STAN COLLYMORE No country for old men (a sequel by the Koeman brothers)
Follow us on Twitter: @peoplesport THREE of Everton’s next four Premier League games are against Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool, all at Goodison Park.
And, by end of that run, we will know where Ronald Koeman’s team really are.
They could be buoyed by three good results, a new- found confidence coursing through their veins.
They could find themselves going into the FA Cup third-round weekend looking forward to the second half of the season after what, frankly, has been a stuttering start to their campaign.
Blow
Or they could suffer a damaging case of deja vu, with last season’s struggles under Roberto Martinez revisited.
And the reality even with a manager and a couple of additions i n Ashley Williams and Idrissa Gana Gueye, they haven’t really improved on Martinez’s final season. It would would be that, new be a major blow for all Evertonians if a season which promised so much in those early weeks was ultimately to stagnate.
What Koeman needs to do as a matter of urgency is stamp his authority on this Everton team.
I spoke to a couple of Blues fans on my SiriusXM phone-in show in the United States last week and I asked what were the reasons for a run which has seen them win just one of their last nine games. Is it a problem with mentality? Is it a lack of belief? The feeling I got was that it had more to do with the fact that a squad featuring warriors like Seamus Coleman, Leighton Baines, Phil Jagielka and Gareth Barry has grown old too quickly.
Koeman – and his brother and right-hand man Erwin – need to rectify that. They need to identify and prioritise key areas of the side and act sooner rather than later.
In the next two transfer windows, Koeman has to lower the squad’s age significantly, while trying to keep the Merseysiders competitive in the top flight.
If you look at Everton’s squad, you wouldn’t say it was top drawer and that doesn’t bode well going into the second half of the season in the bottom half of the table.
Most of the Goodison crowd will give Koeman time, but it’s time with the c a - veat that it’s a results business and one win in nine is verging on the catastrophic.
Games against United, Arsenal and Liverpool are the ones you want to play in. You want to shine, you want to say, “We’ve had a terrible run and it’s time to get things back on track. What better than to do it against three of the biggest teams in the country?”
Koeman will see who the real characters in his squad are.
Maybe now is the time to put his faith in youth as today’s opponents, United, have always done.
Prospects
In Brendan Galloway, Gueye, James McCarthy and Romelu Lukaku, he has a good spine. He has a good keeper, and he has top prospects like Mason Holgate coming through. And, of course, there’s Ross Barkley, who needs to show he has the football intelligence to produce all season, not just here and there. They are three big games for Koeman. December could be a big month for Everton.