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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Off the Bench series, which places in-game managerial decisions and squad selections under FFC’s microscope.
Everton succumbed to defeat against Sheffield United and the major reason behind that was the team’s lack of width, a problem which Marco Silva made worse with his decision to take off Seamus Coleman early in the second period.
Tactical error
Chris Wilder came to Goodison Park with a simple but very effective game plan, and despite its limitations and his own admission that his side didn’t play up to their usual standard, they still earned a comfortable win.
Everton may have had 70% possession with the game played largely in the Blades’ half, but they rarely threatened Dean Henderson’s goal and it was, in fact, a more comfortable afternoon that one might have expected, and that’s because the Toffees played into their hands.
Sheffield United packed the middle, forcing Everton wide with 40 crosses in total, but other than the full-backs and Gylfi Sigurdsson the squad lacks players capable of producing quality from out wide, as their assist record suggests, and since Bernard and Richarlison like to move inside there was a noticeable lack of width throughout.
In response to a half-time deficit it was only a matter of minutes before Silva changed things up to go more direct, making the bold decision to take off both a defender and a holding midfielder.
However, the decision to further pack the middle with the arrival of Cenk Tosun did nothing to solve Everton’s problem, and neither did Theo Walcott, who succeeded with one cross out of three attempted.
Off the bench
Taking off Coleman proved Everton’s undoing.
The Toffees lost their shape at the back and with it any fluidity they had before the break, with Theo Walcott left to operate Everton’s right flank by himself, making the defence open for the visitors to exploit with their second goal.
Other than Lucas Digne and Sigurdsson, Coleman had the most crosses of any player despite only playing 54 minutes, and he therefore provided an attacking threat for Silva’s team, thus proving the decision to take him off a puzzling one.
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He also has the ability to work well with Richarlison and take up clever positions inside the opposition penalty area, using his experience and know-how to good effect, and that was highlighted by the fact he made more successful dribbles than any of his teammates with six.
Walcott, by comparison, failed to get into the game, making zero dribbles. He also underperformed in passing and his only noteworthy contribution was his one successful cross and two shots, both of which were off target.
Silva failed to address the flaws in his team after falling behind and instead made them worse in the second half, which shows that taking off Coleman was the wrong call to make.