Everton lost 2-0 away at Arsenal in Sunday’s Premier League clash at The Emirates and Watford striker Troy Deeney has spoken out.
Everton spent about half a year chasing Marco Silva and they got their man at last in June.
Sporting director Marcel Brands indicated to the Guardian that Silva had been hired to bring ‘attractive, exciting football’ back to Goodison Park after the dark ages of Sam Allardyce.
While the former Sporting Lisbon boss has certainly got Everton playing on the front foot again, his buccaneering tactics appear to have caused problems at the other end of the pitch.
The Toffees were worryingly open in their defeat away at Arsenal on Sunday and could have conceded more than the two goals fired home by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alekandre Lacazette.
And Troy Deeney, the centre-forward who worked with Silva during his six months at Watford, has pointed out a potential downside to the 41-year-old’s approach.
“He is a very, very good coach. But he puts a lot of onus on one v one defending,” Deeney told the Monday Night club on BBC Radio 5Live (September 24, 5pm).
“You can see how expansive they are against Arsenal. Going forward they are going to be good but you’re always going to be asking a centre-half to go one v one against somebody.
“There was a lot of times in the Arsenal game when Arsenal countered and it was two v two with people just running back.”
Kurt Zouma and Michael Keane hardly convinced as a centre-back partnership and Everton fans will be hoping that Yerry Mina, signed from Barcelona for £28 million after a stellar World Cup with Colombia, makes a major difference.
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