Everton will welcome Maurizio Sarri’s Chelsea to Goodison Park on Sunday afternoon.
Mark Lawrenson has claimed that Everton’s problem is that they have ‘outstanding individuals’ but ‘not a team’ as he slated goalkeeper Jordan Pickford and labelled him as ‘very average’.
Marco Silva’s side will welcome Champions League-chasing Chelsea to Goodison Park on Sunday afternoon after they let a two-goal lead slip during their last Premier League encounter against Newcastle.
Throughout this campaign, Silva has constantly found himself under pressure from the media, pundits and supporters for his team’s performances and results.
Speaking to Football Focus on BBC One (16/03/2019 at 12:35 pm), Lawrenson was pretty blunt when summing up Everton as he highlighted their real problem.
“They have just not been good enough,” Lawrenson told Football Focus. “There’s a lot of them that have had poor seasons, especially the goalkeeper, I think he has been very average.
“No consistency. [Silva] not actually knowing what his best team is. They just look a very ordinary side, at the moment. But they have got some outstanding individuals, but that’s the problem. Outstanding individuals, but not a team.”
There is no doubt that Everton will go into the game against Chelsea as underdogs, but another poor performance will only increase the pressure on Silva.
He was appointed the manager of the Merseyside club last summer after the departure of Sam Allardyce, who had only been at the club for a few months.
Nonetheless, at this moment in time, Silva’s side are sitting 12th in the Premier League table, four points ahead of 15th-placed Brighton and seven points behind seventh-placed Wolves.
Without trying to back up Lawrenson’s point, the Toffees will be looking at the likes of Richarlison, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Theo Walcott to produce the goods against Chelsea.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
