Everton had started positively this season and although they have seen a string of disappointing performances against the likes of Bournemouth and Chelsea, they are still in the 7th position in the league table, just behind Manchester United.
They had started the season quite strongly winning four matches in a row against West Brom, Stoke City, Sunderland, and Middlesbrough, which saw some very inspiring performances but their embarrassing loss to Chelsea fully exposed their underperforming defence and their inability to bounce from tough situations. Here are some of the best and the worst performers from their season so far.
Stars
Romelu Lukaku
The 23-year old has already achieved the benchmark of 50 goals for the Merseyside club and has been one of the driving forces for the team. Lukaku has scored seven goals this season in 10 appearances and registered three assists. He has a shot accuracy of 77%. He also has a 79% average passing accuracy which shows how impactful his presence could be when he is not in a scoring form.
Ross Barkley
Although the England midfielder has not been in the touch he was in the later stage of last season, he has linked up well with Lukaku in front of the goal. In 10 appearances this season, he scored 2 goals and has created 25 chances. His average passing accuracy is 84 percent and he also has one defensive action per game.
Gareth Barry
This season is seeing a lot of yesteryears’ Premier league stars making an impact for their clubs. Gareth Barry is one of them. The 35-year-old midfielder has scored two goals this season, creating 10 chances. He has completed 462 passes this season with a pass accuracy of 80%, of which 83% were forward passes. In Barry, Everton has an assured anchor who gets the job done well under pressure.
Duds
Maarten Stekelenburg
The Netherlands international has been a disaster for Everton in the last five matches. His worst performance came against Chelsea, though it had a lot to do with Everton’s defending. Stekelenburg has conceded 13 goals in 10 appearances this season and the fact that Everton had let in only 3 games in the opening 5 games says the result for itself.
Seamus Coleman
The defender has reduced to a shadow of himself. After breaking into the first team, Coleman was an attacking minded wing back and was also wanted by many clubs. But he has seen a very big dip in his form. His worst game, like many other defenders on the team, was against Chelsea. Coleman has won 22 tackles this season with a success rate of 55%.
Kevin Mirallas
The Belgian winger has been more ineffective this season as compared to his previous seasons. In the 11 appearances that he made for Everton, he has only managed 1 goal and 1 assist. It is no surprise that Ronald Koeman is looking at options for the wide areas.
Stats credit: Squawka
