I thought we looked better for the first twenty minutes or so. Not vintage, but we kept our shape better, created a bit more space in midfield and moved the ball quicker. That gave Savinho and Doku a run at isolated full backs, rather than the full back and two midfielders, which is how it’s looked in the last 2 months.
It’s pretty clear though that we lack pace, energy and physicality in midfield. Once Everton adjusted, their big lumps looked fitter and stronger and we reverted to packing midfield and short 5 yard dink and dunk stuff that slowed us down and gave Everton more time to adopt the traditional Dyche 8 at the back stance. We still created the odd chance after that, but we looked far less dangerous overall and because we still have a calamity in us, it didn’t feel very secure - as demonstrated by the 4-on-2 at the end, which a team with a forward line anything like premier league standard would have tapped in. Fortunately, it was Everton.
A marginal improvement, though big concerns remain and with the squad we have right now, I’ve no idea how Pep fixes it. We need some muscle, pace and energy in midfield for a start. Even if we’re not prepared to buy in January (and we really should) we need to look at bring a loan or two in. Something needs to change, and it’s increasingly clear it’s not going to be self-generated by the players we currently have.
