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The idea that Marco Silva can suddenly turn escapologist and shake off the straitjacket suffocating Everton’s season would be more convincing if there was a bank of evidence to back up the theory.Yet one of the most damning statistics of a tenure that frayed a little further with Saturday’s 1-0 defe
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Marco Silva’s need to find Everton’s backbone and cutting edge is critical
The idea that Marco Silva can suddenly turn escapologist and shake off the straitjacket suffocating Everton’s season would be more convincing if there was a bank of evidence to back up the theory.
Yet one of the most damning statistics of a tenure that frayed a little further with Saturday’s
1-0 defeat by Burnley is the fact that, when in a difficult situation, his sides do not wriggle off the hook.
Everton have drawn two matches and won once from losing positions under Silva which, considering the practice they have in that scenario, is a shoddy return.
The draws came against Huddersfield Town and Watford in the Premier League last season and the sole victory arrived this term against Lincoln City, of Sky Bet League One, in the Carabao Cup.
When, a few days after the trip to Sincil Bank, Everton secured a late winner at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers after the visitors had twice equalised, it felt like a pivotal week in which a resilient streak had finally emerged.
Instead, it was a false dawn with normal service resumed in consecutive defeats by Bournemouth, Sheffield United, Manchester City and now Burnley which have left Silva’s side in the relegation zone.
The Everton owner Farhad Moshiri was inclined to keep his nerve after the Goodison Park loss to newly-promoted Sheffield United as recently as a fortnight ago but, increasingly, he will be wondering what he is holding out for. What is the pay-back going to be for the hundreds of millions he has invested in the team since taking over in February 2016?
Silva’s good fortune right now might be the lack of an enticing successor for a club who are on their fourth manager since October 2017.
He is regarded as a good coach by Marcel Brands, Everton’s director of football, and the work he puts in on the training pitch is well received, save for one or two idiots who lurk in most dressing rooms and think some of the sessions are too long.
However, something is clearly amiss between the players leaving the training ground and walking out on the pitch at the weekend. It could be as simple as Silva failing to inspire his squad and the fact Everton claimed 14 points from losing positions in 2017-18, the season prior to his arrival, jars with the present plight.
Still, the Portuguese was in charge of Watford in the first half of that season and organised them well enough to clamber from the canvas to equalise against Liverpool in the last minute and come from behind to beat Arsenal at Vicarage Road.
Everton’s players are far from blameless, but know from experience that they will never pay the price with Ronald Koeman, David Unsworth and Sam Allardyce all sitting in the dug-out at different times the season before last.
The recruitment of Brands came in response to that mess with the running of the club handed over to the Dutchman. He oversaw Everton’s summer transfer policy which focused on trimming back the deadwood and purchasing players with potential who could develop in time.
The strategy offered no guarantees in the short term and the teething troubles of Moise Kean and an injury to Jean-Philippe Gbamin, the replacement for Idrissa Gana Gueye who was sold to Paris Saint-Germain, have proved as much.
Silva does not boast a striker he fully trusts, having turned back to Dominic Calvert-Lewin of late but only after dropping the forward the week after he had scored his first goal of the season.
The alternatives, as Kean seeks to acclimatise, are Cenk Tosun, who does not naturally fit the manager’s demand for a high pressing approach, while Brazil’s No 9, Richarlison, has not been tried through the middle this term.
It is true that Silva rallied last season after a dire run between December and the end of February which yielded 11 points from a possible 42. That sequence was not played out with the pressure of being in the bottom three, however, and with supporters infuriated at the sight of a club still unable to punch their weight.
Silva has plenty to ponder over the international break. He must find an attacking blend and locate Everton’s backbone. For if he cannot change, then Moshiri surely will.
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