Finding Richarlison’s Best Position Is Key To Everton’s Premier League Future

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND – APRIL 09: Richarlison of Everton looks on during the Premier League match … [+] between Everton and Manchester United at Goodison Park on April 09, 2022 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)

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Whatever Everton’s aims at the start of a season, and regardless of what these might change to as a campaign progresses, Richarlison is vital to his side achieving them.

As the 2021/22 season turned into a relegation scrap, the Brazilian has epitomised the effort needed to drag the team out of trouble, even though his end product has been hit and miss.

The effectiveness of his attacking football and the number of goals he scores or contributes to can depend on where he’s been asked to play.

It’s one of the key decisions Everton manager Frank Lampard has to make before each game.

The simple stats per position begin to tell a story, with Richarlison having five goals and two assists from 21 starts as the central forward, but three goals and two assists from just five starts on the left wing. In terms of this raw data from Transfermarkt, he is much more productive when playing from the left.

Lampard commented on Richarlison’s position and role in his press conference prior to the Merseyside Derby.

He spoke of the 24-year-old’s ability to play in both positions, but also commented that this affects the team defensively as well as in attack, as his work rate is handy if the manager wants his central forward (number nine) to lead the pressing in defence.

“I think with Richy, if you look at the modern-day number nine, it’s different to the number nine we maybe would have associated with years ago,” Lampard said ahead of the trip to Anfield to face Liverpool.

“Dominic maybe more that [old-fashioned] type, but Richarlsion I think can play the nine because you look at most of the top teams in Premier League, they don’t play with an out and out nine, Liverpool included.

“So I think Richarlison can do that role for us. He also can work off the left, we’ve seen that, and I think he’s comfortable playing as an inside left as much as an out and out wide man.

“It’s a real benefit to have players across the front line that can be versatile and pop up in different areas and change in-game or going into games.

“So I have to consider everything about us in terms of how we want to attack, but also how we want to defend, with Richarlison either on the left side or centrally because that can have an effect on that too.”

Though Lampard speaks of the top teams such as Manchester City, as well as Liverpool, using their forwards in this manner, these teams are able to do so thanks to goal contributions from wide areas or from midfield.

Liverpool’s wide players, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah, have 14 and 22 goals respectively in the league this season. At Man City, Raheem Sterling and Riyad Mahrez both have over 10 Premier League goals each this season, as does midfielder Kevin De Bruyne.

Though this is fairly extraordinary output from teams challenging for the title, Everton’s own wide players, not including Richarlison, don’t feel at the moment like they have the goalscoring ability to reach double figures.

The only Everton player you might expect to break the 10-goals per season barrier from a wide position at the moment is Richarlison himself.

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND – DECEMBER 06: Richarlison of Everton celebrates with teammate Anthony Gordon (R) … [+] after scoring a goal, that is later disallowed for offside during the Premier League match between Everton and Arsenal at Goodison Park on December 06, 2021 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Naomi Baker/Getty Images)

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On top of this, the Brazilian tends to miss good chances when he’s playing centrally. When there isn’t much goalscoring support from elsewhere in the team, these can seem costly.

If a central player at the top teams Lampard speaks of misses a good chance it might not be noticed as much, as their wide players are almost guaranteed a goal.

Though Anthony Gordon and Demarai Gray have potential and offer their own threats in attack, they don’t yet feel like prolific goalscorers.

It doesn’t help that Everton’s usual centre-forward, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, has been either out of form or injured during Lampard’s time at the club. The striker scored three goals in three games under previous boss Rafa Benitez before getting injured at the start of the season, but is yet to find the net in ten league appearances since Lampard’s arrival.

To make matters worse, their highest-scoring midfielders, Abdoulaye Doucoure and Alex Iwobi, only have two goals each.

Rather than place the responsibility of defending from the front through the middle on top of the responsibility of being the team’s main goal threat in a difficult season, Lampard might be better using Richarlison in that inside forward role for the rest of the campaign. In the modern formations that the manager alludes to, the wide players are often the most advanced anyway.

If Calvert-Lewin remains injured and out of form, then Salomon Rondon could be an option to free Richarlison up to play on the left, or if Lampard wants to really try an unorthodox nine, he could make use of Gordon’s speed and work rate through the middle as he does Richarlison’s, but there would be less pressure on Gordon to score goals.

Lampard could even find a use for Dele Alli in the position—the player he signed in January but hasn’t yet found a role for.

It could also be an area in which Everton look to address in the transfer market this summer, and Calvert-Lewin leaving for a decent fee could actually be a positive if they find a central player to complement Richarlison.

Gray and Gordon are good options to have out wide, Rondon is an archetypal plan B, and who knows what Alli will be for the Toffees, but adding a modern centre-forward could open up many options for Everton.

But for Richarlison, cutting in from the left seems to be the best way to get him involved in goals, and goals are something Everton need from their star attacker if they are to remain clear of the relegation zone for the rest of the season.