Everton's improvement: The stats show how Marco Silva has done it

I will be convinced this amounts to a transformation when we start winning games against some of the top teams, home or away. Beating teams like Fulham, Palace, Brighton, and Cardiff at Goodison is the very least we should be doing.

Digne receives a lot of praise, and rightly so, but Bernard, who is admired by us blues fans, has recently been accused of playing poorly, but the above stat doesn't suggest that at all; he seems to be a strikers dream.

Roll on derby day, it's time for the blue boys to become men.

Or, put another way, which of yester-regimes players is still worth a place in the squad, bearing in mind that M, M&M have all recently said they want to focus on the youth we already have whilst they continue, quote, to slim the squad?

To me that only means Stekelenberg (for now), Gylfi, Seamus and, er, that's it.

I think he's got a hell of a lot going for him. He didn't have a pre-season, was injured and hadn't played for months, and yet still creates as many chances as the very best in the league.

Silva is allowing him to find his rhythm and we will see an even better player as the season progresses.

My son came home beaming over the Man Utd fans at school wishing they had Richarlison. Digne has been incredible. Replacing Baines looked daunting but it is done. Bernard is a natural, a quick thinker with the aplomb and technique to carry it out. Crucially, like many of the new arrivals he has a natural tenacity that's been missing from our team for a while (a trait epitomised by Richarlison).

Mina seems the big character we've been missing, nobody is going to be bullying us anytime soon... and I've not even mentioned golden boy Gomes. We're getting a quiet confidence about us now, I love it.

The statistical data is backed up by empirical evidence – what we can see with our own eyes. There is clear improvement on many levels, both for the collective and individuals.

And it is the empirical evidence that is telling me – regardless of the stats – that Bernard is still not quite there for us.

Yes, he can produce individual moments of brilliance (such as creating chances, as the statistical evidence shows), but over the entire game he has been not marginally sloppy, but very, very careless in possession, his passing and truly woeful with his finishing, with the most basic of plays.

A player of his technical ability and calibre should not be consistently making these errors, but he is. Of all our recent signings, he is possibly the one who arrived most 'undercooked', even when compared to the long-term injuries of Mina and Gomes.

He appears to be the one player taking a tad longer to adapt to the Premier League than the other signings. Silva needs to play a fine balancing act between giving Bernard the game time to make the adjustment, whilst not jeopardizing the progress of the team.

Once Bernard is fuller in sync and up to speed, if he can display the potential of his early career in Brazil when he was (lazily, IMO) compared to the World Cup winner Juninho (of 'Boro fame), then we could – could – have a massively influential player on our hands.

It is way too premature, IMO, to say he will be that player, based on what we've seen to date.