NO SILVA LINING AT EVERTON
IN many ways, Everton have a similar situation to Maurizio Sarri at Chelsea.
They have a manager who seems to be struggling to motivate his players and have a problem with some of the basics of his job.
I’m not advocating they should get rid of Marco Silva (above), but I do wonder if he was ever the right man for that particular job.
He clearly got some reasonable results early in his career, but Hull? Yeah, they had a small bounce when he came in. But then most managers get that... and he didn’t keep them up.
Same with Watford. Small bounce, big dip.
So what was it that said he was the man to take on a club that has ambitions of Europe and pushing for the top four?
Under Silva, Hull and Watford had fundamental problem with defending set-pieces. Now Everton do as well.
There’s a stat which shows all three Silva sides have been much worse than the top-flight average for conceding set-piece goals.
So you do wonder if he’s sticking to some systems which are clearly wrong.
I hear Goodison chief Farhad Moshiri calling for Silva to be given more time. If only he’d piped up for Ronald Koeman.
I can’t profess to knowing what goes on in the training ground, but from the outside Koeman seems to have had more about him than Silva. He had a bad few weeks, sure, but it was hardly a total meltdown.
He’s done well in transforming Holland since he took over, so maybe that’s where the patience was needed? ANOTHER break for Liverpool – another chance for them to lose their rhythm in my eyes. Look, I must admit with all the injuries they had, they’ll have been able to use the time off to get some players back fit and get their training organised, and work on things. Yet you know Maurizio Sarri’s complaints about a lack of motivation from his side seems like barely disguised code for a squad that, through the last three managers now, tends to play when they feel like it. I’m not saying they’re trying to get the current boss the sack. But (and it’s a big but) they do seem to have big egos. If they don’t like the manager, his system or whatever, they don’t seem to play. On paper, the answer is easy. Back the manager and get rid of the players who cause the problem – go with the manager and let him build a squad that doesn’t lack ‘motivation’. On paper again, it seems like a no-brainer. They’ve already got through two managers very soon after each won the title for the club. So instead of burning through bosses, build a squad like City, Liverpool or Spurs, with younger, hungrier players who buy into the club ethos. The problem is that my feelings on momentum and playing. I hated not being involved in games when I was a player, I hated being rested.
I’d much rather win and take the energy and rhythm from that, ... just as Manchester City have done in recent weeks.
So I’m a bit apprehensive about which Liverpool we will see next week against Bayern Munich and Manchester United.
There was absolutely no doubt they lost a bit of rhythm after the last break, which cost them points against Leicester and West Ham.
They looked a little rusty. I hope the same thing doesn’t happen this time. But I will say Jurgen Klopp will be aware of that, and will look at what worked and what didn’t at the last training camp.
They’ll also have the Kop in full European night voice too, which tends to blow the cobwebs away – so maybe I don’t have to worry so much about momentum this time!