Everton have conceded 10 goals in losing their opening three Premier League games of the season, with obvious concerns they could be facing another scrap at the bottom of the table; watch Aston Villa vs Everton live on Saturday Night Football, kick-off 5.30pm
Saturday 14 September 2024 17:41, UK
American businessman John Textor has said the opportunity to become the new owner of Everton is like being asked if he would like to become the President of the United States.
In an exclusive interview with Sky Sports, the fifth bidder to have been granted a period of exclusivity by majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri said he was confident everything could be completed before his exclusivity agreement expires on November 30.
But on the pitch so far this season, the side he hopes to enhance as early as the January transfer window has not performed. In the final nine minutes against Bournemouth before the international break, it was more white flag than White House.
Everton had been near-perfect for 87 minutes but the game management and temperament which served them so well during last season's run-in deserted them.
Vitaliy Mykolenko went chasing the ball across the pitch to vacate his left-back area. Idrissa Gueye didn't detect the danger as Justin Kluivert spotted the space to cross perfectly for Luis Sinisterra to head in a 96th-minute winner.
It was the latest a team has ever been two or more goals ahead in a game they've gone on to lose in Premier League history.
Ahead of this weekend's trip to Aston Villa, live on Saturday Night Football, manager Sean Dyche will have looked back on the three losses which have plunged Everton to the bottom of the Premier League table in search of answers.
To contextualise those defeats, they have come with a goal difference of minus eight - making this their worst start to a league season. Only twice before has the club lost their first four league games - in 1926/27 and 1958/59.
Away from Goodison Park, Everton are winless in their last 12 away Premier League games, stretching back to last December.
That bleak run is in keeping with the different paths Everton and Aston Villa have been on over the past few seasons. Back in 2020/21, the teams were separated by just four points and one place.
Villa have enjoyed a near constant upward trajectory and will start their first Champions League campaign since 1982/83 - when the tournament was still the European Cup - at Young Boys on Tuesday.
Everton have been heading in the opposite direction. The club's battle to fall in line with PSR has been an ongoing saga - and explains the net spend of the past few seasons that further contributes to what appears likely to be a third successive relegation dogfight.
Everton have scored just 18 Premier League goals in 2024. Striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin (five) is the only player to score more than three.
Another concern for Dyche will be how his side have performed directly after an international break. Everton have lost eight of their last 10 such games, including all four last season.
But does the xG point to a change in fortune? They are one of just four teams to have both underperformed in front of goal and conceded more than they should have, along with Wolves, Manchester United and this weekend's opponents Villa.
Dyche has regularly set his teams out to be more defensively solid than adventurous going forward, so the biggest difference so far this term has been keeping the ball out of the net.
Goalkeeper Jordan Pickford has the Premier League's lowest save ratio this season, dropping from 70 per cent in 2023/24 to 47 so far this time around.
Dyche has made a habit of starting a season slowly during his time managing in the top flight, as the graphic above shows.
At Burnley, his side failed to win any of their first five matches in 2018/19 when they were in the Europa League and yet managed to recover comfortably.
The following season saw one victory in their first five matches, while it took eight games to collect their first win during the 2020/21 campaign.
Each time, Burnley survived, but Dyche wouldn't be so fortunate the following year as one win in their opening 21 games led to their demise - after he had been dismissed.
Only nine times in Everton's history have they lost their opening three games to a league season, but twice now has it occurred in successive seasons under Dyche.
Having also lost the final game of last season at Arsenal, a sixth defeat on the bounce in the league would represent Everton's worst run since under David Moyes between August and October 2005.
His record as Everton manager in August reads 'Played 6, Lost 6'. Once again, the Toffees are stuck in the starting blocks. But has it been a case of Dyche actually ending badly?
Taking a closer look at this season, his Everton side started well in both home games.
The players themselves knew they were worthy winners, but they simply lacked the confidence to see it out.
The main caveat to Everton's poor start has been the absence of Jarrad Branthwaite, whose form last season took him to the cusp of making Gareth Southgate's final England squad at Euro 2024.
Branthwaite has missed the four games in all competitions with a muscle injury but is closing in on a return which cannot come soon enough.
The spotlight will be on the mental strength of a group of players that showed such resilience in the face of adversity at various times last season, but a closer look at the manner of the goals conceded this term reveals a worrying new trend.
