Everton defeat Fulham in sorry Merseyside return for Silva

Goals in either half from Gueye and Keane give hosts 2-0 win at the Hill Dickinson Stadium

After the sweet taste of a much-needed victory last weekend, Everton have brought our season back down to reality with a solid 2-0 win over us in our first visit to the Hill Dickinson Stadium. Fulham’s poor form away from home continued with a deeply disappointing outing this afternoon, and whilst no one imagined the season would correct itself on the basis of one result it is a rubbish feeling to have the clouds circling the club going into the international break. With long periods of rotten football, fortuitous decisions keeping us from a heavier scoreline and even more injuries to add to the list, all is not well for Marco Silva at this moment in time…

First Half

The first half could be characterised as two periods of intense pressure from Everton, separated by a lull through the middle passage of the match. Everton didn’t take long to let Fulham know they’d be a sterner challenge than Wolves, pressing aggressively and sending Grealish and Ndiaye down the wings to feed a flurry of balls into the box. We spent the opening minutes treading water, and but for Thierno Barry’s continued struggles in front of goal would have opened early on. A cross from Dewsbury-Hall, overlapping ahead of Grealish on the left, saw Barry sneak ahead of Bassey but fumble his touch for Leno to claim. A second ball from Dewsbury-Hall, smartly fed through the centre by the playmaker, needed a swift intervention from Sessegnon to deny an easy chance, and from Ndiaye’s powerful cross from the right Barry’s header flew straight over the bar.

These early offensives did subside, perhaps Everton catching their breath from their rapid start, and Fulham were able to get on the ball a little more, but to little avail. Everton’s defence were well drilled - Garner made up for his pace deficit against Kevin with some tight marking, Jimenez was swallowed up by Tarkowski and Keane and Wilson couldn’t get into the game at all. Iwobi, starting ahead of King and Smith-Rowe, was dragged deeper trying to create something for Fulham, but this increased the work the forwards had to do to take the ball forward themselves. Our chances were mediocre. Iwobi headed a decent ball from Tete into the ground for Pickford to make a comfortable save, he set up a weak Jimenez effort from just outside the box a little later, and from a free-kick won essentially because Barry decided to pull Tete’s shirt for no reason Jimenez blasted a set-piece straight into the unfortunately placed Nigerian international.

If anything, Fulham’s movements into Everton territory increased their potency in the game. Iroegbunam and Gueye covered a lot of ground and helped the hosts move the ball fluidly - contrasted with Berge and Lukic’s ponderous play, they were critical in livening the pace of the game. We conceded several set-pieces through Everton’s attackers taking the ball forward, with Tete having a fierce contest with Grealish and Barry dragging players out of defence by using his physical strength to hold up the ball. Dewsbury-Hall was graceful on the ball, gliding through Fulham players and linking with his teammates in dangerous combinations - on another day, he might have got Lukic sent off, as the Serbian hauled him down twice on the break and only received a single booking.

It turbo-charged the atmosphere, as did other decisions taken against Everton. They’d put the ball in the net already - Grealish taking a long goal-kick from Pickford and working it nicely with Dewsbury-Hall, before Ndiaye on the other wing fired a ball behind our backline for Barry to bungle in - but an offside for the Senegalese denied them a goal. They had another chalked off right after Lukic’s non-dismissal; again Grealish’s work on the left produced a cross, flicked on by Tarkowski, played back from Ndiaye for Garner, whipped in by the right-back for Keane’s header to be punched away by Leno and volleyed beyond Leno by Tarkowski. Yet the centre-back was marginally offside in the build up, and again the goal was denied.

You’d think we’d learn from these let-offs, and at least apply a bit of graft to get through to halftime level with Everton. But the team were clearly unnerved by Everton’s growing danger. In the midst of a lengthy stoppage time, after pointless tussle between Bassey and Tarkowski saw them both booked, a Mykolenko long-throw wasn’t cleared properly, Everton again worked the ball around faster than our players were able to intercept, and after Grealish and Iroegbunam worked the ball back to the Ukrainian his cross looped for Tarkowski to head onto the bar, fell for Iroegbunam, who stumbled into the ball and kicked his effort into Andersen, and finally fell for Gueye, sweeping into the box to plant his shot in, Leno’s outstretched leg not enough to divert it away. Appalling defending, horrible timing, and as Kevin’s effort a moment later flew into the stands the half drew to a close with Everton in the ascendency.

