Everton’s problems go deeper than lack of goals – defensively, they are a shambles

Sometimes you have to wonder if there is any limit to the depths Everton will plumb.

Sunday’s 4-0 defeat at Aston Villa was another such moment, an afternoon when everything that could go wrong inevitably did for Sean Dyche’s side.

One nadir was often quickly superseded by another. Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s long-awaited return lasted all of 38 minutes due to a facial injury sustained in a collision with Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez. Passes went astray, another key player, Alex Iwobi, succumbed to injury and goals were gifted to the opposition.

Everton have been overtaken and left in the dust by Aston Villa, a team that only ended three seasons in the Championship four years ago. In terms of the football they play and their financial prowess, the two are barely in the same stratosphere.

Defeats against Villa are now par for the course, with the Midlands club winning seven and drawing two of their nine fixtures against Everton since promotion in 2019. Boasting new big-money signings, Unai Emery’s side again started the season with different, altogether loftier aims, than Sunday’s opponents.

Setbacks happen, but it was the sheer incoherence and incompetence of the display that was most concerning from an Everton perspective.

Below is Everton’s passing network before Calvert-Lewin went off, laying bare the players’ inability to keep possession or find team-mates in attacking positions.

Villa’s third goal saw them take advantage of an unorganised defence from a throw-in, with Michael Keane’s scrambled attempt to recover the situation only serving to gift Leon Bailey a golden chance to score.

The fourth was arguably even worse — the lowest moment on a day of lows. This time, Keane was beaten to Ashley Young’s throw-in by substitute Jhon Duran, who made no mistake one-on-one with Jordan Pickford. The Colombian had only been on the field for 50 seconds and this was his first Villa goal.

As they so often are, Everton had again been complicit in their own downfall. They have become whipping boys, the home banker. If you have a player out of form, call Everton, they will help.

For all the talk about the worrying shortage of goals and attacking threat in Dyche’s team, it is already clear that another substantial issue has been hiding in plain sight. In his 20 games in charge, they have now conceded 34 goals from an expected goals (xGA) of 37. Across the whole of last season, only relegated Leeds United posted a worse xGA total, demonstrating Everton are allowing their opponents plenty of high-quality chances.

A soft edge is not normally something you associate with Dyche’s sides, but his Everton remain vulnerable to errors and collapse.

Tactically, they were all at sea. Instead of sitting deep and looking to deprive Villa’s pacy attack of space in behind, Everton pushed high and played into their hands. All too often, a slow defence containing Keane, James Tarkowski and the 38-year-old Young were left in a foot race they were never going to win.

It was a bizarre approach to take against this Villa side, particularly with Jarrad Branthwaite, the promising 21-year-old centre-back blessed with greater recovery speed, left on the bench again.

“We were a long way off after playing very well last weekend. That was a surprise,” Dyche said.

“We conceded a goal and then the group go soft very quickly. Then you concede another one and it’s like everyone is looking at everyone else to do something. We had a couple of moments like that after I got here last season but generally, we stopped that feeling.

“It looked too lackadaisical, people waiting for others to ignite. The body language and intent in and out of possession just weren’t there. Simple as that.”

Dyche was at a loss to explain the disparity between last weekend’s more positive display against Fulham (albeit in defeat) and Sunday’s abject showing.

His response at half-time was to replace the experienced midfielder Idrissa Gueye with 20-year-old winger Lewis Dobbin.

“A player who didn’t perform as well as he can today,” Dyche said of Gueye. “But I could have taken the whole team off. At half-time, it was like, ‘Where do I start?’.

“Sometimes you have to accept it’s a collective down day, which it was today. I can’t even pick a player — bar Dobbin, who was excellent, and Arnie Danjuma, who showed he is getting fitter and sharper — who was anywhere near what we can do.

“Sometimes it’s hard to put your finger on, but we’ve got to learn from it very quickly to make sure the mentality is stronger.”

One of the other abiding images from the afternoon came right at the end, with Dyche waving in thanks to a near-empty away crowd.

Who could blame those that departed early? There is only so long anyone can put up with failure and capitulation.

So ended a chastening afternoon that came with another timely reminder as transfer deadline day fast approaches.

Work is ongoing to strengthen a goal-shy forward line, but goals are not Everton’s only problem. At the other end, big issues remain.

Last season’s defence, shorn of the departed Yerry Mina and Conor Coady, now looks weaker. Branthwaite’s claims surely cannot be ignored much longer, but he is unlikely to be enough.

Everton fans have been looking for a performance to dispel concerns over another impending relegation battle, but this was not that.

If anything, this defeat showed just how low the bar is.

(Top photo: Michael Regan/Getty Images)