Photo by Maynard Manyowa/News Images
Photo by Maynard Manyowa/News Images
David Moyes is never one to bow to fan pressure, and one decision he made against Hull was potentially ominous for one Everton player.
The Toffees played out a 2-2 draw with Hull City on Sunday at the MKM Stadium, which a lot of fans feel was a bit of a missed opportunity. Everton took the lead in the game on 68 minutes through Thierno Barry, and were well positioned to make it back-to-back wins in the Premier League.
But poor defending saw Mohamed Belloumi equalise for Hull. It could have gone either way in the last knockings of the game, but the spoils were shared.
Failure to win prompted some Everton fans to look at David Moyes’ team selection for the game.
And the choices in defence have certainly been a talking point, with Jake O’Brien once again named on the bench.
David Moyes risks losing Jake O’Brien in next transfer window after Hull snub
Against Hull, Moyes was forced into one change, with Vitalii Mykolenko failing to recover from the injury he picked up during the international break.
The manager opted to move Jarrad Branthwaite across to left-back – which in itself was a questionable decision – and one that ultimately didn’t pay off.
But instead of getting Jake O’Brien into the team, Moyes picked Michael Keane to partner James Tarkowski. And that was somewhat damning.
O’Brien was the most involved Everton player over the international break, playing 285 minutes for the Republic of Ireland. And he put in a couple of solid performances and came in for praise from some media outlets in Ireland.
So he had decent match sharpness ahead of the game with Hull. And yet, Moyes still went with Keane. Moyes basically confirmed with the decision that O’Brien is bottom of the centre-backs pecking order right now, which must be alarming for the player given Keane is 33 and hasn’t shown top form for Everton for a good while now.
Keane actually did relatively OK on the whole against Hull, although there were some uncomfortable moments and the Toffees did ship two goals.
To play Tarkowski and Keane together is massively risky, because neither of the veterans have any kind of recovery pace. If you’re not going to play Branthwaite in the middle, then O’Brien – being quite quick for a man of his size – simply has to come in.
And this snub by Moyes could now have repercussions. Towards the end of the summer transfer window, O’Brien was linked with an exit from Everton. He ended up staying, but one wonders just how content the Irishman will be with his current standing, knowing that he could probably start for several other top-flight teams.
Moyes did put O’Brien on against Hull, but it was merely a cameo at the end, and he again played at right-back.
O’Brien has spoken about wanting to play in his preferred position in the middle. Not only is that not happening at Everton, he’s also now not even starting at right-back following the signing of Ainsley Maitland-Niles.
Moyes may tell the player that his time will come, given the ages of Tarkowski and Keane. But that game against Hull was undoubtedly a game for him to come in if Branthwaite was moving to left-back, and the decision from the manager might have O’Brien questioning his future. Everton want to be adding players in the next window, but it’s starting to feel like there could be a risk of losing one in O’Brien.