Leon Osman has wasted no time in savaging Everton and their players with his punditry – and made a key demand of new gaffer Rafa Benitez.
Having enjoyed an unbeaten run at the start of the new campaign under the former Liverpool manager, the Toffees’ form began to fall off and defeats such as a 3-0 loss to Aston Villa and a 5-2 thrashing at home to Watford have underlined some of the shortcomings in the squad in recent seasons.
Osman took particular aim at the team’s organisation – or lack thereof – with the former Toffees midfielder urging Rafa Benitez to ensure that the team are more compact and robust, especially in set piece situations.
Speaking on the Premier League Analytics Show on Tuesday [via Goodison News], Osman said:
“Their problems started with the Achilles heel – the inability to defend a corner.
“There was so much panic and it was so un-Rafa like. He’s got to change things quickly and ensure that they’re more robust without the ball and the players need to step up too because some of them have been all over the place for a while.”
Read Everton Verdict
Good organisation in open play is all well and good, but set pieces are an open loophole if teams figure out that they are an area of exploitability.
All Premier League teams employ analysts and some – such as Brentford – even have specialist set piece coaches to root out defensive lapses and exploit from corners and free kicks.
Perhaps such a backroom move could be a worthy investment for the Toffees as they look to regain their winning form from the start of the campaign.
