The Merry-Go-Round from Hell

Aston Villa 4 - 0 Everton

Round and round and round we go. A change in manager, a couple of new players. Hope followed by disappointment then humiliation and despair. This is the lot for Evertonians and has been throughout almost all of the disastrous reign of Farhad Moshiri and, in truth, further back to the second season under Roberto Martinez.

And still the fans show up; still they sell out away games up and down the country, only to be served up dross like they witnessed today at Villa Park against an opposition club, it shouldn’t be forgotten, were in a similar situation as Everton a year ago, at least in terms of having a young manager who would soon prove beyond doubt that he was a demonstrable failure.

Aston Villa sacked Steven Gerrard in October last year and hired a serial winner in Unai Emery; Everton persisted with Frank Lampard for three more months and plumped for Sean Dyche as the best option to try keep the club in the Premier League. The two old vanguards of the English game are now on two wildly different trajectories.

Dyche, of course, fulfilled that brief — just! — and, as a David Moyes-esque pragmatist, appeared to be a sound choice as part of a longer-term objective of stability and, perhaps, modest improvement while the off-the-pitch drama plays out, Moshiri (hopefully!) brings in investment or simply sells the club, and the construction of Bramley-Moore Dock is completed.

Harrowingly, though, any Evertonians (most of us, then) who felt sure that the Blues would be harder to beat this season under Dyche, who now has his feet fully under the desk and has had a full pre-season to hone and drill his players, were swiftly disabused of that notion this afternoon. Many of them walked out as the scoreline worsened. How long before they just stop showing up to begin with?

This was as bad as anything Lampard or Rafael Benitez before him served up. The void in midfield as vast as it was at times under the former during the first half of last season; the defence was equally as error-prone and porous and, as Dyche admitted afterwards, he could have changed the entire team at half-time.

Instead, though, he withdrew just one — Idrissa Gueye, who had picked up a booking during a first-half display every bit as bad as the one that saw him hooked at the Emirates at the start of March and which seemed to be the kick up the backside he needed — and shifted James Garner to central midfield alongside the persistently disappointing Amadou Onana.

Just as he was last week against Fulham, Garner had failed to track the run of the scorer of the opening goal but still being relatively young and experienced, he will surely learn. He was also being played out of position, along with too many other players, and, back in central midfield for the second period he was several shades better. Sadly, clangers from more seasoned heads in the side would ensure that there would be no way back from a 2-0 half-time deficit.

One of those was Ashley Young, who at the age of 38 must surely know better than to attempt a long throw-in into no-man’s-land in front of the defence to a centre-half in Michael Keane who is often uncertain at the best of times. And especially after the same defender had been caught embarrassingly flat-footed off a Villa throw 14 minutes earlier, hesitation and a desperate stretch for the ball that allowed Leon Bailey to effectively put the game beyond Everton’s reach.

In truth, however, the game was long gone in the first period after Villa had gone into a 2-0 lead and Dominic Calvert-Lewin had been forced to give up trying to play on with blurred vision following a hefty collision with goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez that left both players dazed and the Everton striker with a rapidly swelling face.

The incident had happened just 10 minutes into Calvert-Lewin’s latest much-anticipated comeback game with him looking fit and sharp but it was clear he wasn’t right afterwards. As the expression goes — if it weren’t for bad luck, he’d have no luck at all when it comes to injuries.

If there was a sliver of optimism, though, it came in the form of his replacement, Arnaut Danjuma who looked lively, dangerous and full of running. He came off the bench in the second half for the second game running, presumably because he wasn’t “Dyche fit”; he has to start against Wolves next week.

Everton actually started well enough during what was an even first quarter of an hour but after Moussa Diaby had skied an early effort, Everton fell irretrievably behind when Bailey drove to the byline and cut the ball back to John McGinn who crashed it home from close range to give Villa the lead.

Four minutes later, after a short corner was initially cleared and was played back in by Matty Cash, Jordan Pickford was adjudged to have fouled Olly Watkins as the striker reached for Diaby’s knockdown. True to form from the match officials, the Everton keeper was penalised where Manchester United’s Andre Onana was let off a week ago for an even more blatant foul.

Douglas Luiz confidently swept the resulting penalty past the keeper’s dive and put the visitors into a two-goal deficit they never looked likely or able to overturn despite there only being 23 minutes on the clock.

Everton’s midfield was routinely being overrun and after Gueye gave up possession in his own half, Douglas Luiz played Diaby in but his shot was saved by Pickford.

Then, when Doucouré lost an aerial challenge, Lucas Digne, who was given the freedom of the left flank for much of the contest, whipped in a cross that Diaby met but was denied again in brilliant fashion by Pickford who pushed his volley onto the post.

Danjuma would have Everton’s first meaningful effort on target as the first half moved into lengthy stoppage time but was foiled by Martinez at the near post but overall their performance had been poor.

With Gueye having had a generally torrid first period topped off with a booking for scything through McGinn, Dyche hooked him at half-time and introduced Dobbin, with Garner moving inside to his preferred position in central midfield.

But the Toffees’ problems were compounded by yet another injury as Iwobi pulled up with an apparent hamstring tear and was replaced by Neal Maupay, with Danjuma moving out to the left flank where he continued to provide Everton’s greatest threat.

Any small hope they had of getting anything from the game evaporated seven minutes into the second half, though. Digne spotted two runners with a throw-in and caught Keane off guard, the defender only able to get enough on the ball to divert it into the path of Bailey who had time and space to drill it though Pickford’s legs.

Watkins should have made it 4-0 four minutes later when Diaby threaded him in but he dragged his shot across goal and narrowly wide while Martinez did well to parry Maupay’s volley at the other end as Everton briefly threatened to make a game of it.

The rout was completed with a quarter of an hour to go, though, when Young inexplicably tried a long throw back to Keane as the only man back and under-cooked it, which allowed Duran to knock it past the centre-back, advance on the stranded Pickford and slot home Villa’s fourth.

Danjuma was unfortunate not to grab a first goal for the Blues in the 85th minute when his low drive deflected off a defender and just missed the far post but there would be no consolation for Everton on a chastening afternoon that left them rock bottom after two games played.

It took Dyche far too long to realise that a central defence with Keane in it is one with an inherent weakness and it was no surprise that when his former Burnley charge was taken out of the side for the four most important games at the end of last season, the Blues were able to pick up the points they needed to survive.

It’s no fun singling out specific players, particularly on a day when so many other players were abjectly bad but the statistics with Keane in the side make for grim reading — in the 20 games under Dyche where Keane has started, Everton have picked up 8 points and conceded 25 goals; without him, the team’s record is 13 points and only 9 conceded. (Hat-tip to @saywattharry for the stats.)

It’s not mere coincidence and Dyche’s blind spot regarding the 30-year-old was a major reason why some fans questioned whether the manager was the right man to take the club forward this season.

Yerry Mina may not have played very much but on the occasions he did, he gave a very clear indication of the kind of player Everton needed to sign to, first, cover for him and, now, replace him. That there is not a shred of evidence that Kevin Thelwell is even looking to bolster the defence with 11 days left of the transfer window is deeply concerning but the time has very definitely come to see if Jarrad Branthwaite can do the job.

For the rest of the side, this is going to be an important week of reflection and then hard work and focus to ensure that they come out on the right side of an early-season six-pointer against Wolves. Otherwise, psychologically, things could begin to spiral out of control very quickly.

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