On Monday night, Everton travel up to Sunderland to face this season’s surprise package so far.
After two seasons where all three newly promoted sides went straight back down, Sunderland are off to a flyer. Last weekend's win at Chelsea took Regis Le Bris’s team up to fourth place, one point ahead of Pep Guardiola's Manchester City.
The other two newly promoted sides, Burnley and Leeds United, are also finding success. Nine games into the new season, and neither sit in the relegation zone, with both already notching more wins than Southampton managed in the entirety of last season.
On the surface, more success for the newly promoted sides should mean fewer guaranteed points for Everton, but the Toffees have been among the few sides not to benefit from the new teams' shortcomings in recent seasons.
Over the last two years, only Wolves and Bournemouth have dropped more points to the newly promoted sides than Everton.
Last season, Everton and Brighton were the only two sides to concede points against all three of Leicester City, Ipswich Town, and Southampton, and Everton were the only team besides Ipswich to lose to Southampton.
So if Sunderland are reversing the fortunes of newly promoted teams, perhaps Everton's fortunes can be reversed as well.
It’s not unrealistic; many of Everton’s issues against the Premier League's bottom sides in recent years have stemmed from a lack of creativity and, in turn, an inability to break down defensive sides.
Theoretically, buoyed by their win at Chelsea and at home to a side they’ll think they can beat, the onus will be more on Sunderland to take the fight to Everton, which could disrupt their defensive shape.
In the two matches where Sunderland haven’t ceded possession to the opposition, they’ve lost, against Manchester United, where the two sides split possession 50/50, and against Burnley, where Sunderland controlled more of the ball.
Sunderland are at their best when playing on the counter; they’ve been tight at the back, with the third-best defensive record in the league, but they’ve arguably been a bit lucky, scoring just over a goal per match while taking the fewest shots on target in the league.
They’ve also relied heavily on their goalkeeper for results. Robin Roefs is ranked second in the league for goals prevented, with two notable Man of the Match performances against Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest helping guide Sunderland to a result.
But Everton will struggle to break Sunderland down if they continue to focus on patient wing play, spreading the ball out to Jack Grealish and Iliman Ndiaye, who aim to deliver crosses. In addition to Everton’s striker struggles, Sunderland is the second-best team in the league when it comes to blocking crosses.
It could finally be time for David Moyes to try something different, either playing Ndiaye alongside the striker to provide additional support, or even dropping Beto and Thierno Barry altogether and playing Carlos Alcaraz or Ndiaye as a false nine.
Everton are a long way from any sort of crisis, but losing three on the bounce, after scoring just three in their last five, would be highly disappointing for a team that looked rejuvenated earlier this season.
Reader Comments (15)
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2 Posted 02/11/2025 at 08:01:45
We would be shaking our heads, anticipating the inevitable.
We will win, comfortably, tomorrow
3 Posted 02/11/2025 at 08:34:08
Lots of talk of a false 9 or anyone but Beto or Barry up front. I don't quite buy the logic -- have Ndiaye or Alcaraz even ever played there? The main argument seems to be 'Well it can't get any worse'. But it can. Who plays that way with success?
I'm as frustrated as anyone with the strikers, but is playing a non-striker there the answer? Not to my simple brain. Maybe its a masterstroke that I just don't understand.
4 Posted 02/11/2025 at 09:14:49
And also getting bodies closer to Barry in support.
5 Posted 02/11/2025 at 09:31:58
I remember going to Sunderland for an FA Cup Quarter-final replay, thinking we were going into the lion's den, only to be completely amazed by the noise 6,500 Evertonians generated that night. A night that I'm sure was responsible for the away fans being moved into the heavens.
We have a better squad of players (people who are comfortable on the ball) than we have had for years but I do worry about us defensively and that very obvious deficiency that we have got at the top of the pitch right now.
Beto or Barry only give us a real focus point if either of them is getting hold of the ball, and because this isn't really happening at the moment, then surely it's time to try and find another way to counteract this?
6 Posted 02/11/2025 at 09:44:09
I've never thought Moyes's strengths were flexibility and tactical adjustments, so whether he is capable of finding the answer, I don't know.
7 Posted 02/11/2025 at 09:50:59
When I watched us win at Wolves, who are admittedly shocking, we had movement, we had people trying to get ahead of the ball, and we had those little passages of aggressive play, when it was clear that it looked like the players were actually enjoying themselves.
This isn't something I've really seen collectively from our team since those last 10 minutes at Molynuex.
8 Posted 02/11/2025 at 10:13:56
Being predictable in football is only any use when you are really, really good at what you are predictable at.
10 Posted 02/11/2025 at 11:01:57
It's the same with throw-ins, nobody gambles on Barry or Beto winning the header. We also lack pace in this side so we don't break with any pace, because our full-backs don't possess great pace, they seem reluctant to overlap in case they are caught out of possession.
The same applies at the back: Tarkowski is one of the slowest back four players in the Premier League so is reluctant to push too far up-field knowing if we lose possession, he hasn't got the pace to recover.
11 Posted 02/11/2025 at 11:42:12
He probably starts picking his team with about 14 or 15 players in mind and uses another 4 or 5 to make up the substitutes bench.
I'm hoping for the best but preparing for the worst because I feel that's how a majority of our fans are thinking -- no matter what they say.
12 Posted 02/11/2025 at 11:45:56
If you swapped our defensive unit for that of Sunderland, we would be scoring goals.
13 Posted 02/11/2025 at 12:34:51
14 Posted 02/11/2025 at 13:24:07
Vítor Pereira is Farhad Moshiri's No 1 choice to replace Benítez at Everton
15 Posted 02/11/2025 at 13:28:32
I think we'll win. UTFT
16 Posted 02/11/2025 at 13:39:19
Well, it's not as bad as it's been in the last few years but I think you know what I mean!
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1 Posted 02/11/2025 at 02:15:42
Spoiling minnow parties will be in our mindset!