In the Ascendancy
It’s been a turbulent, oddly unpredictable campaign so far for Everton, which in some ways mirrors the Premier League in its entirety. Few would have predicted the total collapse of Liverpool’s title defence,
Wolverhampton Wanderers’ utterly abject performance, or that two of the three promoted sides would be clear of the drop zone (vastly so, in Sunderland’s case) with almost 40 per cent of the schedule played. Throw in Aston Villa’s toothless start, followed by their current imperious form, West Ham’s struggle in the relegation spots, a thin Crystal Palace dealing well with the club’s first taste of continental football and Nottingham Forest – Europa League qualifiers last term – ending October having appointed their third manager, then it’s tough to guess where things will go from one week to the next.
David Moyes, fresh off his dynamic mid-season return to the Blues in January, which generated much optimism for the future – on the back of the club’s takeover by The Friedkin Group the previous January, and what was generally hailed (at the time) as a promising summer of recruitment – has gone through a couple of periods of criticism already this term. To a degree, this should not be unexpected, given the manager himself had done much to stoke positivity at the end of last season and into the summer. Given how bleak it’s been to be a fan of the Toffees since Carlo Ancelotti’s abrupt return to Real Madrid at the end of the 2020-21 campaign, ambition should be welcomed, raising expectations is a double-edged sword.
A bright start – after the opening week’s Monday night mishap against newly-promoted Leeds United – faltered with a frustrating goalless home draw with the then-struggling Aston Villa, continued as Everton were bounced out of the EFL Cup by Wolves and culminated in a first loss at Hill Dickinson Stadium, 3-0 to Tottenham Hotspur. One win from eight, courtesy of a schizophrenic draw against Sunderland brought dissatisfaction from some quarters. Despite good wins over Fulham and Manchester United, a 4-1 hammering by Newcastle United on home turf created discontent. A couple of weeks later and Everton are in sixth place, having won four of the last five games, the bulk of fans are once more behind the manager, and eyes are again looking up the table.
Return of Dyche
The Blues have had to welcome a fair few of their ex-managers back in recent years, but none produce such mixed opinions as Sean Dyche. The former longstanding Burnley chief should be considered something of a hero, considering the woeful state that the club found itself in when he was appointed in January 2023. Deeply embroiled in a relegation fight under overwhelmed rookie boss Frank Lampard, with a weak team, no money to spend and an owner actively looking to sell up, a firefighter was desperately needed — an experienced, calming hand, used to battling against the odds to stay in the division. Dyche was probably the most suitably-equipped, available man for this scenario, and he did a good job. In the next season, he shrugged off multiple point deduction due to breaches of the league’s tight financial regulations, to keep Everton well clear of any danger.
It went wrong for him last term, as he appeared to run out of ideas, appearing increasingly fractious in press conferences, before effectively informing TFG that he’d like to be sacked, at the halfway stage of the campaign. That Moyes picked up and ran with Dyche’s side, hugely outperforming his predecessor, made the latter look poor by comparison. Despite his failings at the end of his time at Everton, Dyche deserves respect for the role he performed – and I think fair-minded fans would acknowledge this – but few can claim to have enjoyed the drab fare displayed on the pitch for two years, nor to have made any emotional connection with the man himself, who appeared largely disconnected from them, and the club itself. His professionalism cannot be doubted, but to Dyche, this always seemed like just another job, and that will never be acceptable to those who live and breathe Everton.
An Ideal Tonic
The Blues had picked up a couple of good away wins in recent weeks, but needed a strong performance – and result – against Forest, at Hill Dickinson, to banish memories of heavy home defeats against Spurs and Newcastle. Forest, demonstrating improved form under Dyche, following the curious firing of Nuno Espírito Santo by maverick owner Evangelos Marinakis a few games into the new season, and the ill-starred, short-lived tenure of Ange Postecoglou, were not easy opponents. Dyche is known for setting his teams up with the aim to stop the opposition playing, keep the point that he arrived with, and to get a win if possible. In Forest, he has – by some distance – the most expensively-assembled squad of his career, and a potential banana skin awaited the hosts.
