Everton readying for winnable games after defence improves
A look at what’s to come for EFC.
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00:00Yeah, just on that and you know, you mentioned it there, their form was good and it's sort of masked over the steady, you know, sort of poor start that they had to the campaign, but coming up just looking Ipswich, Fulham, Southampton, you know, West Ham away obviously, but Brentford, Man United, Wolves, these are all sort of games where Everton will feel that they, you know, if they do go in with confidence and they play the way they have with Maneel getting on the board and causing danger, they can certainly come away with some
00:29good results and, you know, who knows in a month's time they could be looking 12 or so points better off. What's the sort of situation going into these games?
00:39Yeah, I think that's what Everton have got to be looking at. They've got to be looking at accruing as many points as possible. I think in those final three games before the break, if you'd have asked for five points, a lot of fans would have taken it.
00:54Leicester, maybe they'd be disappointed they didn't come away with a victory, but Palace wasn't the greatest games, but they were deserving and Newcastle. Newcastle were probably the best team on the whole, but Everton deserve the point, I think, on the balance of things.
01:09And they've had some difficult games, you know, the likes of going to Aston Villa, going to Tottenham when they're up against it injury-wise. And I think that will be key for Sean Dyche now, keeping his players fit, because, you know, even for that Newcastle game, you're missing Gerard Brantford with a minor issue, Vitaly Mikhailenko with a minor issue.
01:27I'm thinking, you know, the coming week, you're going to see Armando Proia maybe integrated. He hasn't played at all since he arrived on deadline day, and he's someone who can add pace into the Everton front line, which Everton do need. But as you say, Ipswich, they've made a good fist of it so far, you've got to say. They may be surprised that a few people caused problems. Everton have got to go there and think they can win that game.
01:53The Fulham games, you say Fulham are in good form, but, you know, you're looking at these next four fixtures before the international break, and there's 12 points on off, and Everton could potentially get eight of them if they, you know, win the home game against Fulham. Could they nick a winner at Southampton or West Ham or Ipswich, potentially, and could they draw the other two? I think that's what Sean Dyche will be challenging his players. Can we go unbeaten in this mini period?
02:22They do that in the seven games unbeaten, and he's certainly looking up rather than down after that.
02:28Yeah, and just looking, 13 goals conceded in their first four matches, and then three in the last three, or two in the last three. What's sort of changed defensively? It's a stat that clearly Sean Dyche will have looked at and maybe panicked at the start of the season with so many goals conceded. And then it's looking a bit better, you know, coming off the back of those three games where they concede two goals.
02:52Yeah, that was the Newcastle game with Everton's first clean sheet in the league, which will surprise a lot of people just because of how good they were at the back last season. And Sean Dyche says after that game that Everton's starters have cut out the mistakes. He doesn't think it's a collective. He maybe suggests that it's been more individual errors that have been Everton's downfall, and they were a lot better against Newcastle as a unit, considering the absences as well.
03:22I think getting Gerard Bramfleet back will be massive, seeing his impact against Crystal Palace and how important he was in that partnership with James Tarkowski, because I think he brings the best out of James Tarkowski as well. Michael Keane was very good against Newcastle, got a lot of praise. He's had a lot of flak, but Gerard Bramfleet's a significant upgrade. And settling down that right-back position will be important as well, because Everton have had to chop and change their errors.
03:51As we've discussed previously, James Garner has played there in the past few games and done well, but he's very much a sentiment fielder. Nathan Paterson coming in back to fitness now, can he make that spot his own? And Ashton Young's done well at left-back. You have to give him credit, he's another one who's had fan flak, but Vitaly Mikhailenko is the first choice there.
04:12I think cutting out the mistakes has been the main one, and as Everton settle down the back four, I think they will only get better, because they'll be having partnerships that know each other, and that's so important when it comes to a backline.