Silva on the brink as Everton crash to Norwich at home
Everton board to decide his fate
MARCO SILVA’ S position as Everton manager was in serious doubt last night as the club’s board were understood to have met to discuss the mounting crisis at Goodison Park.
Pressure intensified as, once again, a newly- promoted team came to the blue side of Liverpool and cantered to a win.
The Norwich fans serenaded Silva with a refrain of: ‘You’re getting sacked in the morning.’
Everton fans were even more savage, with one unleashing a volley of abuse about the manager to the directors’ box for several minutes at the end.
Norwich had not scored away from home since Teemu Pukki’s goal on opening night at Anfield. Here, the Norfolk-born midfielder Todd Cantwell provided a classy finish and the goal- a- season German striker Dennis Srbeny a much scruffier injurytime effort.
It could have been worse for Everton. Of the supporters’ boos and calls for his head, Silva ( l eft) said: ‘We have to respect the reaction. ‘ I can imagine how t hey f eel. The first person they look to is the manager. It is not the first time.’ Indeed, Sheffield United’s victory on t he s a me soil in September left those in the stands equally i ncredulous. But in a week that saw Champions League runner-up Mauricio Pochettino removed from his post, Silva did his best to side- step the issue of his own future. ‘It is not the moment to talk about individual positions,’ he said. ‘We have to do what is best for the club. My job is to analyse why this has happened. I am concerned about what happened on the pitch.’
With Ever ton’ s five preChristmas opponents being Leicester, Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal, the reaction will have to surpass that of a recent resurgence that saw them take seven points from four fixtures.
Whether Silva has enough credit in the bank to make it through to the festive period remains to be seen, though last night’s developments were not a good sign.
This was a home banker of a match for Everton but it began slipping away from them nine minutes into the second half, when Kenny McLean flicked on from a position near the right touchline, Pukki held things up and then invited Cantwell to go beyond the last man with a poke into space.
The midfielder picked his spot and beat Jordan Pickford with a composed shot.
A cacophony of j eers f rom Everton fans had greeted the Tannoy announcement that Anthony Taylor was referee.
Taylor was the VAR official in the previous home l eague match, against Tottenham, which was littered with questionable decisions, while Andre Gomes was carried off with an horrific ankle i njury.
Norwich had given warning of the threat their counter- raids posed before the interval when only a fine stop from Pickford denied Onel Hernandez.
Everton r allied w it hGyl fi Sigurdsson, Cenk Tosun and Tom Davies all testing Tim Krul’s handling but a defence featuring Christoph Zimmermann, whose career appeared on the line due to the ankle damage he sustained on his Premier League debut at West Ham in August, held firm.
And the substitute Srbeny settled things when he kept his feet, despite being fouled, to slot home the second in time added on.
A third win of the season, and first on the road, had Daniel Farke, the Norwich manager, enthused about proving people wrong over the winter months.
‘We’re probably still favourites for position 20 but when we bring this quality on the pitch we have a chance,’ he said. ‘The main part of the season starts now and that is when the table is made.’