Second Half

We’ve been behind at the break many times this season, and on several of them Silva’s changes have made the desired impact, revitalising our performances and delivering goals for Fulham. Lukic’s booking made him the obvious substitution, and to every Fulham fans’ delight King strode onto the pitch following the interval. His energy made a marked difference, having the bravery to take on Everton’s defenders, putting gusto into Fulham’s attacks and linking with his teammates in a way that actually allowed them to force defenders to react with some trepidation. Early combinations with Wilson on the right gave us some real excitement, on one occasion producing a shot that deflected off Mykolenko and looped just over the bar.

Yet we still weren’t learning the lessons of the first half. Everton’s route to goal consistently came from the wings, and a long ball from Mykolenko saw them punish us again - Ndiaye, away from Sessegnon, played the ball into the six-yard box, Berge fumbled the ball away from goal, and hesitation from Sess and Kevin let Dewsbury-Hall storm into position, angle his body and drive a shot through the crowd and into the vacant far-corner of the goal. Once again, offside saved us, though with a significant portion of good fortune - Barry, the man penalised, was pushed by Berge as he made his clearance and can scarcely be described as interfering with the play.

Perhaps sensing the danger, Silva played more of his cards - Muniz and Chukwueze, impressive off the bench against Wolves, arrived for Jimenez and Wilson. It gave King even more elements to work with - a long ball from Tete was chested down by Muniz, and another dribble from King allowed a smart one-two to be played, feeding the ball to the Brazilian as he travelled into the box. Pickford produced a smart save with his feet to prevent the equaliser. We were enjoying a little more space, created by the extra speed our attacking changes had made, and a timely intervention from a backtracking Ndiaye prevented Kevin latching onto a long pass right in front of goal.

It was starting to work, too. Iroegbunam, so effective in the first half, began to falter, losing ground and the ball, and getting cautioned for felling King around the hour-mark. Moyes made his own change to fix the problem - Rohl, a versatile midfielder, arrived, and had a calming effect on Everton in the middle, getting them back on the ball and inverting the focus of the game onto Fulham’s half. Iwobi had moved closer to Berge to accommodate King, which is a great move for attacking situations, but with Everton able to put the game back into their own court the fragility of leaving Berge to absorb the bulk of the pressure in front of the backline revealed itself.

Frustratingly though our energy wasn’t sustained whatsoever. We had fresh legs on the pitch and the players to make a difference, yet Everton were outmuscling us, keeping the ball in our half with another period of pressure and forcing us into mistakes in possession. Though their finishing wasn’t terrific, Gueye and Dewsbury-Hall both firing shots off-target from outside the box, the momentum was theirs, and we weren’t showing the reaction to repel them. Our day soured further when Muniz, introduced in the half, trudged down the tunnel injured, and very-much-not-a-striker Adama Traore took his place. We had now lost our target man, a clear method of quickly evading Everton’s pressing, and struggled to get close to their goal.

And of course, our defending was still dreadful. From a relatively tame situation a poor defensive header from Bassey led to Everton winning the ball cheaply and dispatching Beto down the right channel. Sess put it out for a corner, Dewsbury-Hall swung the ball in and Michael Keane’s shoulder met the cross, looping the ball over Leno to double their lead. It effectively killed the game for us, too. Whilst there was still time for Fulham to mount a comeback, the reality was we were out of ideas; our forwards congregated around Everton’s defence hoping for the chance to break for them, but only Traore received one that came close, getting a smart pass from Berge and forcing Pickford to make a save. Our failure to muster up anything with the ball made the closing minutes all the more painful - a jubilant Everton sailed towards their three points, happy to interrupt our sloppy play and eat up time with speculative efforts. Truly, the final whistle was a blessing, as our team were put out of their misery.

