Marco Silva has admitted that he understands fans frustrations following the club’s recent away form.
So far this season in the Premier League, the Toffees have drawn 0-0 against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park, lost 2-0 against Aston Villa at Villa Park and finally lost 3-1 to Bournemouth at Dean Court on Sunday.
At home meanwhile, the Blues have beaten both Watford and Wolves, two clubs tipped to have good seasons and likely finish in the top half.
It has become frustrating for fans who don’t know where the mental hurdle lies in playing away from Goodison Park, with the club winning just five away games in the league last season.
Talking in his pre-match press conference ahead of Everton’s hosting of Sheffield United on Saturday, Silva sympathised with frustrated fans. The Everton coach (via Liverpool Echo) said:
We understand why [the fans are frustrated]. We were too.
It’s something we are working on to change, but it’s not just us, it’s really tough to play away in the Premier League.
We have to look at ourselves and what we can do better, but for other teams it’s normal for it to be tough to get three points away.
We improved last season on the away form the season before. In my opinion, it’s not good enough, and we want to improve this season again.
It’s up to us to work and learn from the things we didn’t do well and in the next away game to reach and achieve a different result.
Read Everton Verdict
I’m not sure if I’m totally on board with Silva’s reasoning there. It feels more like he is saying “well other clubs lose away games too” to justify Everton’s long-running poor away record.
Simply put, there is no reasoning that can justify losing to both Bournemouth and Aston Villa in such comfortable fashion so early into the season. Without many major injuries, Everton have the players to take both those teams apart, but yet they’re left with egg on their face by the time the full time whistle blows.
There is clearly something wrong there, perhaps it is mentality, but whatever it is it needs fixing. It won’t be a quick process, but elite clubs can’t afford to throw away easy-to-win points because of a needlessly poor away record, so they find a way to grind those results out. If Everton want to be counted among them one day, they need to learn to do the same.
