summerisle
The rain, it raineth every day
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/...=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1546420270
Marco Silva must prove he can elicit more than new manager bounce at Everton
The wording in the statement when Marco Silva lost his job as a Premier League manager 12 months ago could not have been clearer.
At the same time he was being jettisoned by Watford, the finger was being pointed at Everton for having made an illegal approach to the Portuguese which had an unsettling effect on him and his team’s performances.
The Vicarage Road board stated there had been “a significant deterioration in both focus and results to the point where the long-term future of Watford has been jeopardised”.
Silva’s side have only won three league games since the end of October
The fall-out from that furore, who spoke to whom and when, remains given Silva eventually pitched up at Goodison Park and is likely to be subject of Premier League sanctions.
Everton could face a hefty fine from the authorities, but, more pressingly, the club will be wondering if their interest in Silva did not lead to Watford’s downturn. What if Watford were wrong, and the problems there ran deeper, were more fundamental, than Silva’s head supposedly being turned?
Everton’s abject New Year’s Day defeat to Leicester City continued an alarming rut of form under Silva which has yielded just three league wins since the end of October.
It also maintains a trend during the 41-year-old’s time in England. When he joined Hull City two years ago this month, there was an immediate upturn in their battle against relegation.
Hull claimed 17 points from their first 11 matches under Silva as he sought to implement his ideas, raising hopes of avoiding relegation. But instead of momentum being maintained, they collected four points from the remaining seven games and slipped through the trapdoor. He headed for the exit with them.
At Watford, it was 21 points from 13 games and then five from the next 11, something his employers back then blamed on Everton’s unwanted advances. Now, at Goodison Park, Silva has taken 18 points from his first 11 matches as manager and nine from the next ten.
It is a pattern which promotes the notion that Silva’s methods and preferred style of play are quite quickly worked out by opponents.
Silva would be irked by that suggestion. He did not take kindly to questions regarding what progress, if any, he has overseen since his appointment in the summer after it was pointed out Everton boast the same amount of points — 27 — as at this time last season when they were already on their third manager in Sam Allardyce after Ronald Koeman and the interim David Unsworth.
He swatted that query aside and said it was only important to tot up points at the end of the campaign which is true enough. That stance demands that there is now an improvement.
The idea was for Everton to be aggressive in their pressing, perform on the front foot and play attractive, attacking football. Everything predecessor Allardyce was not.
However, after some encouraging displays and the hint of promise albeit some of that came in defeat, Everton have flatlined and it was alarming to hear the manager talk about his players being “nervous” and “anxious” when losing to Leicester.
Their goal difference is zero with a lack of goals allied to a porous backline which has not kept a clean sheet since the win over Cardiff City on November 24.
The lack of a proven striker continues to anchor ambition but, having known that was the case last season also, the focus was on buying Richarlison, who was poor against Claude Puel’s side, and defensive reinforcements in the summer instead.
It was always going to take more than one summer transfer window for Everton’s limitations to be addressed and Silva and the director of football, Marcel Brands, have said attacking reinforcements are unlikely to come this month because only clubs who are desperate buy in this mid-season transfer window.
Right now that point has not been reached. Everton are certainly not in crisis, although with Lincoln City to come in the FA Cup this weekend the potential to be plunged deeper into despair is there.
After four managers since May 2016, the plan is to give Silva time. Farhad Moshiri, the owner, will know it is not a good look to be seen to deal only in short-termism. Silva must realise that, too.
He is not under pressure, but he will be feeling the heat, and needs to show he can orchestrate a lasting revival and not simply elicit new manager bounce. That means coaxing more from a squad of players who are not good enough to make the top six, but who should not be languishing in tenth position.
Saturday marks the second anniversary of Silva’s arrival in English football at the KCOM Stadium. Three jobs in and, in many respects, we are still trying to work out just what kind of manager he is.
Marco Silva must prove he can elicit more than new manager bounce at Everton
The wording in the statement when Marco Silva lost his job as a Premier League manager 12 months ago could not have been clearer.
At the same time he was being jettisoned by Watford, the finger was being pointed at Everton for having made an illegal approach to the Portuguese which had an unsettling effect on him and his team’s performances.
The Vicarage Road board stated there had been “a significant deterioration in both focus and results to the point where the long-term future of Watford has been jeopardised”.
Silva’s side have only won three league games since the end of October
The fall-out from that furore, who spoke to whom and when, remains given Silva eventually pitched up at Goodison Park and is likely to be subject of Premier League sanctions.
Everton could face a hefty fine from the authorities, but, more pressingly, the club will be wondering if their interest in Silva did not lead to Watford’s downturn. What if Watford were wrong, and the problems there ran deeper, were more fundamental, than Silva’s head supposedly being turned?
Everton’s abject New Year’s Day defeat to Leicester City continued an alarming rut of form under Silva which has yielded just three league wins since the end of October.
It also maintains a trend during the 41-year-old’s time in England. When he joined Hull City two years ago this month, there was an immediate upturn in their battle against relegation.
Hull claimed 17 points from their first 11 matches under Silva as he sought to implement his ideas, raising hopes of avoiding relegation. But instead of momentum being maintained, they collected four points from the remaining seven games and slipped through the trapdoor. He headed for the exit with them.
At Watford, it was 21 points from 13 games and then five from the next 11, something his employers back then blamed on Everton’s unwanted advances. Now, at Goodison Park, Silva has taken 18 points from his first 11 matches as manager and nine from the next ten.
It is a pattern which promotes the notion that Silva’s methods and preferred style of play are quite quickly worked out by opponents.
Silva would be irked by that suggestion. He did not take kindly to questions regarding what progress, if any, he has overseen since his appointment in the summer after it was pointed out Everton boast the same amount of points — 27 — as at this time last season when they were already on their third manager in Sam Allardyce after Ronald Koeman and the interim David Unsworth.
He swatted that query aside and said it was only important to tot up points at the end of the campaign which is true enough. That stance demands that there is now an improvement.
The idea was for Everton to be aggressive in their pressing, perform on the front foot and play attractive, attacking football. Everything predecessor Allardyce was not.
However, after some encouraging displays and the hint of promise albeit some of that came in defeat, Everton have flatlined and it was alarming to hear the manager talk about his players being “nervous” and “anxious” when losing to Leicester.
Their goal difference is zero with a lack of goals allied to a porous backline which has not kept a clean sheet since the win over Cardiff City on November 24.
The lack of a proven striker continues to anchor ambition but, having known that was the case last season also, the focus was on buying Richarlison, who was poor against Claude Puel’s side, and defensive reinforcements in the summer instead.
It was always going to take more than one summer transfer window for Everton’s limitations to be addressed and Silva and the director of football, Marcel Brands, have said attacking reinforcements are unlikely to come this month because only clubs who are desperate buy in this mid-season transfer window.
Right now that point has not been reached. Everton are certainly not in crisis, although with Lincoln City to come in the FA Cup this weekend the potential to be plunged deeper into despair is there.
After four managers since May 2016, the plan is to give Silva time. Farhad Moshiri, the owner, will know it is not a good look to be seen to deal only in short-termism. Silva must realise that, too.
He is not under pressure, but he will be feeling the heat, and needs to show he can orchestrate a lasting revival and not simply elicit new manager bounce. That means coaxing more from a squad of players who are not good enough to make the top six, but who should not be languishing in tenth position.
Saturday marks the second anniversary of Silva’s arrival in English football at the KCOM Stadium. Three jobs in and, in many respects, we are still trying to work out just what kind of manager he is.
(would add crying emoji here)
