For the second successive Derby, Roberto Martinez went with 3 holding midfielders in the form of Gareth Barry, Muhammed Besic and James McCarthy, all in an attempt to stifle Liverpool’s attacking threat. A clean sheet, for the third game in row followed, but at what cost? It has been well documented that it took until Seamus Coleman’s 86th minute effort for Everton to register their first, and only, shot on target. Of course, this doesn’t tell the whole story, the Blues had several forays forward, but moves broke down time and again due to a poor final ball or, infuriatingly, Lukaku finding himself constantly offside.
Overall though, Everton carried very little attacking threat, especially for the home side. It is important to put a sense of perspective on the situation. We are at a stage where confidence is still fragile, and another clean sheet would have instilled more confidence in the backline going forward. In many ways, and although it is a cliché, we have gone back to basics and become difficult to beat again, something which many were calling for following the disastrous Christmas period.
However, if we are to start moving up the table sooner rather than later, we simply have to offer a lot more in an attacking sense, and that surely has to mean one of Barry, Besic or McCarthy making way. Last season, Gareth Barry was a key cog in Everton’s well-oiled machine (cliché warning number two), age was just a number. Like most of Everton’s 30 something’s this season though, age seems to have very much caught up with them. Whether this is actually the case, or whether the frankly shocking preseason programme has anything to do with it, it’s safe to say Barry has performed nowhere near the standard he set last campaign. Before the Palace game, Everton’s last 3 victories had come when Barry was out of the team.
On current form then, Barry has be the one to drop out, allowing a more forward thinking midfielder, like Barkley, to flourish in front on McCarthy and Besic. Some have suggested even dropping Barkley into the centre of midfield, but question marks remain over his defensive capabilities. He may drop back in the future, but for now he does his best work going forward.
From the outside, it looks like Martinez is very reluctant to drop Barry, regardless of form, but with the former City man currently sitting on 9 yellow cards, a two game suspension surely isn’t too far away. When this inevitably happens, Besic and McCarthy have to paired together. Although he’s been troubled with injuries, it’s quite clear Bobby doesn’t fancy Gibson.
Something Martinez has been praised for is putting his faith in his younger players, and he has been handsomely repaid by the likes of Callum McManaman at Wigan, John Stones and Ross Barkley at Everton, to name a few. Besic has proven he can handle himself and James McCarthy is, well, James McCarthy. It’s time to take Barry out of the firing line and go with Besic and McCarthy.
