TOUGH AT THE BOTTOM
Jagielka admits getting out of trouble is proving a huge ask for struggling Everton
PHIL JAGIELKA confronted Everton’s scariest predicament for 23 years and admitted the “simple” task of climbing the table was “proving quite difficult”.
As the sickly Toffees surveyed the wreckage of a 2-0 defeat at Leicester, which left them marooned in the drop zone, club captain Jagielka all but conceded they were facing a relegation battle.
If the managerial adage about league tables meaningfully taking shape when the clocks go back is true, Everton are in a heap of trouble.
Only Crystal Palace and Bournemouth have scored fewer than Everton’s seven goals in 10 games, and the failure to replace £75million Romelu Lukaku with a proven striker has been calamitous for the Blues.
At the other end, only Palace have conceded more goals than the troubled Merseysiders’ 20 – Everton’s worst start defensively since Mike Walker’s side in 1994-95.
Although loud-mouthed radio pundit Joey Barton tossing insults at David Unsworth on the airwaves will not define whether the caretaker lands the Everton manager’s job full-time, it will do little to underwrite his candidacy as the sentimental choice to succeed the sacked Ronald Koeman.
Everton’s ageing defence – Jagielka is 35, Ashley Williams is 33, Leighton Baines will be 33 in December – will be boosted by the return of Michael Keane from a severe infection in a wound which left him hospitalised.
But already next Sunday’s home game with Watford is being billed as the Toffees’ biggest against the Hornets since the 1984 FA Cup final. The ghosts of Andy Gray and Steve Sherwood can come out to play now.
Jagielka said: “It’s time for everyone to step up and create a goal or take a chance. It’s very frustrating but we will be back in training and working hard to try to turn a corner.
“Football is a results business and we need to find a formula to get the ball in the back of the net... and to keep it out at the other end.
“We need to perform in both halves of the game, keep it tight, and give our strikers the chance to win games for us.
“It is getting frustrating. We need to get some points and start climbing the league. It sounds simple but it is proving quite difficult.”
At Leicester on Sunday Everton were undone by first-half goals from Jamie Vardy and Demarai Gray – although it was an insult to every football fan in the land that the Premier League awarded the second to the Foxes’ England Under21 international winger instead of debiting Jonjoe Kenny with an own goal for a horrid slice past keeper Jordan Pickford.
Jagielka said: “We were hoping to dictate the game, but we shot ourselves in the foot.”
It’s time for everyone to step up, create a goal or take a chance