to a resounding 3-0 triumph. OK, the Chelsea boss that day was the out-of-his-depth Liam Rosenior, but their team was comparable: swap in Enzo Fernández, Romeo Lavia, Malo Gusto, Wesley Fofana, Marc Cucurella and Robert Sánchez for Morgan Rogers, Jordan Henderson, Josh Acheampong, Maxence Lacroix, Levi Colwill and Emi Martínez. Chelsea spent heavily again in the summer, but lost as many key players as they added.
True, the London outfit have been scoring plenty of goals under Alonso, but arriving at Hill Dickinson, their last away game had seen them handily beaten 3-0 by Brentford, a side the Toffees should be seeing as direct competition. Everton’s primary source of chance creation is through forcing turnovers, but contrary to the approach in the spring, the hosts sat off in a mid-low block, and exerted only sporadic pressure on the ball, allowing the visitors plenty of time to get comfortable. If the intention was to contain, and flatten the game into one of few scoring opportunities, then the first half was successful. The Toffees enjoyed a flurry of attempts at the half hour mark, with Thierno Barry’s header being the standout, whereas Chelsea finished the opener strongly, forcing a goal line clearance from Harrison Armstrong in added time.
No Reaction, No Ambition
Chelsea began the second half where they’d left off, with Everton again being caught cold on resumption of play. Röhl failed to track Jorrel Hato, and Ainsley Maitland-Niles was unable to react quickly enough to stop a low cross which somehow snaked through a group of players to find Pedro Neto; 1-0 to the visitors and to all intents, game over. There was no reaction from the Blues, or from the dugout, except for the kneejerk removal of AMN, who was presumably blamed for the setback (is his place now in doubt?). Chelsea handed the ball over and watched Everton do…well, not much with it. Harmless possession in unthreatening areas, or hapless long balls fired up towards the isolated Barry constituted the offensive gameplan. After the 37th minute, the hosts failed to muster another effort on goal until the 88th, as Chelsea snoozed to victory in second gear.
As usual, almost all of Everton’s attack was funnelled down the left flank, with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall heavily oriented towards linking with Jack Grealish who, in place of any discernible patterns of play, is the team’s primary creative outlet. This is predictable stuff and easily stopped. With the Blues offering little by way of progression through the centre, Henderson, now 36 and deemed surplus to requirement by Liverpool more than three years ago, will rarely have enjoyed an easier away outing. The veteran midfielder ended his night having strolled through the second period under no pressure. That the home side were not able to mount any kind of a fightback, given they had almost a full half to do so, is a concern. Where was the ambition? Is taking chances trying to get back in the game and maybe losing more heavily preferable to meekly accepting a 2-0 loss? I believe it is.
The Bench Does Offer Options
Despite there being only one goal in it until Neto’s second in the 90th minute, Moyes elected to use only three substitutes, leaving three senior attacking players rooted to the pine, a baffling decision. Tyrique George, impressive early in the campaign, was again a substitute. Quite what he’s done to fall out of the starting lineup is a mystery, though it’s coincided with Grealish’s return to fitness. Carlos Alcaraz being chronically underused by Moyes is a given by now (the Argentine has eleven minutes of league action from three appearances so far), but it’s puzzling how both Hayden Hackney and Tyler Dibling are still not trusted enough to throw on with 15 minutes to play, at least. The summer signing offers ball-progression and ingenuity, and turned the game against Manchester United, but looks to somehow be fifth-choice in midfield. Quite why Moyes thought that Christian Nørgaard was in any kind of shape to play a part is a mystery. The Norwegian looked horribly slow and unprepared, and the manager did him no favours in what was a debut to forget.
Dibling, impressive in his last three outings, went unused at the weekend, after substitute appearances of 24, then ten minutes, a trend which augurs ill for his future prospects. He appears to be behind Brennan Johnson, and maybe both George and Röhl too. More than half of Hackney’s league minutes came in the season opener, his only start. Whilst Dibling has youth on his side, at 20, Hackney is 24 and needs to be seeing regular game time. The forgotten man that is Alcaraz also turns 24 next month as his career continues to stagnate on Merseyside. He has only six more league minutes than Tim Iroegbunam, who was sold to Hull in August. Moyes has expressed dissatisfaction with the way the transfer window ended, which left him with only 18 outfield players, but he’s not using the assets he does possess — a pattern much in evidence last term.
Are We in Form, or Not?
Everton entered the game in fifth place in the league, unbeaten in six, along with two wins over Championship outfits in the EFL Cup. On the face of it, this was a pretty good start to the campaign, but following Saturday’s setback, and ahead of a daunting trip to face reigning league champions Arsenal, at the Emirates next weekend, things are likely to look more uncertain, with the Blues probably sliding into midtable with just two wins from the opening eight, coming off consecutive losses. It’s not impossible that Everton could beat the Gunners, but past experience suggests not, and even a draw would require a subpar performance from the North Londoners, and a stellar effort from the Merseysiders.
Currently, the team has picked up 16 points from the last 16 games, which will probably fall to less than a point per match after next Saturday. Even extending the run of games to 20, going back to early February, the points haul is still only 22, equating to more than half a season of poor form which – extrapolated over an entire schedule – would have placed the Blues less than one point clear of relegated West Ham United last term. The run of fixtures up to mid-December is rough, with a home derby and trips to Arsenal, Newcastle, Brentford, Brighton and Aston Villa all coming up in the next eight. There are a minimum of eleven league games for Everton to navigate before the squad can be reinforced — assuming TFG are as good as their word. Moyes must show he can utilize what he already has; there are some good players in there who are just not being given a genuine fair chance to contribute.
Statistics provided courtesy of transfermarkt.com, fbref.com and sofascore.com