Marco Silva’s club continues to underperform away from home…
Everton’s struggles away from Goodison Park continued on Sunday as the club fell to Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium in a 3-1 defeat. This marks a continuation of poor form on the road that goes back to last season, with Everton’s last away victory coming on March 30 at West Ham.
Despite drawing level in the final moments of the first half on Sunday thanks to a Dominic Calvert-Lewin header, the Toffees were unable to keep up with the Cherries in the second half of play. After conceding a Ryan Fraser set piece from just outside the 18-yard box in the 67th minute on some questionable defending from Fabian Delph that made it 2-1, Callum Wilson completed his brace just a few short minutes later in the 72nd by beating a lackadaisical Everton defense on a simple flick over the top of Everton keeper Jordan Pickford.
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For a club in Everton that on paper should be threatening a top six finish, no questions asked, their lack of results on the road and inability to play a sustained 90 minutes in defense spell trouble for a long season that can and most likely will find manager Marco Silva on the hot seat.
Fullbacks Séamus Coleman and Lucas Digne continue to be solid performers, getting forward quite frequently in attack, but it is the continuity between centre backs Michael Keane and Yerry Mina that needs maturing. The loss of Kurt Zouma who was out on loan to Everton last season from Chelsea seems to be rearing its ugly head right now in the early stages of the season. While he may be no Virgil van Dijk, Zouma was a consistent performer for Silva’s side last season.
Everton’s next five away fixtures feature trips to Burnley, Brighton, Southampton, Leicester City and Liverpool. While not exactly a murderer’s row of matches, if they are to get their season back on track and keep their ambitions for European competition alive with a top six finish (they currently sit 11th in the Premier League table), they’re going to have to secure three points on the road in number of these matches.
What do you think? Does Everton have enough in the tank to right the ship and get back into the conversation of a top six finish?