Although Marco Silva’s first season in charge did not end in qualification for European football, Everton showed promising signs for this upcoming season. If they do not qualify this year, Silva’s time at Goodison may be questioned after being given time to improve his squad with a sizeable budget.
The quality of Everton’s side and the style of play has undoubtedly improved under Silva more than it has under any manager post-David Moyes, but the fans will now be hoping to challenge and potentially break that top six. Having signed players like Richarlison and Lucas Digne last season, Everton were hoping to qualify for the Europa League but fell fractionally short.
Transfers and squad improvements
Owner Farhad Moshiri has seemingly not wanted a repeat of last season and has been vocal about his desire to push the club to the next level. He has not shied away from trying to draw big names to the club, most recently with Wilfried Zaha’s links to the club. With their first game of the new season only one week away, Silva will be looking to add more quality players to his squad.
This is not to say they haven’t been busy in the market, making Andre Gomes a permanent feature of the squad after a successful loan spell from Barcelona and signing a seemingly out-of-favour Fabian Delph from Manchester City for £10 million.
Both of these players provide quality to the midfield while Delph can also fit in at left-back if Lucas Digne becomes unavailable. They will also be hoping to sign another centre back as so far, Kurt Zouma appears to be part of Frank Lampard’s plans at Chelsea and therefore unlikely to return to Goodison.
Everton will hope to make at least one more statement signing. Signing a player like Zaha or someone of similar calibre – having sold previous investments Nikola Vlasic and Ademola Lookman for around a combined £33 million – could provide the club with a player capable of pushing the Toffees into a new level of competitiveness alongside adding a fresh dynamic to their squad.
If Everton can pull off some big transfers before the deadline day, they will feel they can go one step further than last year and see off other contenders such as Wolves and Leicester.
How have they fared in pre-season?
Everton took part in their second pre-season trip to East Africa and have since returned home drawing three of their four friendly matches. With three more games to go, the Blues will hope to get more wins on the board but will not be phased if they don’t.
With pre-season mainly about recapturing the fitness levels needed for the Premier League, Silva will hope that his side are in shape and tactically ready for that first game against Crystal Palace.
Everton’s strengths and weaknesses going into the new season
Everton’s strongest points lie in their prolific and clinical nature. Outside of the top six, they only finished behind Bournemouth with the most scored goals last season, netting 54 times. Not only that, but there are goals around the squad with Richarlison and Gylfi Sigurdsson both adding more than ten goals each while players like Lucas Digne also contributing to their attacking efforts.
These stats are a credit to Silva’s attack-minded vision, and if they can improve on these stats then there is no reason why they cannot crack the top six.
However, the Toffees did have a few sour patches last season due to their inconsistency. That is perhaps their most telling problem. Everton only managed a run of three wins in a row once last season in the last few fixtures and that is their major issue. In a particularly poor spell last season, Everton lost eight games out of ten. This meant that even though they recaptured form, the task of qualifying for Europe was near impossible.
With 54 goals and 14 clean sheets last season, Everton arguably should have placed higher than they did last season. However, they will look to right the wrongs of last season with much more consistent displays. The first half of the season was woeful which is shown by the fact that nine of those 14 clean sheets were kept in the last 15 games of the season. They need to be far more solid from the get-go this time around in 2019/20.
Key Players – Everton’s midfield
Last season, Everton’s midfield was key and there is no reason why the situation would be any different this season. Sigurdsson and Richarlison were constant goal threats while Gomes and Idrissa Gueye proved to be vital players both defensively and going forward. Without a functioning midfield, a lot of Silva’s tactics become stifled but more often than not, Everton tend to find ways around squads and will hope that the midfield continues in the same vein this season.
Now Silva seems to have his tactics right, playing Sigurdsson as an attacking midfielder rather than a forward and Richarlison as a winger rather than a lone striker, Everton appear to be a far more fluent outfit and fans will hope Silva gets his tactics right from the start of the season and throughout.
Predicted Finish – 7th
Despite tough competition, Everton do have what it takes to bring European football back to Goodison. While cracking the top six spots may be too tall of an order, they can see off a team like Wolves who may feel the physical demand of having the added European fixtures.
Final thoughts
As discussed, Everton have a few things to do this season. They need to continue to be as prolific as they were last season but also defensively strong for the whole campaign. Silva’s side showed up too late last year and if they can amend that turbulent start then they could be in for a successful season.
