Everything looked to be positive at Everton in the summer. The Toffees brought in the likes of Jordan Pickford, Davy Klaassen, Michael Keane, and Gylfi Sigurdsson and of course, Wayne Rooney returned to his boyhood club.
In all Everton spent around £140million, some of which was recouped in the sale of star striker Romelu Lukaku to Manchester United.
There was mass optimism amongst Everton fans that this season their team would at least challenge the teams that occupied the top-six positions last season. Unfortunately for Everton, the team are closer to the relegation zone than the Champions League spots heading into the second international break of the season.
A horrendous set of opening fixtures has played a big part in the Toffees poor campaign so far, as Ronald Koeman’s side played Manchester City, Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester United in the first five games of their league campaign.
However, the fixtures are not the only contributing factor to the Toffees poor results and performances this season. There are a number of issues that have affected the Merseysiders.
One of the main issues is that they failed to replace striker Romelu Lukaku. Toffees boss Koeman believed that the club was close to signing Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud before the French striker decided to stay in north London.
That meant the Toffees went into the season with only veteran Wayne Rooney, young summer signing Sandro Ramirez and England under-20 striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin as their striking options. The fact that the Merseysiders did not have a backup to Giroud seems incredible.
Everton are now paying for the decision not to sign a recognised striker, as they have struggled for goals. Calvert-Lewin has emerged as the best option up front, while Koeman has had to bring forgotten man Oumar Niasse in from out the cold, as he is that short of striking options.
However, a lack of a prolific striker may not be the worst problem the Toffees have at the minute. A major recruitment drive in the summer meant that players needed time to bed into the squad.
Unfortunately, some players are struggling to find their form, Klaassen and Sandro being two of those players. A big contributing factor to Everton struggling for form is also the fact that Koeman brought in too many number tens in the summer.
The Dutchman has repeatedly attempted to play with Rooney, Klaassen and Sigurdsson in the same team. It is obvious to most observers that it is just not working out.
The system makes Everton very narrow going forward and almost negates any attacking threat the three players pose have to opposition defences. The trio all want to play in the same space. Koeman decided to drop Klaassen and Rooney for the Toffees last game, but the result was a 1-0 home defeat by Burnley.