Fabian Delph’s showing sums up Everton’s inconsistent start
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This article is part of Football FanCast’s In Numbers series, which takes a statistical look at performances, season-long form and reported transfer targets…
Everton’s inconsistent start to the season continued on Sunday with a 3-1 defeat against Bournemouth, and the performance of Fabian Delph somewhat summed up their efforts.
The Toffees are a very difficult team to predict this term. They began by looking very hard to beat with two clean sheets from two but struggled at the opposite end of the pitch.
Defensive issues have since been exposed, though, and they have conceded nine goals from their last four matches in all competitions.
Two of those goals came against League One side Lincoln, too, which remains their only away victory of the season.
At home it is a different story, and Delph’s introduction against Wolves looked like it could kickstart Everton’s season, with an uncharacteristic three goals scored and the former Manchester City man providing energy in midfield – making up for the loss of Idrissa Gueye.
However, despite having 59.5% of possession, Everton failed to get going against Bournemouth. Delph kept things ticking over and at times there was good link-up play going forward, with Richarlison in particular taking up good positions, but there was no end product other than the Brazilian’s strike which hit the bar.
The lack of leadership in the team is becoming a significant presence. An experienced figure like Delph should have helped that, but aside from a first-half scolding of his teammates he failed to lead by example.
As a result, the record of never overturning a Premier League deficit into a win under Marco silva will likely continue.
To credit Delph, he once again showed energy and desire throughout, and the Toffees could consider themselves unfortunate to have fallen behind when in the ascendancy in the second half.
Mistakes were too frequent, however, and the likes of Delph became sloppy on and off the ball. According to Whoscored, he made two fouls, but was slightly fortunate a heavy challenge on Callum Wilson wasn’t punished in the first half, as he picked up a yellow card moments later.
Due to the role he plays, the 29-year-old will likely commit a lot of fouls over the course of the season, but it is a small price to pay for the way he breaks up play.
Everton reduced Bournemouth to just 40% possession and that was key to reducing their threat from open play – Delph’s five tackles playing a huge part in that.
His own contribution on the ball helped Everton to 480 passes, but as a team Everton failed to apply significant pressure to the Bournemouth backline, instead often resulting to crossing – with 23 crosses attempted in the match.
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Delph was insufficient in other areas, too, and his failure to deal with Ryan Fraser’s free-kick led to him deflecting the ball beyond Jordan Pickford, and from then Everton crumbled.
He failed to make a single clearance in the match, or an interception – an area where Gueye excelled with 2.2 per game last season – and that was a contributing factor to the ease at which Bournemouth were able to get through on goal, having 13 shots despite their minimal possession.