I think it goes without saying that it hasn't been the start to the season that we all hoped for. But calls for Silva's head so early in the season are not just farcical but also completely unwarranted.
No we haven't hit the heights that we were expecting, but neither have we been the total disaster that a lot of people are saying. I prefer to rely on what my eyes tell me rather than use stats, but I'll make an exception in this case because the stats back up what I am seeing.
In the 3 opening games I have seen us pretty much control large portions of the games, look generally sound defensively throughout, and create enough quality chances to comfortably see off the opposition in all 3 games. Had we scored just a small percentage of the very good opportunities that came our way when we were in control of games, we could be sitting there on 9 points now, and nobody could argue that we didn't deserve it. I don't think many Everton fan's would be getting carried away with the situation either because it's clear that our football hasn't exactly been scintillating. Overall we have been sound defensively, our problem has been an inability to score when we have been controlling games. It isn't just one player either, half a dozen of them have missed one or more clear cut opportunity. People go on about Villa being a pub team and favourites to get relegated. Last week they totally battered Bournemouth for 60 minutes, had 22 attempts, 7 on target. That is more chances than Everton have conceded in all 3 games this season. Yet they still lost.
The stats back me up. We had 60% average possession over the 3 games we've played so far. Yes I know it's what you do with it that counts, but it belies all the posters saying we have been getting overrun in games. Nobody has conceded fewer chances than Everton, 21 across all 3 games with just 7 on target. The closest to us is Man City with 25 but the rest have ranged from 30 to 55. Arsenal are one of the worst at 52, yet they're sitting pretty at third in the table. Numerous people have commented that we have been lucky that we have Pickford in goal and have relied far too heavily in him this season. Oh yes?. Well Pickford has made just 5 saves so far this season, that's less than every other keeper in the league.
On the attacking front, we have created 34 chances. There are 8 teams who have created fewer, and most of the rest have created similar number other than the usual suspects like Chelsea, Liverpool, City, Spurs and United. The difference is the number of shots on target. We have only worked the keeper 6 times in 3 matches, with a measly 17% attempts on target. Only Leicester are lower on 16% with the likes of Norwich and Palace running at over 50%.. Once again I'll use Arsenal as an example. They have created fewer chances than us (32) but managed to get 44% on target.
Bottom line here is that our shot conversion is our achilles heel. I'd be a lot more concerned if we weren't creating chances or even if we were conceding goals like we were at the beginning of last season. I'd also be a more concerned if we weren't just 3 games into the season, had a number of players not match fit due to playing tournament football in the summer, and were not still in the process of introducing new players into the matchday team.
If we're struggling at the wrong end of the table come mid November, with the difficult December fixture list to come, then I could understand the sort of comments that we're seeing on here at the moment. But not at the moment.
I would also question those of you clambering for the likes of Kean and Iwobi to be starting games. I want to see them too but we don't know the players fitness levels as well as Silva and his coaching staff. We've just witnessed first hand what can happen when you throw somebody into the fold before they are ready. Gbamin had hardly any pre season but was thrown in due to injury and suspensions, and now he's out for 8 weeks. Imagine if that happened to Kean?
