The £70m star player Everton should sell to pave the way for a summer rebuildplaceholder image
The £70m star player Everton should sell to pave the way for a summer rebuild | AFP via Getty Images
Everton’s dismal form at home continued against Man United and it won’t change until this problem is solved.
Time waits for no man. Football is no different to most high-intensity professional sports in that the body has a strange way of letting players know that their time is nearly up.
If Everton want to move higher up the league, they will eventually need to make the sort of signings who are better equipped to cope with the demands of the top half of the Premier League. The small details make a difference. As with many goals this season, the one that Benjamin Sesko scored for Man United to beat Everton was entirely preventable. It wasn’t skill, it wasn’t breathtaking football. It was basic athleticism and an attribute that has long seen average players rise to a higher level – pace.
Jamie Carragher highlights huge Everton problem
David Moyes felt that Sesko’s goal was a team error, via BBC Sport: "We weren't organised well enough off the ball. I have to praise them [United] for their quick attack. We knew that would be the case, they've been doing that really well. They have forward players who have to ability to run away fast and make hances. Most of the game we controlled it pretty well but in that one moment we switched off and it gave them that opportunity.” Jamie Carragher saw things differently on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football coverage, as seen below.
This argument Moyes made would hold more weight if it wasn’t for the fact that United had all 11 players behind the ball and, when possession was turned over, Everton had three players all goal-side of the visitor’s highest attackers. To make matters worse, Michael Keane had a 10-yard head start on Bryan Mbeumo who provided the assist and James Tarkowski had five yards on Sesko before ending up five further behind him when he scored. It is a goal that isn’t scored if Everton had more pace in the defence. The fit again Jarrad Branthwaite sees that Tarkowski has no chance, and yet he too isn’t quick enough to put out the fire.
Everton have a new recruitment need
It might sound harsh, but despite being solid Premier League professionals for most of their careers, Keane and Tarkowski are not the modern defenders needed to take Everton from relegation battlers to consistent European football contenders. Both are good penalty box defenders or shape defenders when they have their full-backs next to them and midfielders in front, but what they certainly aren’t are defenders who can press 60-yards from the edge of their own box. Their scored on Liverpool World’s player ratings reflect their overall performance, despite the goal, and their standards rarely drop.
Sesko knew exactly what he was doing dragging Tarkowski so deep into the United half, and it worked. With a straight foot race over the next 80-yards, the Everton skipper was found wanting and you could almost see the point where he realised that, if the ball from Mbeumo is on target, Sesko is going to get their long before him. There is nothing wrong with having one experienced player who can lead the defence, but you would never see David Weir or Richard Gough getting sucked into such a position by a striker. A centre-half with pace just became a summer transfer priority and selling Branthwaite could help to cover the cost.
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