Everton are in the midst of an extended poor run of form that’s seeing the Merseyside club falling dangerously toward the relegation dogfight.
If the season were only eight games old, the Toffees would be third from bottom in the Premier League.
Ronald Koeman’s side have come off the rails since losing 1-0 away to Bournemouth on Sept. 24, gaining a mere six points from their last eight games.
Only relegation contenders Hull and Crystal Palace are in worse form. The Blues, after putting in a full-blooded, hearty performance in a 1-1 draw against Manchester United two weekends ago, regressed significantly in the 3-2 loss to Watford at Vicarage Road on Saturday.
The Toffees have won a single match in 10 games and are free-falling down the ladder. They’re level with West Brom and Southampton in eighth place.
Horrendous away form
The Toffees haven’t won an away game in three months. The last time they won on their travels was on Sept. 12, when they trounced Sunderland 3-0. Dreadful performances since have cost Everton vital league points.
Everton won their first two away games of the season but have only one lonely draw in their last six away fixtures. That’s one point from a possible 18, a record that would concern even the most embattled relegation teams.
The Toffees have only scored four goals in that six-game span, two of which came in the loss to Watford. The team have been outscored 13-4 overall in that same timeframe.
It’s a stark contrast to Everton’s form at Goodison, where the Toffees have yet to lose so far this season.
Lack of secondary scoring
Tied for the ninth worse offensive record in the top flight, Everton’s 19 goals in 15 matches doesn’t look too abysmal from a casual observer’s perspective. But dig deeper and the red flags become more abundant and pronounced.
Romelu Lukaku, who scored his eighth and ninth league goals against Watford, has scored 49 percent of Everton’s goals. Everton scored two goals during the big Belgian’s four-game goalless drought, one of which came from the penalty spot. The lack of secondary scoring on the blue side of Merseyside is alarming.
Gareth Barry and Seamus Coleman are two of three players with more than one goal. They’re both stuck on two, a stat that probably won’t change for the foreseeable future.
Out-of-favor Ross Barkley
Ross Barkley also has two goals but the 23-year-old English midfielder is out of favor under Koeman’s leadership. Barkley hasn’t started in two straight matches and didn’t make an appearance in the United draw.
With Yannick Bolasie, one of Everton’s few creative players, out for up to a year with a serious knee injury, one would think Barkley’s presence in Everton’s team would be assured.
Apparently not.
Koeman instead opted to start Barry, Idrissa Gueye and James McCarthy in the same midfield against Watford. Everton lacked ideas and imagination in a lineup devoid of any creative flare, matching Koeman’s tentative, cagey approach.
It shows just how little faith and confidence the manager has in Barkley, who, without a positive response, may fall further from grace at Goodison.
An aging team
Everton are the fourth oldest team in the Premier League and it shows. Club captain Phil Jagielka, 34, has already, after multiple, inconceivable mistakes and mental lapses, lost his starting spot to the 25-year-old Argentine Ramiro Funes Mori.
Barry, Leighton Baines, Maarten Stekelenburg and Ashley Williams are over 30 years old and all consistently start for the Toffees.
So why not, by starting Barkley, inject some youth, quickness and technical nous into an aging team who lined up against the league’s oldest team, Watford, on Saturday?
Koeman obviously doesn’t agree. Barkley came in and made a great impression off the bench against Watford, but the match was already too far gone.
The Dutch manager has made it crystal clear he intends to go on a shopping spree in the January transfer window. He has a number of players in mind, emphasizing his search will focus on players who will help lessen Lukaku’s goal-scoring burden.
First half misery
Lukaku’s 17th minute goal against Watford was Everton’s first in the opening 45 minutes of a game since the 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace on Sept. 30. Guess who scored that one?
It doesn’t take a neurosurgeon to figure it out.
The Toffees have conceded first half goals in six of their last seven matches, a troubling trend for a team finding offense hard to come by.
You might recall opening day, but if you don’t I’ll refresh your memory. Barkley scored the team’s first goal of the season at Goodison after a mere five minutes. What a dream start.
Kevin Mirallas followed Barkley’s lead by scoring in first-half injury time at the Hawthorns in the subsequent match.
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On Sept. 17, Everton exploded for three first-half goals at home against Middlesbrough. Since then, the Toffees have been outscored 9-2 in the opening 45 minutes.
Toffees supporters don’t ask for the world but a few first-half goals and an away win would be nice.
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