Lack Of Options A Problem For Everton

Article by Kenneth Jarvis

The 1-1 draw with West Brom showed why Everton will fall off the pace in the run in for Champions League football. Everton have been able to put out a very strong first XI for many years now but beyond that, the quality drops off a cliff and leaves Everton vulnerable to only a few injuries to players in key areas.

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One of those key areas is the wide midfielders. Injuries to Deulofeu and Pienaar meant Everton had to play Bryan Oviedo. Having done brilliantly in Leighton Baines' absence. Here was a natural left-back swapping with Mirallas' and for periods in the game was playing right-wing. Oviedo was in no way near being one of the worst players on the pitch for Everton but it showed the cards Martinez had to play with.

Whilst I touched on the subject, my worst player on the pitch award goes to Leon Osman. Osman has been a fantastic player for Everton over the last 14 years, but now it is evident that the quality of players around him as improved to such a point that he now looks very much out of place. Often losing the ball in key areas, mis-placing key passes and being bypassed in midfield have become all to common place for a player capable of moments of brilliance. Indeed, against Aston Villa he was key to the comeback and scored a lovely goal vs Fulham, but these rare moments are, well, far too rare. This is made worse for him by just how good Ross Barkley is and how painfully obvious it is when he is not on the pitch. Barkley gives an energy and dynamism to the team that has been a key to this seasons success and this position, which is so key to Martinez' system, must be an area he is looking to strengthen in this window or the next.

Lukaku also had a poor night. It is quite clear he is far from being the finished article and in a few games this season has looked more Emile Heskey than Didier Drogba. That being said, he has been sublime at times and won games that other strikers simply wouldn't have. But in games like this, he needed replacing, but there were very limited options. Everton's bench read “Robles, McGeady, Hibbert, Heitinga, Stones, Vellios, Naismith” The attacking options were McGeady who hadn't played since November, Vellios who has 3 goals in what is his 4th season at the club and Naismith who averages nearly a goal every 10 games. Not exactly the quality needed to push for 4th place.

This shows a lack of depth that even that any manager would struggle with. Martinez has already tried addressing this problem with McGeady who will reach peak fitness soon and the imminent signing of Lacina Traore who will add competition to Lukaku. Loan signings are never an ideal solution, and in the summer each of these loan signings will need replacing with a permanent edition to the squad.

So the old problem still remains, lack of investment in new signings and lack of depth because of it. Everton have got key matches coming up shortly against the positional rivals of Liverpool and Tottenham. A few of the key players mentioned should be back playing shortly (Barkley, Deulofeu, Pienaar) and on tonight's showing, they cannot come back soon enough.

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