THERE seems to finally be light at the end of the tunnel for Everton.
Just before Christmas last year the ownership of the club was finally stabilised with the Friedkin Group completing the deal to purchase the club from the previous owner Farhad Moshiri.
RexDavid Moyes has transformed Everton’s fortunes by freeing up their attacking spirit[/caption]
GettyThis should pose a major issue for Ruben Amorim when they visit the Toffees[/caption]
Progress has continued with the building of a new stadium, with the club expected to be playing home games there from the start of next season.
And that has been bolstered by an upturn in form following the return of David Moyes, with four wins from the six Premier League games he has taken charge of.
The in-form Toffees take their new manager bounce into a clash with Moyes’ old club Manchester United, whom he originally left Everton in 2013 to manage before he was sacked ten months later.
Below we look at the subtle tactical changes Moyes has made since taking charge and how these will make life very difficult for the Red Devils this weekend.
A more modern approach
One of the most undeserved criticisms levelled at Moyes throughout his career is that he is a tactical ‘dinosaur’ who had not been able to keep up with the tactical shifts of the modern game.
This is a lazy criticism of the Scot as he has consistently shown clever tactical features in his teams.
Everton were very organised under Sean Dyche, so much so that it stifled their attacking approach with too few players making supporting attacking runs in favour of keeping the team compact.
One of the first changes Moyes implemented saw the defensive line shift from a back four to a more fluid structure, with Jake O’Brien coming in at right-back and playing a deeper, more hybrid role.
This has allowed Vitalii Mykolenko on the left side to move higher and join the attack with the back line shifting into a three.
This slight tweak has allowed Everton to remain strong in their defensive structure while also releasing more players to join the attack.
Here, we can see the back three shape from Everton now under Moyes
This switch to a back three in possession created more opportunities for creative attacking patterns through the centre and down the left-hand side of the pitch.
The movement and attacking intent of Mykolenko have been key to this by creating overloads as he pushes forward.
With Everton now being less structured in the way they attack and penetrate into the final third they are clearly more difficult to defend against and they are starting to create more chances on goal.
This more creative approach in possession will be difficult for Ruben Amorim‘s side to deal with, as a number of teams have already had great success against his 3-4-3 system.
Here Mykolenko combines down the left by looking to play combinations with attacking players
The movement of Mykolenko and his combinations down the left provide threat, but they are only present now because of the change in the way the defensive line has been structured.
Moyes has retained the defensive strength of the Everton team while unlocking more attacking creativity just with a change in role from the right-back.
Unlocking the threat in the centre
We have already touched on Moyes changing the basic structure of Everton to get the best out of Iliam Ndiaye on the left side of the pitch.
Under Dyche we saw how rigid Everton were when they attacked with the front three being supported, for the most part, by one midfield player.
But under Moyes, the left-sided attacker has more freedom to drift in and out of the channels or even the central spaces.
Unfortunately for Everton, Ndiaye has picked up an injury and is facing at least a few weeks on the sidelines.
Jack Harrison is likely to fill in the left-sided attacking role this weekend given he came on for the stricken Ndiaye when he got injured against Liverpool.
Despite Harrison having a very different profile to Ndiaye, the role will remain fluid with Harrison coming inside to receive in pockets of space where he can get turned to attack and hurt the opposition with his ball-carrying ability.
The left winger can bring threat for Everton when receiving wide with Mykolenko immediately overlapping
Having a player with the profile of a Ndiaye or a Harrison who can carry the ball in the channels or even centrally and force defenders to engage them will immediately create space and time in the final third.
This will be especially important against the Red Devils who have struggled in recent weeks with an inability to deal with intelligent movement and positioning.
We saw this in their last game against Spurs with James Maddison having a real impact with his positioning and creativity.
This is why the left-sided attacker and their movement into central areas will be extremely important this coming weekend.
Alternatively, here Jack Harrison has narrowed off to get the ball in a more central area and create an overload
This weekend expect to see Moyes release Harrison with Mykolenko regularly making aggressive runs to stretch the pitch and occupy the right wing-back for United, likely to be one of Diogo Dalot or Patrick Dorgu.
How United react and deal with the overload in central areas could be key in the deciding the outcome.
More attacking presence and chance creation
One of the clear improvements since Moyes took over from Dyche has been the ability for Everton to create goal scoring opportunities.
They have gone from being one of the worst teams in the league in terms of the quantity and quality of chances created to being one of the best.
Much of the credit for this goes to Moyes for getting the best out of players like Ndiaye – though he is out of the Man Utd clash through injury – and Beto in the attacking third.
Crucially, the Toffees are now willing to commit more players into attacking positions in all areas of the pitch.
This sees them stretching the width of the opposition defensive structure and sending more runners from central areas in order to overload the opposition through the middle.
Everton are now far braver by attacking in numbers during transition
Their willingness to send numbers forward in the attacking phase will be an important tactical concept this weekend against Man Utd.
Part of the issues they have faced so far this season have been their lack of organisation in defensive transitions.
Teams that can stretch them and attack aggressively with numbers, especially centrally, can really hurt Amorim’s set-up.
It will be interesting to see whether Moyes keeps with the same structure and style of play against Man Utd, who managed a 4-0 win against Everton when Amorim previously faced Everton under Dyche.
Here we see Everton willing to commit multiple players into attacking positions
There is no doubt Amorim’s side will have to push and attack as they look to find some form and create chances of their own.
This will leave them vulnerable to being attacked on the counter attack and this has been a clear strength of Everton so far under Moyes.
Conclusion
While it is difficult to be too critical of the job Dyche did at Everton, there is no doubt Everton are looking far more settled and effective under Moyes.
If they can secure all three points this weekend when United visit Goodison Park, Everton should comfortably climb the table.
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