Garth Crooks critical of four Everton players after defeat to Sheffield United

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The pressure is mounting on Marco Silva because Everton have started off the new Premier League season in an indifferent manner.

Garth Crooks has hit out at Jordan Pickford, Richarlison, Morgan Schneiderlin and Gylfi Sigurdsson as Everton suffered a surprise 2-0 defeat to Sheffield United on Saturday afternoon at Goodison Park.

The BBC Sport pundit claimed that considering the ‘extortionate amounts of money’ the big-name Everton players are being paid they are not producing ‘extortionate performances’.

There is a lot of pressure on Everton boss Marco Silva because in the summer he was backed by the club, but he is still yet to produce convincing performances.

Speaking on Final Score on BBC One (21/09/2019 at 17:10 pm), Crooks was critical of a number of Everton players and the manner in which they performed.

“Silva has put a lot of faith in Richarlison, Schneiderlin and Sigurdsson. And they’re not producing. They are not producing the goods for him,” Crooks told Final Score. “When you are in such a situation, you need your big players to step up and they’re not doing it.”

“I think Pickford has been responsible for both goals. He finds himself in a very poor position in the corner of the six-yard box and he makes his mind up for the striker [Lys Mousset]. If he stays in his goal, the defender can get back at him and get a tackle in. I think he’s had a poor game. On the back of the Bournemouth defeat, this is a shocking result.

“Are Everton not entitled to those players who are being paid the big-money to produce big performances? There are too many players at Everton who are getting extortionate amounts of money and not providing extortionate performances.”

It could be argued that whilst Silva has been in the job since last summer, given the introduction of a new striker in Moise Kean, a winger in Alex Iwobi, and the sale of Idrissa Gueye, amongst other business, he perhaps need time to find his right XI.

But given the pressured environments he is working under, he and his team will have to show some promise else the calls for his head will only get louder.

One area where Silva can perhaps get some positivity back is by producing the goods in the cup competitions. On Tuesday night, Everton will take on Championship side Sheffield Wednesday in the EFL Cup.