Why Rafa’s rule can lead Everton to a good league finish
The appointment of Rafa Benitez as Everton manager has certainly caused a fair amount of controversy in the Merseyside County. The former Liverpool manager who led the reds to their famed 2005 Champions League miracle wasn’t exactly going to be an immediate fan favourite at Goodison Park. But Benitez has made an impressive start to his reign as Everton boss with 3 wins and one draw so far in the Premier League.
Benitez has also made some interesting signings that can be assumed are the profiles of players that he believes will fit into his system well. These transfers have barely come at any cost to Everton with Demarai Gray being the only player who didn’t come in on a free transfer and yet only cost £2 million from Bayer Leverkusen which is already looking to be one of the steals of the season.
This astute transfer business coupled with Benitez’s excellent ability to adapt to different opposition alongside his unquestionable managerial prowess and experience could be a recipe for success this season at Everton. Everton have finished 12th and 10th in their last two Premier League campaigns but here’s why this time could see the blues pushing for those top 9 positions and even for that Europa Conference League Spot.
Benitez has kicked off the season by typically going with a sort of 4–2–3–1/4–4–2 playing Richarlison just off Dominic Calvert-Lewin with Demarai Gray on the left-hand side and Townsend on the right. So far this has proven to be particularly effective with Everton scoring 7 and conceding only 3 in their first 3 games. Across the first 4 games the front attacking 4 of Richarlison, Calvert-Lewin, Townsend and Gray scored 8 goals between them. These numbers are no doubt impressive, but it was Everton’s performance against Burnley at Goodison Park on Monday night- the one game Rafa didn’t go for this same set up with the absence of his star striker Calvert-Lewin through a broken toe injury.
Everton were set up in a sort of 5–2–3 formation, Rafa opting for 3 central defenders rather than his usual 2. Richarlison played as the man through the middle up front in this system with Townsend to his right and Gray to his left.
Speculation as to why Rafa went with this set up revolved around the idea that it was to compensate for Calvert-Lewin’s absence or to have a more crowded defensive penalty area to combat Burnley’s strength at heading and getting goals from within the penalty area via crosses or set pieces in particular. However, Everton started off the game quite slowly and even to probably their own surprise- Burnley dominated possession. Everton’s main route of chance creation at this stage was to get the ball out to their wingers and full backs who would then try to get the ball into the box for Richarlison as well as Doucoure who made a consistent level of late runs into the box which led to him having one of the best early chances of the game, producing a great save from Nick Pope. Whilst this began to prove slightly more effective towards the end of the second half- it wasn’t presenting Everton with enough big chances to convert to goals.
Benitez kept things the same going into the second half but early on in this half in the 53rd minute Burnley netted home from a Ben Mee header. The exact thing Benitez set his team up to counter had happened- Burnley had got the ball to a big centre back in Everton’s box and it had led to a goal. It was around this time that the cogs seemed to start turning in Benitez’s head as he instructed centre-midfielder Andre Gomes to start getting ready to go on.
It was only 7 minutes later that Everton went up the other end and equalised from a Michael Keane header from a pinpoint cross off the left boot of Andros Townsend- Rafa’s original plan had worked. It was at this point that I wished for Benitez to continue with his tactical change despite the goal- and thankfully he did.
Young centre-back Ben Godfrey made way for Andre Gomes as Everton switched to a less defensive 4–3–3 formation with Allan slotting into a more defensive midfield role, anchoring the other two midfielders in Gomes and Doucoure.
Very quickly this tactical change opened the floodgates with Everton scoring in the 65th and 66th minute. The first of these goals came from Andros Townsend who scored an absolute wonder goal after cutting in from the left before launching the ball into the top left corner leaving Nick Pope with no chance. The second of these goals came from Demarai Gray who slotted the ball into the net after receiving a fantastic through pass on the counter from Doucoure.
One of the players who got a lot of plaudits for his performance was Andros Townsend as he scored a brilliant goal and set up the first for Michael Keane with a great cross. Whilst I agree that these plaudits are deserved, and Townsend had a great game- the standout man for me was a certain Abdoulaye Doucoure. Doucoure like I mentioned earlier had been making numerous late runs into the box hoping to bag a goal but had been held back from roaming the pitch a bit more freely due to only being protected by one other central midfielder, Allan. Doucoure looked one of the better players in the 5–3–2 formation, but he really shone as soon as the team switched to a 4–3–3 as he was allowed to play almost without a harness.
Gomes and Allan provided the team with a bit more protection in midfield with Allan sweeping in between the defence and behind the midfield two of Gomes and Doucoure. This allowed Doucoure to ditch his defensive responsibilities and get into a lot more threatening positions where he was able to create more chances. The proof was in the pudding as Doucoure went on to set up both Townsend and Gray’s goals with line breaking passes that he had been able to make after receiving the ball either higher up in midfield or even out wide.
This tactical change allowed Doucoure to impact the game very well as he continues to show himself to be notably underrated Premier League midfielder. However, this tactical alteration was the work of Rafa Benitez who very quickly into the second half realised that his current system wasn’t going to create enough attacking opportunities. Benitez has always been known for his ability to set up well to deal with specific oppositions and to adapt his team during the game; while this is not new information for us it does bode well for Everton who can have confidence in their manager to make game-winning changes at the right time in a game unlike numerous other managers who have struggled to make changes early enough like Mikel Arteta and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer or those who have lacked the managerial intelligence to make the right changes that can shift the tide of a game.
This could be something for Everton fans to really get excited about this season. Alongside this Everton have a strong premiership level core first team squad that under a good manager like Rafa Benitez can most definitely push for a top 10 or top 9 finish and maybe even for the Europa Conference League spot. The one issue that could possibly arise for Everton as the season goes on is their lack of high-quality squad depth. We saw last season how injury blows to. Players like Calvert-Lewin, Allan and James Rodriguez slowed Everton down as the season went on.
All in all, there are plenty of reasons for optimism amongst Everton fans at this early stage of the season. Who knows, maybe Rafa Benitez can end the season with the Everton fans firmly on his side despite his previous escapades at Anfield.