Of the 10 goals they have shipped, five have been from failing to deal with crosses. That can partly be explained by the quality of the delivery, along with the absence of Branthwaite, but it also points to more being needed to shut down the crosses by the full-backs.
Poor positioning by Mykolenko contributed to Bournemouth's comeback, but the Ukrainian was also far too easily beaten by Yankuba Minteh on the opening day for Brighton's opener.
In the same sequence, Ashley Young on the opposite flank was far too advanced, allowing Kaoru Mitoma too much space to score a simple tap-in.
In the 4-0 defeat by Tottenham, Cristian Romero rose easily above James Tarkowski to score Spurs' third, which effectively ended the game.
Everton boasted the fourth-strongest defence last season - conceding on average 1.3 goals per game - but so far this term, their numbers have been directly impacted by the league-high 21 successful crosses conceded in the opening three weeks.
Dyche has so far opted not to start summer signing Jake O'Brien, preferring to partner Tarkowski with Michael Keane. The pair know each other from their time at Burnley, but that advantage hasn't been mirrored in results.
Since Tarkowski joined Everton in summer 2022, they have only started 17 Premier League games together, winning just twice.
Indeed, it was a 4-0 reverse at Villa in the second game of last season which led to Keane being dropped from the side in place of Branthwaite. Keane has started just five league games since.
Amadou Onana will face Everton for the first time tonight since moving to Villa Park for £50m this summer. The Belgian, who moved to Goodison Park for £33.5m in summer 2022, has seen his role change significantly under Unai Emery.
His attacking attributes have seen him score twice in his first three appearances for Villa. He scored just three times in 63 league games for Everton.
His all-action performances for Everton have become a more restricted role this season so far, but his replacement Tim Iroegbunam has impressed onlookers with his displays.
The challenge for the former Villa midfielder has been producing the same level of performance across 90 minutes, with the 21-year-old and the team as a whole fading during the three league defeats.
Dyche must come up with a solution to maintaining the same level of intensity from start to finish, but he must also protect the young members of his squad such as Iroegbunam to ensure the encouraging signs aren't sullied by natural fatigue.
The manager was criticised by some supporters for his unwillingness to make changes earlier against Bournemouth, but Dyche said on Thursday: "I've watched the Bournemouth game back about 47 times, and I can assure you [we lost] not because of the substitutions.
"There was a lot of comments about substitutions, but I'm in good company. I think Pep Guardiola makes less than me - he ain't bad you know. We didn't do the things that were necessary to see the game through and we've got to continually learn from that."
Everton also boast one of the oldest squads in the division, which in part explains the issue of fatigue witnessed so far. Dyche is renowned for his 'Gaffer Days' in pre-season training when he carries out the dreaded beep tests for his players. This past summer, he had more than one.
In terms of high turnovers, only Tottenham (40) have made more than Everton's 29, while the team's average starting distance (44.9 metres) is the third highest in the division.
The side have collectively produced 431 sprints (fifth highest) and they are 13th for distance covered (319.3km).
It wouldn't suggest that there is much correlation between the age profile and the fitness of the group.
Crucially in this last metric, however, both Brighton and Bournemouth rank top while only Liverpool (569) have produced more sprints than Spurs (507). In simple terms, the numbers would suggest Everton have been dealt a tough start at a time when key personnel in certain areas have been missing.
Dyche's first managerial role at Watford was ended shortly after the Pozzo family took over at Vicarage Road in July 2012, so he knows all about new owners bringing their own ideas.
He will be aware of Textor's comments this week, and be eager to finally get off the mark this season at the fourth attempt - fresh from receiving a public vote of confidence from an official club statement on Friday.
This weekend's encounter with Aston Villa is the most-played fixture in English football league history, with all 212 meetings coming in the top division. Dyche must ensure that remains the case heading into the new stadium next year.
A trip to Villa Park is hardly the ideal setting to turn a corner, but a performance more in keeping with the resilience shown towards the back end of last season is non-negotiable after the brittle collapse of a fortnight ago.
Aston Villa vs Everton is live on Saturday Night Football on Sky Sports Premier League from 5pm; kick-off 5.30pm. Sky Sports customers can watch in-game clips in the live match blog on the Sky Sports website and app.
Highlights will also be published on the Sky Sports digital platforms and the Sky Sports Football YouTube channel shortly after the final whistle.
