David Moyes has taken a lot of criticism over the last few weeks, with some of it completely justified.
The performances against Arsenal and Chelsea were disappointing. The results weren't unexpected, but the performances still left a lot to be desired.
As mentioned, Moyes has taken a lot of criticism, but you have to give credit where it's due. Moyes doesn't deserve a lot of credit for showing faith in Hackney and Dibling - more faith is needed - but he deserves credit for a tactical tweak to allow the team to flourish more going forward.
The midfield three against Newcastle was Hackney, James Garner, and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. If you limit either Hackney or Dewsbury-Hall to playing in a deeper role with no freedom, you won't see the best of either player.
Hackney and Dewsbury-Hall are players that make things happen in the final third. We saw that against Newcastle, with Hackney grabbing a goal and an assist, and Dewsbury-Hall setting up Thierno Barry.
To allow Hackney and Dewsbury-Hall to both get into the final third, but still have some protection defensively, Moyes had James Garner sitting as the deepest midfielder most of the time. Usually, in a midfield two with Harrison Armstrong, both players would be playing box-to-box roles at times, often leaving big gaps in midfield.
Against Newcastle, there always seemed to be at least one player sitting and protecting, usually Garner.
Of course, there were times Garner would look to go forward, but predominantly, it was Hackney and Dewsbury-Hall given the freedom to get into advanced areas.
Everton would also have Merlin Rohl and Tyler Dibling tucking in slightly when the ball was on the opposite side, meaning they are options in possession but also able to come into central areas if Newcastle did try and transition.
Above is an in-game example transferred into tactical form. Hackney was in the final third with the ball, Dewsbury-Hall is in a deeper role to protect Everton and offer something in possession, while Rohl and Dibling are in positions to come centrally if needed. Garner is sitting centrally to protect the back four.
Giving Dewsbury-Hall freedom to also drop deep allowed Everton create space for others. Above is another in-game example, with Dewsbury-Hall coming into the right-back position, finding Rohl who is higher up, and then picking out Dibling in space as Nico Gonzalez has followed the run of Dewsbury-Hall.
The rotations in midfield allowed Everton more freedom going forward.
Now, was the midfield perfect? Of course not. Some transitional moments at times did leave us exposed. But, it was better than we've seen previously. When Dewsbury-Hall has been incredibly high with Harrison Armstrong pushing forward, we've been left a lot more exposed than we did against Newcastle.
Having Dewsbury-Hall deeper got the best out of him, while it gave Hackney freedom to get forward, while also not liming Dewsbury-Hall to just being a deep-lying midfielder.
When we needed to sit deep after going ahead, we did just that, liming Newcastle to mostly shots that were blocked due to Everton having so many bodies behind the ball.
Newcastle averaged just 0.07 xG per shot against Everton. In the second half when chasing the game, they averaged 0.08 xG per shot. To compare, Everton's xG per shot for the whole game was over double with 0.15.
Moyes' tweaks allowed Everton to limit Newcastle but also look more functional in the final third.
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