Everton’s commanding 4-2 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday afternoon displayed a key weakness to Carlo Ancelotti’s defensive plans that sides like Liverpool can look to exploit.
The Toffees head into the international break unbeaten across their opening seven games in all competitions, having clinched the Goodison Park outfit’s longest string of victories since Howard Kendell’s side secured the old Division One title in 1986/87.
But Ancelotti’s gameplan is not perfect, and the Toffees will have to adapt when league action resumes on October 17th against Merseyside rivals Liverpool if the Blues are to extend their winning run against a team they last beat what will be a decade ago to the day.
Everton were described as being in dreamland after beating Brighton by The Guardian, with James Rodriguez’s brace sending the Toffees to the top of the Premier League table despite the result not flattering a side who struck four goals.
That’s due to defensive fragilities allowing the Seagulls to score, particularly with yet another error from the blunder man Jordan Pickford after another erratic display in goal.
Everton icon Tim Cahill also noted another aspect of the Blues’ defence whilst analysing the match on BBC One’s Match of the Day (03/10, 22:40) that could appeal to side’s like Liverpool, even though his comments were aimed as praise.
“The way they work together and how they’re compact without the ball [impressed me],” the Australian noted. “When you see Everton move now it’s a 5-4-1.
“You see [Alex] Iwobi, [Tom] Davies in their positions, [Gylfi] Sigurdsson and [Fabian] Delph tucked in. But the one thing I like is the structure, it’s got organisation, it’s something that Ancelotti has really focused in on.”
Lauding Everton for being compact in defence will appeal to side’s like Liverpool’s far more than others, as the defensive move Cahill assessed saw the Blues line up in two lines yards apart from each other on the edge of their box, gifting acres of space out wide and allowing Brighton to control the ball.
Liverpool will lap those scenarios up with joy if allowed the same time and space in the Merseyside Derby, as their marauding full-backs Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andrew Robertson thrive out wide and will create chances for Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino.
No team in the Premier League averaged more crosses per game last term than Jurgen Klopp’s Reds, who WhoScored note delivered 24 balls into the box each match regardless of if they were at home or away.
Alexander-Arnold accounted for 10 of Liverpool’s crosses, too, with the 21-year-old the second-most productive crosser of the ball in the top-flight of those who made more than four appearances – his 2.1 accurate deliveries only trailed Manchester City’s Kevin de Bruyne, while his 7.9 inaccurate efforts were a league-high.
If Everton are to beat Liverpool for the first time in 10 years later this month, containing Alexander-Arnold and not sitting in two banks on the edge of the box will be a key avenue Ancelotti must explore.
AND in other news, Everton are planning to part ways with a multi-million-pound signing who scored four times last season.
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