Match Review - Everton 0 Leeds 1 - "You have a shot, we have a shot"

What a game for the neutral. To coin a phrase from Paul Merson (something I wouldn't advise doing on a regular basis) this was a classic case of "you have a shot, we have a shot" - an open, end to end game which some would say is what the Premier League is all about. Unfortunately for us non-neutral Evertonians, we're left trying to dissect another defeat, which on a different day could have been so different.

Having slept on my thoughts, my overriding feeling is that this was a game in which I felt Carlo Ancelotti made a number of mistakes. The first came with the team selection. Now I appreciate it is very easy to criticise team selection in hindsight, and had we won the game, which we quite easily could have on another day, the team selection becomes almost immaterial. But the decision to move Iwobi from RWB to LWB when he played so well last week, and bring in Tom Davies at RWB, I have to say has got me baffled.

All this served to do was completely nullify any threat we had going forward down either side - Iwobi and Davies only attempted 5 and 6 final third passes respectively, compared with 20 (Alioski) and 27 (Ayling) from the Leeds full backs. Iwobi was much less effective on the left and Tom Davies has never been attack minded. I'm sure there was a reason a reason Carlo chose not to go with NKounkou, but doing so would at least have given us a threat on the wings and may have provided Dominic Calvert-Lewin with more service than he ultimately got.

The manager's second mistake was in our initial tactical set up. Having admittedly not seen much of Leeds so far this season, I was surprised to see when doing some pre-game research that they were second only to Manchester City in possession stats. Though once the game started it was clear why. Leeds very quickly took the bull by the horns in this game with their intensity and aggression, which I have to say impressed me. Of course, we had chances of our own, and had it not been for the offside flag would have gone in at half-time 2-0 up, but I never ever felt we had any kind of control at any point in the game. This is were I felt Carlo got it wrong.

We seemed to just submit to the way Leeds wanted to play the game, sitting deep with not much in the way of a high press, and allowing Leeds onto us. We allowed Leeds 16.37 passes per defensive action in their half, compared with our 6.41, clearly showing that they pressed us much more effectively, and we were more than happy to sit off them. Carlo said himself in his post-match press conference that "this was what he expected". For me this was a mistake as it let Leeds settle into the game and pin us back for large parts. There were times in the first half we really had our backs to the wall, with Godfrey having to clear a shot off the line at one point.

I feel like I need to repeat at this point that I understand football is a game of fine margins, and on another day we could have netted 4 or 5 of our own with the chances we had in this game. However, I'm beginning to find it frustrating, and worse, worrying, that we continue to give up so many opportunities to the opposition. In this game for example, Everton gave up an xG to Leeds of 3.11, our worst for over 100 games. Even though this was a game we ultimately could have won, we can't expect to win games and finish the season where we want to if this carries on. This is why I felt tactically we would have been better served imposing ourselves onto Leeds from the start and stopping them from getting into the game. Leeds are a good side and will comfortably stay up, but they're not a Manchester City.

The third mistake Carlo made in my view was the lack of changes at half time. In my notes during the game my last in the first half was "clear changes needed" and first in the second half "no changes - surprising". To me, it was obvious we had to do something to stem the flow of Leeds attacks, either with an extra midfielder, or perhaps Iwobi back to RWB with Delph at LWB, which might have meant Iwobi could get forward more and help to pin Leeds back. Instead, we did nothing, and the second half started in exactly the same way as the first - at 100mph. Carlo did eventually make the Delph for Davies change, but had he done it earlier it may have given us more of that key word - control.

As it happened, it was Leeds who eventually took their chance. This wasn't really a chance in the same way as so many others had been throughout the game, but summed up for me our lackadaisical attitude to defending.

Jack Harrison picks the ball up on the Leeds right hand side and there are 5 Everton players around him - half of the team. The 2 who engage the ball - Gomes and Allan - don't get anywhere near close enough allowing Harrison to pick out Rafinha (circled) unmarked on the edge of our box. Rafinha then has the time to look up, try to find a pass, realise one isn't on, and have a shot, all before Ben Godfrey gets out to close him down. Take nothing away from the strike, but frankly this type of shambolic defending is the reason why we have only kept 1 clean sheet so far this season.

So overall a disappointing result and performance for me, and the first time we have lost successive home games since September 2019. A game we could have ended up winning on another day, but too many square pegs in round holes, and plenty for Carlo to ponder before next week's now must win game against Burnley.

Positive - Allan

I thought Allan was excellent today. He covered every blade of grass and was very effective defensively and going forward. I feel if, dare I say it, Gbamin can come back fit and ready to play in the 6, this will benefit Allan as it will allow him to have a bit more of a box to box role which I think will suit him down to the ground.

Stats:

Shots - 2

Pass Completion - 88.6%

Attacking Third Passes - 8

Take-ons - 5 (100% successful)

Ball Recoveries - 8

Tackles - 1

Negative - Fitness becoming an issue?

Now I have no stats to back this up, just something I've spotted with my own eyes. Is it just me or do we always look unfit compared with the teams we are playing? Leeds to me looked fitter and stronger throughout the game, and this isn't something unique to this particular game. I may be wrong, and appreciate the whole lack of pre-season thing, but that is the same for every team. If I'm right, this could become a huge issue over the next few weeks with the amount of games we have over a relatively short period of time.

Player Ratings

Pickford - 8 - best game for a long time, kept us in it with some crucial saves

Davies - 5 - playing out of position but had a poor game, offered very little at either end

Keane - 5 - part of back 5 that gave up so many chances, should be leader but so often not

Holgate - 6 - still rusty and not 100% for me, sloppy in possession at times

Godfrey - 5 - has to do better for the goal, doesn't close the ball quick enough

Iwobi - 5 - similar to Davies, out of position but had no effect on the game at all

Allan - 8 - MOTM

Doucoure - 6 - difficult for him today, had a hard job in a 2 man midfield

Rodriguez - 7 - much more involved, denied a worldy of a goal by a couple of inches

Richarlison - 6 - missed so many chances, very unlike him

DCL - 7 - very little service today but hold up play superb

Delph - 6 - did ok in time he was on, slightly better than Davies/Iwobi

Gomes - 6 - tried to get on the ball and carry us forward

Bernard - N/A - not on long enough