This article is part of Football FanCast’s The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…
According to a recent report from The Telegraph senior figures at Everton were furious with both Marco Silva’s use of substitutions and his change of formation against Leicester City.
On the chalkboard
With Everton’s central midfield options severely depleted and Leicester proving to be a formidable outfit this season, Silva implemented a 5-3-2 formation on Sunday afternoon.
It was an eyebrow-raising decision but one that, for a decent portion of the first half at least, was vindicated by the pattern of the game.
The Toffees soaked up pressure and looked to utilise their wing-backs on the counter-attack as Lucas Digne and Djibril Sidibe provided width on the overlap.
Richarlison’s opener was the type of textbook goal that the system is designed to produce, but the latest report from The Telegraph suggests key personnel behind-the-scenes were not keen advocates of the switch.
Cunning decision, but not for the decision-makers
Given the absence of Jean-Philippe Gbamin, Andre Gomes and Fabian Delph, and Leicester’s tendency to use Jamie Vardy’s pace in behind to unlock the opposition, it was rather cunning of the Portuguese manager to make this tactical tweak.
The result was, naturally, far from ideal, but given the circumstances this was far from an abject showing worthy of ending Silva’s stint on Merseyside.
It was a tactical decision that allowed Everton to match the hosts for large spells of the game and facilitated plenty of involvement for both Digne and Sidibe, two players who possess the attacking ability to make a decisive impact in the final-third.
Digne recorded a team-high four key passes and completed eight cross in the game, proving that the system created ample opportunity for him to deliver the ball into two players who boast goal scoring records with their heads: Dominic Calvert-Lewin has scored eight Premier League headers for the club and Richarlison has scored five since moving to Watford in 2017.
Meanwhile, the man on loan from AS Monaco once again illustrated his prowess from wide areas with an inch-perfect ball for the Brazilian’s emphatic opener.
Evidently, there were fleeting signs of promise for a system that suits the strengths of this current crop of players at Silva’s disposal, but the merits of Silva’s decision have been overlooked by the club’s bigwigs.
A wise decision on paper, but one that could ultimately backfire nonetheless.
In other news, Everton fans have called for a fringe player to start the Merseyside derby…
