Everton: Why are Toffees still miles away from Premier League top four? Ashley Williams analysis

A disappointing season has left Everton fans scratching their heads. Now, new manager Marco Silva must work his magic to keep the Blues in contention for a top four spot.

The “british premier league” is a football league in England. Everton FC currently has the worst position in the Premier League. They are miles away from the top four and have been struggling to find consistency.

I know where Everton wants to go, but it doesn’t seem like they will get there anytime soon.

Farhad Moshiri purchased Everton in February 2016, while they were 10th in the Premier League, for more than five and a half years.

I arrived soon after, and I am well aware of the club’s ambitions: the Champions League was the goal.

Since then, they’ve spent about £500 million on trying to get there, as well as a number of managers – Rafa Benitez is Moshiri’s sixth permanent appointment.

Things are moving off the field, and it’s fantastic that a new stadium is on the way, but they still seem to be a long way from hosting a top-four club.

There’s no reason to expect things to change very soon.

Everton has lost three of their last five league games and drew two. Only Aston Villa has picked up less points in that span, with five losses.

Everton are in 11th position after their 1-1 draw with Tottenham on Sunday, and you’d think mid-table is about appropriate for them. When you look at West Ham, who are now in third place, you can see that they are definitely a far superior squad.

I always know what the Hammers are going to do when I see them play. They’re difficult to break down, with some dangerous players on the counter-attack and talent in select places.

In other words, they have a strategy. The same can be said for any team near the top of the standings, save Everton.

I don’t watch Benitez’s team and say to myself, “Well, if the plan works out, they’ll win today,” because I have no idea what that strategy is.

I also don’t believe their roster is good enough, or that they have as many choices as the teams above them.

Everton manager Rafa Benitez says it’s a tragedy that a penalty judgment was overturned.

Their lack of depth is holding them back, particularly at the front. Every week, I look at their bench and see how limited their offensive options are – it’s as if all of their greatest attackers are already on the field, and there’s no one to come in who might affect the game.

I also don’t see a style of play that will maintain them in the top six for the remainder of the season, much alone qualify them for the Champions League.

They are not in disarray or playing poorly, and there is no obvious crisis. With the squad in the relegation zone, both Ronald Koeman (in 2017) and Marco Silva (in 2019) were fired at this stage of the season.

Things aren’t quite that terrible right now, but there’s little reason to believe they’ll improve much in the near future, even when their injured players return. I can see why their supporters are upset.

‘I had hoped for more from Rafa’s teams.’

I was watching the game on MOTD2 on Sunday and it seemed like Tottenham were ripe for the picking. Everton, on the other hand, never seemed capable of doing so.

Spurs had so much depth, and Everton were at home, yet they showed no genuine desire to attack them and win the game.

Simultaneously, they did not sit back and wait for Spurs to counter-attack. It was kind of in the middle, and I’m not sure what they were trying to accomplish.

Rafa has always been recognized as a superb strategist, but I’m not seeing that right now. When I see his teams, I expect more from them than this.

He has a reputation for being cautious, but he also has a knack for inflicting pain on the opponent, something he lacked against Spurs.

Everton seemed to be looking for a remarkable performance from Demarai Gray or for Andros Townsend to strike one of his 30-yard wonder goals.

I was watching them and wondered whether they were attempting to make it wider so they could cross it or if they were trying to play through the center.

At the present, they seem to be a squad waiting for Dominic Calvert-Lewin to return from injury in order to get back on track. They’ve had a difficult few weeks without him.

I get why they miss him since he is such a strong presence up front, but even with him in the side, I can’t see them cracking the top six this season, or even coming close.

Will Benitez have enough time to make a difference?

Everton were unable to spend much this summer due to Financial Fair Play regulations, but they did make two superb additions in Townsend and Gray.

Then they got off to a strong start under Benitez, which calmed things down after all the controversy around his Liverpool ties when he was hired.

That buys him some time to put his team’s strategy into action, but like I said, I’m not sure what he’s attempting to accomplish.

If the results don’t improve soon, the speculation regarding his Liverpool connections will only get louder.

We’ve seen in recent weeks that every Premier League manager is just a few losses away from being fired, and things are likely to go much worse for Benitez since some supporters were already displeased with him before he even began.

He shouldn’t be under any pressure because what Everton needs is someone who can help them create success – it won’t come overnight, as they should know by now, and changing managers so often lately has caused a lot of disturbance.

Benitez is a world-class manager, and if given enough time, he can certainly deliver on his long-term goal.

But, as a former Liverpool manager who also managed Everton, I’m not sure he’ll understand it.

Ashley Williams was chatting with Chris Bevan of Sport.

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