Everton FC correspondent Joe Thomas believes the club may need to be pragmatic if it is to avoid ending the summer with issues that could undermine what should be an historic campaign
Joe Thomas is the Everton FC correspondent for the Liverpool ECHO. He follows the Blues home and away, providing match reports, analysis and insight into events at Goodison Park, Finch Farm and beyond. Joe spent more than a decade covering news on Merseyside, working on award-winning investigations and extensively covering matters related to the Hillsborough tragedy - including the recent criminal prosecutions. Always grateful for tips and feedback, he can be contacted at joe.thomas@reachplc.com and on Twitter via @joe_thomas18
David Moyes during the Premier League match between Leeds United and Everton at Elland Road. Photo by Visionhaus/Getty Images
David Moyes during the Premier League match between Leeds United and Everton at Elland Road. Photo by Visionhaus/Getty Images
One of the core messages from Everton this summer has been that the club wants to maintain a threshold of quality through its transfer business.
Another, which has been clear in the protracted negotiations that saw Thierno Barry sign from Villarreal and the lengthy discussions around Tyler Dibling, is the club does not want to overpay for signings - every pound is being monitored and, while the budget is the healthiest it has been in years, there is a desire not to be taken for a ride.
Both ambitions are laudable but are likely to be tested in the coming fortnight. The reality now is that Everton may need to be pragmatic and compromise in some areas if they are to give themselves the best chance of a good first season in Hill Dickinson Stadium.
It would be wrong to label the defeat at Leeds United a reality check. There were mitigating factors in that Everton suffered misfortune with the loss of key players Jarrad Branthwaite and Vitalii Mykolenko to injury on the eve of the campaign while the occasion - newly-promoted side under the lights in front of a full house - was always going to present a serious test.
But in truth, David Moyes, the club’s hierarchy and the fanbase learned nothing that had not been clear through pre-season. Some of the biggest issues have now remained unresolved for several years.
Chief among those is the lack of options available on the right. In an attacking sense this has been an issue two years in the making. Everton’s reliance on loan players Jesper Lindstrom and Jack Harrison last season made it almost inevitable the club would lack a permanent winger on that side once they returned to their parent clubs. There was an option-to-buy clause in Lindstrom’s deal, but the Denmark international did not come close to the heights that would have tempted Everton to trigger it before he ended the season injured.
Right wing has, therefore, been a priority for months. The search has taken in Francisco Conceicao, Johan Bakayoko, Malick Fofana and, most recently, Dibling. There has been no breakthrough and that was painfully clear at Elland Road.
Had Everton had their way, one of their nemesis in the season opener, Wilfried Gnonto, would be on their books. A player who favours the right, he was pursued by the Blues two summers ago and missed games amid the interest from Merseyside. Leeds did not budge and Everton lost out on an opportunity to fix a right-sided problem that continues to dog them 24 months later.
The other glaring issue is the lack of a specialist right back. Again, Everton have tried to be proactive in this market and felt they were close to a deal with Kenny Tete before he decided to sign fresh terms with Fulham.
Jake O’Brien has produced an admirable eight months out of position on the right, strengthening Everton and earning Premier League experience in the process. But he is not a natural and Leeds exposed the problems of him playing out of position on Monday. Not only did he struggle to deal with Gnonto, he offered little quality going forward.
This is an area he has improved dramatically in and there is no lack of adventure from a young player who has shown his class in Royal Blue. But the balance of the side is wrong without a specialist in either position on the right. Both positions impact the other too, so when neither option is a natural they both also lose out on the type of key support they would otherwise expect from having someone playing in their preferred position either in front or behind them.
Right back has been a problem area for some time and the belief at Everton 12 months ago was they could muddle through with the players they have and focus their attention elsewhere. At least then they could count on James Garner as an option but his importance to the central midfield was left in little doubt as Everton were overwhelmed with him playing at left back against Leeds.
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There are too many square pegs in round holes right now and the impact is to create a team that lacks balance and coherence. Everton had problems in these areas last season but in Lindstrom, Harrison and Ashley Young they had players who could at least do the basics and, in doing so, enable others to play in their natural positions.
That is the big difference between now and last season - the reduction in squad players who could at least prevent a situation such as that which unfolded at Leeds, where the absence of Mykolenko led to a situation in which O’Brien, Garner and Alcaraz all played out of position.
To address that problem in the final weeks of the transfer window, Everton may need to do one of two things. Either they accept that some squad players for the ‘here and now’ would provide a massive boost to the wider team that would at least prevent one or two injuries from causing chaos across the XI. Or, if they maintain the threshold for quality, be it for the short term or the future, the club may have to accept that paying that bit more to get a deal over the line might now be the lesser evil.
There is a positive season available to Everton and to panic after a disappointing night at Leeds would be premature. The club does need to help itself though and, in this case, leaving the current problems unattended would be worse than compromising in some areas of its transfer policy.