In Focus: Five steps Rafa must take to rescue Everton’s stuttering season

Everton kicked off the Rafa Benitez era in sensational form but have recently started to hit the buffers.

The Toffees won three of their first four games under the former Liverpool boss, raising hopes of an assault on the European places this season.

But things took an abrupt turn for the worse and Benitez’s men have lost four and drawn two of their last seven matches.

Ahead of this afternoon’s trip to champions Manchester City, we take a look at what the Spaniard needs to do to steady the ship.

Stay switched on at set-pieces

Scoring has not been a problem for Everton. With 16 goals in 11 games, they are above average in that regard — but they have been let down by their inability to defend set-pieces.

The Toffees have conceded six times from dead-ball situations, which represents 37.5% of their total goals against (16).

A glaring example of this deficiency came when Juraj Kucka buried a free header as Watford stormed back to win 5-2 last month.

In contrast, City are one of the few sides that are harder to score against from open play than Everton, who have allowed 9.3 expected goals against (xGA) at an average of 0.85 per game.

But that is not much use when free-kicks and corners offer opponents a relatively easy route to goal.

Make more from high turnovers

Everton are not an aggressive pressing side, allowing their opponents 14.5 passes per defensive action (PPDA) — but they are efficient.

While only Watford (56) and Norwich (53) have won the ball fewer times within 40 metres of the opposition’s goal than Everton (63), the Toffees have turned 16 of those high turnovers into shots.

However, not a single one of those has resulted in a goal.

When you gain possession that high up the pitch, you need to make it count. So far, Benitez’s side are not doing that.

Rely on Rondon

Early in the season, Everton got plenty of joy from launching tantalising crosses into powerful striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

The England forward even opened his account with a diving header as the Toffees beat Southampton 3-1 in their opening game.

Calvert-Lewin may have been out injured since the end of August but that creativity from wide areas remains — especially with Andros Townsend in the side.

The 30-year-old has been a revelation since joining on a free transfer and only Tottenham’s Sergio Reguilon (12) had produced more accurate crosses from open play than Townsend’s 11 heading into Matchday 12.

With their main man still sidelined and the above in mind, Benitez could start Salomon Rondon. The robust Venezuelan is his best option for the targetman role in Calvert-Lewin’s absence.

Lucas not looking himself

Between the 2018-19 and 2020-21 seasons, Everton benefitted from 18 assists from flying full-back Lucas Digne.

But his impact higher up the pitch has diminished under Benitez. While he is having fractionally more touches in the opposition box than last season, he is actually seeing less of the ball overall.

As a result, the quality of chances he is creating has dropped significantly — with his expected assists average of 0.2 per 90 last season down to 0.12 so far this term.

Benitez needs to restore the Frenchman’s freedom and start maximising his obvious quality.

Keeping things under control

Everton did not allow Tottenham a shot on target in their goalless draw last time out but it will take more than a solitary clean sheet for supporters to forget the home fixture prior to that.

The capitulation against Watford was arguably the most extreme in Premier League history, as they went from 2-1 up in the 78th minute to 5-2 down just 13 minutes later.

Speaking in the aftermath of that defeat, Benitez said: “We need to understand how to manage games, especially at the end when we are winning.

“We conceded a few goals in a few minutes and you cannot allow these things in the Premier League.

“When you score the second goal and are winning, you have to be more compact and better organised.”