‘Madness’: Gary Neville criticises Everton player’s display during Sunday’s defeat

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Everton lost 3-2 away at Arsenal on Sunday afternoon.

Pundit Gary Neville has told Sky Sports (5:37pm) that he thought Everton defender Djibril Sidibe’s defending against Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on Sunday was ‘madness’.

Everton travelled down to the Emirates Stadium on Sunday seeking a victory, and did make a great start as Dominic Calvert-Lewin acrobatically put them in front inside the first minute.

However, Arsenal hit back as Eddie Nketiah converted a stunning Bukayo Saka cross, before Aubameyang ran clear of Sidibe to score from a David Luiz pass.

Richarlison’s goal before the break brought Everton level, but Aubameyang bagged the winner with a header from Nicolas Pepe’s cross, with the Toffees unable to hit back.

Sidibe’s defending against Aubameyang for the first goal wasn’t ideal, but the whole Everton defensive line seemed to be all over the place as Yerry Mina had stepped out but Mason Holgate was deep.

For Aubameyang’s second, Sidibe couldn’t really point to anyone else. As Pepe squared up Leighton Baines and prepared to cross, Sidibe allowed Aubameyang to simply stand still in yards of space and head home.

The Frenchman is fighting for a permanent move to Goodison Park, and whilst he has impressed going forward under Carlo Ancelotti, this showed his defensive issues.

Gary Neville criticised Sidibe during commentary, suggesting that you just can’t allow Aubameyang to get that much space, and must almost take the mindset of a centre back by getting tight to him, branding Sidibe’s defending ‘madness’ as he almost gave one of the Premier League’s top strikers the freedom of the Everton box.

“Sidibe’s three, four, five yards off him – you cannot allow that space in between, there’s no real reason for Sidibe not to just go and stand right next to Aubameyang; hold him, make sure he doesn’t get a free header, make sure he doesn’t get a run at it,” said Neville. “Once it lands on Aubameyang’s head, he’s a brilliant finisher, and the right back is just too late.”

“You’ve got to have a level of alertness when you’re playing essentially a centre forward, Aubameyang isn’t a left-sided winger like you would normally play against as a right back, you’ve got to think as a centre back would. You can’t give him a yard – to give him three or four is just madness,” he added.