This match review is not trying to gloss over the performance on Saturday. Everton was woeful defensively and had staggeringly little impetus going forward. Someone can argue all day that we need to play a 4-4-2 every match but that wouldn’t fix our problems. Louis Saha needs to improve his work rate on defense and either he or Tim Cahill needs to take an opportunity that falls their way. Throwing Vellios on from the beginning to partner Saha is not going to solve our problems. It might make us more likely to score, but when we give up three goals with an extra man in midfield it’s tough to argue that we should drop one of the defensive midfielders for an inexperienced striker.

Part in parcel with a lot of the criticism leveled at David Moyes after this (and every match Everton loses) is how defensive his tactics are. Many fans (me included) were unhappy when he took Cahill off and put Neville on in the 72nd minute. Despite my consternation at the time of the decision, I would now say that Moyes was trying to get a better attack going by stopping Chelsea’s forays into (and through) our midfield. Personally, I would have rather seen Vellios come on at that point because Saha’s work rate was infuriatingly casual but I think I need to row back on arguing that it was the worst substitution I’ve ever seen.

Given how much our tactics seem to be focused on defense, it was upsetting for fans to see our defense crumbling because of more avoidable mistakes. These defensive lapses have been the bane of this season to date, as they have been at the beginnings of at least the past 4 seasons. The defense turns off for five seconds and then the other team scores. This happens regardless of whom we play and often sees Everton go down a goal after bossing a game for the first half hour. 

As much as these defensive frailties are frustrating, there is a certain positive spin that can be placed on them this season. Let’s take a look at our points tallies after seven matches from the past five years:

2011-2012: 7 played, 7 points

2010-2011: 7 played, 6 points

2009-2010: 7 played, 9 points

2008-2009: 7 played, 8 points

2007-2008: 7 played, 10 points

The point totals are all woeful. However, in each of the four previous seasons, we have played one team that is considered part of the top five (United in 2010, Arsenal in 2009, Liverpool in 2008, and United in 2007). This season we’ve played three (City, Liverpool and Chelsea). This argument is not to say that we weren’t shocking in Saturday, but that in previous seasons we’ve amassed a similar tally at this point in the season against inferior teams. This means that, as bad as Everton was on Saturday, at least we have some winnable games coming down the road. Hopefully, we’ll shake off these early season defensive blunders by then.

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