Excellent Everton

Our hosts were clearly the better side today and were a few close calls away from a thrashing. Moyes, to his credit, has crafted a strategy that clearly causes problems for defenders at their new stadium, using Grealish and Ndiaye to unsettle our fullbacks, and for as frustrating as it must be watching Barry fumble his shooting boots the work he does to create space for the dynamic Dewsbury-Hall makes the Englishman all the more effective. Barry needs to do the work to improve his sharpness in front of goal, but if he does Everton will be a very cogent attacking team, and surely add to their scoring tallies.

The major difference was at the back though. Tarkowski and Keane have formed a reliable partnership, excelling in the raw physical responsibilities of defending in a way many centre-backs fail to manage. Bassey has frequently struggled to get a grip of tight situations - watch how forwards are denied space and time on the ball by Tarkowski to view what defenders need to get right to give their team the best chance. Garner worked tirelessly at right-back, unpiecing many of Kevin’s moves down our left, and whilst Mykolenko was the weaklink of the four the ground Gueye covered across the match lessened the danger Everton faced in such situations. Pickford was very good too - whilst I would never be too critical of Leno, the England No. 1’s saves kept Everton in the league for several seasons in a row, and with a functioning team in front of him he can enjoy clean sheets like today more frequently.

More problems for Silva

The context, of course, is that they were playing us today. A number of our defeats have come through some form of misfortune - a number of strong performances let down by obvious mistakes, matches where finishing our chances would have put the opposition out of sight and we can even point to games changed by the decision of an official. There’s none of that today - Everton were clearly stronger than us across the game, could have won by four or five goals and made us look like a timid newly-promoted team, rather than a club in its fourth consecutive year of Premier League football.

The international break does have some advantages; there are clearly some tired legs out there. Jimenez has needed a break for some time, and was a peripheral figure for the entire afternoon, yet will likely be asked to deputise for Muniz again when the team reconverges in a fortnight. Wilson fell away from the pace of the game and ought to have done more against Mykolenko over the course of the game. Iwobi, our ever-present man, is asked to do everything - he’s versatile and endurant, but covering for Lukic in midfield took it out of him today, and probably contributed to Everton’s control in the latter stages of the match. On the same topic, whilst Berge and Lukic have their qualities and can absorb pressure when fully-fit, the duo were lacking for pace yet again in midfield and made to look second-rate by Everton’s midfielders. It’s a conundrum for Silva to solve - if he won’t play Harrison Reed, which pairing will support the defence and use the ball in a productive manner?

Looking further back is a mixed bag. I think Tete fought valiantly against Grealish and continues to excel as our best defender this season. Sessegnon on the other wing had some decent moments and definitely deserves plaudits for his continued efforts covering at left-back, but he gets caught out in a few critical moments each game and teams are starting to exploit it more. Andersen took a knock in the first-half and looked a bit off his game for the rest of the match, but Bassey was all over the place again - sloppy on the ball and asleep to the danger he found himself in constantly. Whilst it can’t be enviable being a centre-back in a team with a malfunctioning pair of CMs, you can’t play as languidly as he did and expect opponents not to capitalise on it. Leno might also deserve some scrutiny too, but it feels unfair to single him out when so much went wrong in front of him.

Where do we go from here? Things are not healthy at the club at the moment. It would be tempting to say the standard of the league improving has concentrated several tricky fixtures in a row for us at the start of this season… but I’d reject that argument somewhat, because it’s week 11, we’re on a paltry 11 points teetering above the relegation zone, we haven’t matched the increase in attainment the newly promoted sides have brought to the division and we’re slumping right as teams like West Ham are addressing their early-season blues. You won’t read me jumping to extremes - Marco Silva is still the right man to lead this club, and his work with us is key to why we’re even in the league in the first place - but clearly something needs to be done with the squad, as there is a real danger of drifting further into troubled waters and fully into the relegation battle. It’s not a crisis yet - let’s not forget that we are only just entering November - but without action, our situation has every chance of turning drastic, especially in the unpredictable world of the Premier League. Let’s trust that Silva can turn our stronger performers, like the continually exciting Josh King, into leaders for the team, and build off their aptitude to reverse this sorry state of affairs.