In the end, Everton’s fast start and early goal scuppered Dyche’s setup somewhat. Although Forest have some good footballers in the squad, the team played low-block counterattacking football under Nuno and, Ange’s brief stint notwithstanding, are more comfortable sitting off and playing direct, in transition, than in possession. We’ll see whether Dyche is capable – or even willing – to attempt to get them to dictate games with the ball, but the visitors showed no ability to do this on Saturday. In the end, the match was quite an easy one for Everton, and a fourth goal for the hosts looked more likely than a consolation for the losers. A resounding 3-0 win with a depleted team was a major achievement, and helps the ongoing task of turning the team’s new ground into a place that few will welcome a trip to.
Everton’s New Star
The club’s acquisition of Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall for a €28.7m fee in the summer looked a shrewd move, and one which they’d pulled off a year earlier with Iliman Ndiaye: taking the opportunity to pick up a player who had already been on their radar, but who was struggling to convince, following a previous transfer. In Ndiaye’s case, he’d faltered at Marseille (which is hard to fathom, given how impressive he’s been at Everton), whereas KDH had been lost in the shuffle at Chelsea, swamped amidst a high turnover of players, despite his old boss at Leicester City – Enzo Maresca – being the man in charge at Stamford Bridge. Of course, this transfer strategy doesn’t always pay off, as Napoli flop Jesper Lindstrøm failed to convince last term, but in general it’s a smart policy for a club with finite resources.
Now 27, Dewsbury-Hall was playing in League 1 at 21, spent the following season on loan at Luton Town in the Championship, and didn’t make his Premier League debut until shortly before his 23rd birthday, so seems to be a late developer. Going off his form since arriving at Everton, and in particular in recent weeks, it looks like the club has picked him up as he enters his peak years, which is brilliant timing. Although Moyes has favoured deploying him as an advanced midfielder, he’s arguably played his best football in the last two games, when fielded deeper. He’s deceptively quick over ten yards, so can get away from pressure, is technically adept, posseses good football intelligence and awareness, is apparently tireless and gives everything on the pitch. Tenacious and with a winner’s attitude, KDH ticks just about every box as an Everton player.
An Opportunity Presented
When the transfer window shut, the consensus view amongst fans was that the club’s summer recruitment had gone well, which was not an impression I shared. I was happy with all of the players that Everton had brought in, but it was apparent that areas had not been addressed, most notably right back and defensive midfield. I’d expected youngsters Tyler Dibling and Adam Aznou to feature increasingly during the season, after an initial bedding-in period, so figured that right wing and left back would be in reasonable shape, but neither have so far featured (at all, in the Moroccan’s case), which is surprising. Injuries and recent suspensions have further underlined deficiencies in the squad, which will be exacerbated by the imminent departure of Ndiaye and Idrissa Gueye to AFCON. After the weekend’s game against Chelsea, Moyes will be forced to juggle a diminished pack for as many as six league matches, plus an FA Cup tie with Sunderland on January 10th.
Who will sub in for Ndiaye is the big question, as the only natural right winger in the squad, in Dibling, has only 81 league minutes under his belt to date, so it’s likely that we’ll see the likes of Carlos Alcaraz, or Dwight McNeil shoehorned in out of position. This will inevitably have a negative impact on the team. Still, at the time of writing, Everton sit seventh in the table, in contention for European places, so is this an opportunity which their owners may want to take advantage of? Roma, the other major club in TFG’s portfolio, are fourth in Serie A. How much reinforcement next month would it take to get the Blues over the line, into either the Europa League, or the Conference League? Potentially, not that much.
On Saturday, the Toffees dispatched a side which qualified for Europe by finishing seventh last season— ten places higher than them in the previous campaign. In doing so, Forest almost doubled their points haul from 2023-24. 15 games in, Everton are already halfway to last term’s points total, so it’s not unreasonable for fans to start thinking big. And why not? The club’s full recruitment staff are now in place – unlike the summer – so it’s to be hoped that target assessment is well underway. What would it take? A right back of starting calibre, bafflingly neglected in the summer, a defensive midfielder and maybe a striker, though the last would require a destination to be found for Beto. The club has one domestic and several foreign loan spots available, in addition to some PSR headroom, so this is well within reach. Should additions be sensibly thought through, what’s there to lose for showing a little ambition?
