Everton have had a topsy-turvy start to the season and find themselves in the 9th place after 17 matches. The Toffees had started off in brilliant fashion and won four of their five opening games. But it was too good to be true with the change in manager and the addition a couple of new signings who usually take the time to settle in their new surroundings and get on the same page as their teammates. And it proved to be the case as they have just two wins in the next eleven games.
But the Arsenal win was expected to give them the requisite amount of momentum to get a positive result against Liverpool in the Merseyside Derby. But a late Sadio Mane strike saw them drop another 3 points in a match where a draw was a real possibility.
With the stakes high and the games running out, Koeman would certainly want a higher finish than the 9th spot.
Let us take look at three things the manager can do to get Everton purring again.
SIGN A GOALKEEPER
Marten Stekelenburg comes with a lot of pedigree and a good CV. But in all fairness, he hasn’t yet performed up to the levels which were expected of him. The Dutch keeper has been consistently inconsistent and has already made a number of high-profile errors most notably the rushing out of his goal line against Manchester United. There was no logic and it was a simple case of extremely bad decision-making. Koeman has to look for a keeper who can provide better competition to Stekelenburg and ideally be better than him.
SIGN MEMPHIS DEPAY
Another instance of Dutch connect. Everton had invested heavily in Yannick Bolasie and the transfer fee signified the role Koeman had earmarked for the former Crystal Palace player. But the unfortunate injury to him has more or less ended his season. Everton have been linked with a move for Depay since summer and with each passing day, it seems to be more plausible. Even though he has Lennon, Mirallas and Deulofeu, Depay will be an upgrade on them. The player will come in with an intense desire and will to perform and prove his critics wrong.
PROVIDE COMPETITON FOR ROMELU LUKAKU
With Lukaku the only out and out striker of such a high level in the team, he is traditionally being played every game. He scores in bulk and goes long stretches without troubling the scorers which result in Everton losing out on important points. The fact that he has scored only 3 goals in his last 9 games, 2 of them coming in a losing cause against Watford demonstrates the very fact. Everton need to provide direct competition for the Belgian and try to spark some life into the player who has the potential to turn their season around.
