Worst Fears Confirmed for everton as Three Takeaways

Everton fail to win at home again and once more lose to a newly-promoted side

Worst Fears Confirmed

Perhaps surprisingly, coming off a rarity by Everton – consecutive road wins against tough opposition, first Brentford then Aston Villa in the Carabao Cup within a four-day spell – I couldn’t help but feel a little worried leading up to Saturday’s game. On paper and on the pitch Luton Town are a far inferior side to either the Bees or Villa – particularly the latter – and this has been confirmed during the season so far as the newly-promoted side have found it difficult to cope with the superior quality of the Premier League. This shouldn’t shock anyone, seeing as the Hatters had finished 21 and eleven points respectively behind fellow strugglers Burney and Sheffield United during last season’s Championship campaign and had reinforced by a net spend of only €23m during the transfer window.

Arriving at Goodison Park on Saturday, the visitors had failed to win any of their five league outings, losing four and picking up a home draw last time out against a Wolverhampton Wanderers side reduced to ten men for more than half the game. They’d bombarded their opponents (44 crossing attempts) but could only score via the penalty spot. Still, it was clear that Luton had adjusted to the shock of competing at this level, following heavy defeats in their opening two matches and would present a completely different puzzle for Everton to solve than either Brentford or Villa had. Both of those sides hosted the Blues as favourites seeking to get on the ball and dictate, which could give Sean Dyche’s team opportunities in transition, should they successfully execute the manager’s plan and this is what played out.

Luton, on the other hand would set up as they had in the Championship: with organisation, physicality, hard work and relying on the exploitation of set-piece opportunities as their primary route to scoring goals. The Toffees, as the home side would enjoy a lot of possession, be forced to attempt to break down the visitor’s defensive structure and herein lay my concern prior to kickoff, as this style of play has proved problematic for the Blues going back some time, across many managerial tenures. Without much natural creativity in the team – the departed Alex Iwobi being probably the last remaining at Everton capable of being termed a playmaker, at a stretch – the team would have to force openings through effort and this they accomplished in the first half, during which they generated an xG (Expected Goals) of 2.25, from 13 attempts, five on target.

However, a fundamental inability to effectively defend dead-ball situations—which the coaching staff must have recognized as Luton’s key threat—appeared to have been inadequately anticipated. Between the 20th and the 31st minutes, the Hatters made five attempts on Everton’s goal, four of which came from corners and one from a deep free kick, from which they scored twice and also came near on other occasions. In the first session, Luton accrued 0.80 xG, of which 0.73 came from set plays. In his post-game interview, Sean Dyche blamed the team’s shortcomings entirely on the players, but if defending set-pieces can’t be at least largely ascribed to him and his coaching staff, then what can?Making All the Wrong Changes

Some criticism of the starting team Dyche selected has been laid at his door, primarily the decision to play James Garner as a right winger; though the midfielder had lined up in that position for Everton’s impressive 3-1 win at Brentford a week earlier. There were some issues with other viable options for the right flank: Jack Harrison had played 65 minutes on Wednesday night, his first senior action in almost five months, so a second start in such short order would have been questionable, whereas Arnaut Danjuma appears more suited to the left, or playing behind a centre forward. So, whereas the team could have used a natural wide man in Garner’s stead, Dyche’s reasoning for not doing so was understandable.

After the team fell two goals behind, they rallied well and pushed the visitors back, dominating the last 15 minutes of the first period. Luton could not get out of their own half and were outshot 7-0 by the hosts, who scored and hit the post during this spell. The Bedfordshire outfit were playing more defensively after going 2-0 up and this figured to continue after the restart, so I expected no changes given how the first half had ended, but the manager opted to remove Idrissa Gueye, move Garner inside and bring on Harrison. The Senegalese veteran, who turned 34 a few days before the game continues to get slated quite a bit by fans, but – awful shooting apart – he offers control that the other midfielders lack and Everton lost this without him.

After the team fell two goals behind, they rallied well and pushed the visitors back, dominating the last 15 minutes of the first period. Luton could not get out of their own half and were outshot 7-0 by the hosts, who scored and hit the post during this spell. The Bedfordshire outfit were playing more defensively after going 2-0 up and this figured to continue after the restart, so I expected no changes given how the first half had ended, but the manager opted to remove Idrissa Gueye, move Garner inside and bring on Harrison. The Senegalese veteran, who turned 34 a few days before the game continues to get slated quite a bit by fans, but – awful shooting apart – he offers control that the other midfielders lack and Everton lost this without him.