Everton 2020-21 season: Three key takeaways – by Matt Townsend

The 2020-21 Premier League season is over and Everton again failed to secure a trophy or qualify for Europe. So, after another ultimately disappointing campaign and with the summer trasnfer window looming, what are the three main takeaways and key ares to strengthen?

Everton need modern footballers

One of the overarching themes of this season (and in the past few as well) is the lack of footballers with the pace, power and athleticism to compete properly in the modern game.

Too many of the Blues current players are slow and one-paced and lack the strength and ability to play a modern type of football. I’m thinking of players like Bernard, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Andre Gomes, Alex Iwobi and even James Rodriguez.

What exactly do I mean by a modern footballer? Essentially it means players that have the physical qualities and ability to play a fast-paced, high-energy, pressing game that so many of the top sides employ. It’s also crucial to have a propoer balance to the side something that hasn’t been the case for a number of seasons.

In the summer Carlo Ancelotti tried to address this and brought in two midfielders with the pace, defensive strength, athleticism and high work rate when he signed Allan and Abdoulaye Doucoure.

Then at the start of the season Ancelotti employed a 4-3-3 formation, which is probably the ideal tactical system to use, and it was a great success for the first month or so when these two and Rodriguez fitted straight into the team. Everton were riding high at the top of the table after a month and all looked rosy.

When injuries hit Ancelotti had to reshuffle his side and he reverted to a much more defensive, counter-attacking approach, which was epitomised by the four centre-back defence that he employed at the beginning of December.

This worked well for a while, especially away from home and stabilized the season when it looked like it might be running aground towards the end of last year.

However, too often at home the Blues were undone by opposing teams who were able to play a high-intensity, pressing game against Everton. The Toffees would often try to play a slower, possession game and would then get caught or concede possession and put an often-makeshift defence under pressure again and again.

There was a depressing familiarity to it by the end of the season with teams like Burnley and Sheffield United coming to Goodison Park, starting quickly getting an early lead and then sitting on it and forcing the home team to try and break them down.

Most of the time Everton weren’t able to do that and the reason primarily is because the Blues lack the right type of players and couldn’t start quickly and positively enough and on the front foot with the right kind of pressing game to overpower weaker opposition.

This was further underlined when first Allan and then Doucoure got injured. Without those two to provide the energy in the middle, Everton’s results fell away and the midfield was again too slow and static.

In this transfer window the Toffees need to add more pace, athleticism and steel to their midfield. And given Jean-Philippe Gbamin’s endless injury problems, a player like Yves Bissouma, Pape Sarr or perhaps Adrien Rabiot would be a good investment to further strengthen the midfield.

It would also enable Doucoure and Allan to get forward and contribute offensively as well, something they weren’t able to do much of this season. And thinking of the attack, this is another area of the team that needs a serious injection of modern players, particularly out wide, with the pace and ability to play that front-foot game in this summer transfer window.

Everton need more goals

Obviously another key area of the team that needs serious addressing is the lack of goals in the team last season. Everton struggled to score more than one or two goals in most matches this season after the first month or so.

Since the turn of the year the Blues have scored less than a goal-a-game in the Premier League and this chronic lack of goals was a big part of the reason for the failure of the team to secure European qualification.

This anaemic attack was in contrast to the first month or so of the campaign when the Toffees were scoring freely. Dominic Calvert-Lewin in particular was on fire and enjoying his best spell in front of goal in a royal blue shirt.

But when the chances dried up and the team was playing a defensive long-ball game, Calvert-Lewin struggled and this underlined the addition problem of Richarlison’s sub-par season.

The Brazilian’s productivity in front of goal was way down on the previous two campaigns and the reasons for this aren’t totally clear. One aspect of it was the new formation and tactics Ancelotti was using, which perhaps didn’t give him enough opportunities to get in and around the box.

Then he got himself sent off after a stupid, petulant tackle on Thiago in the October derby game and so he missed three matches.

When he returned, he did start finding the net more often as his role shifted to a more central one similar to how he had played last season alongside Calvert-Lewin.

For much of the season though he was often playing selfishly and often seemed to be a frustrated and petulant figure, which was annoying to see and often meant he squandered good chances or failed to pass to a better placed team-mate.

Everton must bring in a right-sided attacker with the pace, creativity and goals and I also think the club should bring in another striker who is a more natural finisher then Calvert-Lewin who has his strengths but isn’t likely to score 25-30 goals in a season.

And they must also find a way to get more out of Richarlison next season if he is still at the club when the new campaign kicks off.

Everton need leaders  

Finally, this team needs leaders on and off the pitch. Too often when the chips were down there was no one in the side who could step up and drive their team-mates forward and find a way to win when they aren’t playing well.

This is difficult to find in the modern game as there are fewer of those players around in today’s football as there aren’t the sort of player such as a Tony Adams or a Roy Keane playing football today.

But leadership doesn’t have to be just that kind of direct, physically aggressive way but leading by example and finding the way to push their team-mates to produce their best.

One example of that type of player is Ben Godfrey. He’s very much a modern footballer and he was often leading by example with his performances and attitude.

The Blues need to find and bring in more of those types of players because leaders and players who step up and deliver when it really matters are key to all successful teams.