A chastening performance and result against Fulham provided Sean Dyche with more questions than answers. It was a difficult day for Everton and some issues were highlighted through what didn’t happen, rather than what did.
Not only did the impact of Abdoulaye Doucoure’s absence become more stark but so too did Amadou Onana’s star rise as he watched from the directors’ box.
With the dust settling on a worrying defeat, here are a few moments missed and talking points from Goodison Park.
Still searching for a Plan B
Sean Dyche’s Plan A was a change from the Frank Lampard approach and immediately effective. In came the 4-5-1, Abdoulaye Doucoure and a renewed faith on Dwight McNeil and Everton became competitive again. The resilience instilled alongside those changes led to the building of a platform to get out of trouble.
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The evidence was in the form as, going into the international break, no-one in the relegation fight had accrued more points than Everton from the point of Dyche’s arrival on Merseyside. Doucoure’s red card against Tottenham Hotspur has had a bigger impact than many could have imagined had they been asked to predict his role by late January, by which point he had been frozen out in the final days of Lampard’s reign.
Two goals and two assists highlighted how his inclusion had began to help Everton pose an attacking threat for the first time in months. Without him, there is no obvious solution. Against Manchester United, Dyche tried two up front and it didn’t work. It surprised many he persisted with 4-4-2 for Fulham, and shocked few when his reversion to 4-5-1 after half an hour led to Everton quickly gaining an equaliser and, seemingly, the upper hand.
Dyche later said his initial selection was influenced by the absences he had to deal with it: “We are trying to be effective, we know that we have got to try and get the balance of defending and scoring goals, so we are just searching for that.”
Everton have just one more game without Doucoure but it is clear that, heading into the Crystal Palace game, Dyche I’d still searching for the best answer to dealing with his suspension.
Jordan Pickford’s frustration clear to all
In the opening stages, Jordan Pickford cut a frustrated figure as he sought options. His distribution is a strong point of his game but he had few opportunities to set Everton free and too often was compelled to long balls over the top towards two diminutive strikers who were towered over by the Fulham centre backs.
he results were predictable as Everton struggled to get anything to stick up top. It was a problem that stemmed not just from the lack of a target man but also the changes made at full back, with Seamus Coleman’s injury removing a trusted outlet for Pickford.
Amadou Onana ‘gets better’ in the stands
Amadou Onana is clearly an exceptional talent but he is also young, inexperienced and under a lot of pressure to pull forward an Everton squad with few options to reduce the demands on him from time to time. Over recent weeks there has been much debate over his performance levels but this was a game in which what he brings to the side was highlighted emphatically. Onana is exceptional at breaking up play - ball recoveries, interceptions and blocks. He makes it difficult for teams to play through the middle against Everton, his biggest room for improvement being what he then does once he has won possession deep in his own territory.
Without him, there was little steel in the middle for Everton - certainly while they only had two players there. Onana watched this game from the directors’ box, which he entered minutes into the match in similar fashion to his arrival just before half time of the opening fixture of the season against Chelsea just before signing. Anyone doubting his importance should have had their questions answered through him being in the stands rather than the pitch, such was the impact of his absence. Dominic Calvert-Lewin was also in the directors’ box. How keenly his injury is also being felt.
Dyche names youngsters in the squad
Injuries and Doucoure’s suspension may have necessitated this but Fulham saw a current academy starlet named in a matchday squad for the first time since Isaac Price made the bench for Lampard’s last game at West Ham. This was a dream opportunity for 16-year-old defender Ishe Samuels-Smith, who made a Premier League squad for the first time. Like Stanley Mills alongside him, both were in the squad for the Carabao Cup defeat at Bournemouth - a game Mills did get on the pitch for.
Alex Iwobi offers a classy gesture
Another nice moment came before kick off as kit man Jimmy Martin collected the white training tops from the first team players. As he held his bag open for the players to drop their shirts into one star gave him more attention then the others as Alex Iwobi stopped his pre-match routine and gave him a massive hug.
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