There were mixed reactions in the footballing world when the news hit of Sam Allardyce’s departure as manager of Everton. After Ronald Koeman was sacked as the club languished in 18th position in the league table, Allardyce took over, helping the club to easily avoid relegation fears and finish a respectable 8th. So when the former England manager was let go by the board, it came as a surprise to some but not to Everton fans.

Thinking of the next step!

As much as the club had successfully salvaged a dismal season, the football left a lot to be desired with fans seeing a huge rift between themselves and Sam Allardyce. Supporters who came to watch the Toffees play were left stunned by the poor style of football on offer and began openly protesting and booing the team to send a message to owner Farhad Moshiri that they simply deserved better. This is a club who are capable of taking the next step to close the gap between themselves and the giants of English football. With plans to build a new 65 000 seat stadium which will help them a lot to increase their revenue and to match Liverpool, the Manchester teams, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham, bringing someone like Allardyce in was not the best long-term option.

Luckily for the fans, it’s clear to see Moshiri is committed to bringing Everton back to the Top 6 where the Toffees have been for most of the time within the last 50 years. After seeing the protests and public reaction to Allardyce’s reign, he was quick to terminate the two year contract that was in place and showed that he was capable of putting the fans ahead of results. Without further ado, the appointment of a young and ambitious manager was made in the form of Marco Silva, a signing that will bring plenty of optimism. Farhad Moshiri told BBC:

“It was clear to me in our conversations that he shares in the vision we have for the club and he has much to contribute in making us better and more equipped to challenge the top teams.”

Furthermore, Everton’s Director of Football Marcel Brands says he and new manager Marco Silva will “work together… to be the best for Everton”.

“He is a guy who wants to play attractive football, attacking football and also wants to work in the structure we have in our mind with Everton. He is also a guy who has proved already that he wants to work with young players, make them better, and he has performed very well with teams that he has worked with. He is a very good coach for Everton”, said Brands for EvertonFC.com.

The former Watford boss is a manager who can develop Everton and make them play more offensive and entertaining football. With the way that he helped bring a great start to life for Watford earlier this season, before his head was turned for this job, he might well have the formula to succeed where Ronald Koeman failed. Marco Silva has been quote by the Mirror saying:

“We want to build a great connection between the squad and the fans. I’m sure that with our attitude and demands of commitment then our style of play will see that. I know what our fans expect – they expect results but not only results. I want our fans to be proud when they see our team on the pitch.”

What is important for Silva to succeed at Goodison Park?

There are two important factors that will determine Silva’s success at Everton: The right transfers and the ability to win points while playing attractive football. The former will be dependent on who stays and who leaves Goodison Park, but if Silva can impose his style of play, he’ll know exactly who will have a future at the club and who will face the axe.

Already there have been many strong rumours about the future of Wayne Rooney, who re-joined his childhood club just last summer. The 32-year old, who did finish as Everton’s top scorer last season, is linked with a move to DC United in the MLS. Joining him out the door could be Ashley Williams, Phil Jagielka and Leighton Baines, all over 30 and part of an ageing backline which shipped many goals last season. Furthermore, midfielder Davy Klaasen failed to make a statement last year, and the £24m spent on him seems to have been a waste. He could very well go for cheaper to try and recuperate the losses.

Meanwhile, incoming could be quite a few surprising transfers. Heading the rumour mill is West Ham’s Marko Arnautovic, who despite his club not having the best of seasons, still managed to shine. More importantly, with Silva deploying defensive midfielders in his system, William Carvalho could be a crucial signing from Sporting Lisbon with his tough tackling, no-nonsense defending something the Toffees will definitely need. Finally, another forward who might fancy the move to Goodison is Silva’s ex-player Richarlison. The Watford attacker was a huge success in his debut season for the club and if he is to go anywhere, he could very well slot into Silva’s plans this season.

Aside from transfers, transforming this boring, unimaginative Everton side that Allardyce had moulded them into to a vibrant, entertaining team will be the tougher task. At Watford, Silva had a team who played with great transition, with every pass having a purpose to it and wasn’t a matter of just keeping the ball. It was a style which mimicked the bigger sides and put fans on their feet. His tried and tested 4-3-2-1 formation, which he had adopted from his early managerial days at Olympiacos, this Watford side were incisive, determined and thrived on creating opportunities for each other.

Former player, Ryan Mason, commented on Silva’s style of play while being managed under him at Hull City. “After a couple of training sessions, he had figured out what team would be best to play the way that he wanted to play. He looked at our team and the way we’d been playing and it probably looked a bit fearful at times. He came in and was really confident that the way he wanted to go about things would have a big impact and initially it did.” (Sky Sports)

With The Hornets and indeed with Hull City, Silva liked to play more attacking, allowing four of his forwards to play further up the field with his full-backs offering support from wide and the two holding defensive midfielders sticking it out in the middle of the park, sometimes venturing forward for extra support. This is indeed the signs of a forward-thinking manager, a complete contrast to what Everton had been playing until now. Silva will thrive with the attacking force of this side, as he has the pace of Theo Walcott and Yannick Bolasie to complement the finishing prowess of Cenk Tosun; thus, allowing a counter-attacking style of play to be efficient.

Playing this way will leave gaps at the back, and of course meant Watford did concede quite a few but the fact of the matter is, they were playing entertaining football and with Everton’s squad arguably better than Watford’s, they should perform a lot better too.

It’ll be an exciting season for Everton as they will surely have better thoughts about watching their team play, with a more fascinating style. Hopefully, Silva can re-build the connection with the fans, and if he does, they can do really well in 2018-19.

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