Everton continue to hold the Indian Sign over the team from South Wales with a perfect three wins from three games played against Swansea in the Premiership now.
Whilst the end result may not have been predicted, a win for Everton was not a huge surprise, what was a huge surprise was the manner of the victory. Not only were Swansea beaten but they were outplayed by an Everton team that dominated possession and dictated the tempo of the game from the outset.
Line Ups
There was a considerable number of changes to the Swansea side. The majority of which, were forced upon Michael Laudrup.
With Chico suspended and Neil Taylor out injured, there was a somewhat makeshift feel to the Swansea backline. Williams passed a late fitness test and was joined by Ben Davies deputising at left back. There was a rare start for Tate following his lengthy battle with injury.
Leon Britton was unable to start following illness with Ki being the replacement. Dyer made way for Pablo, given his début on the right side of attack.
Irrespective of the starting line up, Swansea took to the field in the usual 4-2-3-1 formation.
There were three changes to the Everton side who drew with Newcastle. Coleman and Anichibe replaced the injured duo of Hibbert and Jelavic whilst Heitinga was preferred over Distin in the centre of defence.
Everton set out broadly in a 4-4-1-1 formation with Fellani both supporting Anichibe or dropping deep if required in an effort to support midfield.
This was a game with two stand out features. The performance of Leighton Baines as an attacking left back and the aggressive nature of Everton’s pressing.
The Reactionary Nature of Everton
Much has been written about David Moyes being a reactionary manager with the discussion often revolving around the negative connotations of reactionary tactics. The term has emerged in recent times to describe an approach whereby a manager sets out a formation primarily designed firstly to negate the opponents’ strengths. Typically, this has resulted in one team using a highly defensive formation. The term has been damaged by the association with ultra defensive formations. There are reactionary elements in most managers. Very few teams would adopt the approach of someone like Barcelona who refuse to change their footballing philosophy. The extent to which a team is reactionary is important.
Moyes has successfully installed a pragmatic approach within his side. Yes, they are reactionary and their tactics on Saturday could be described as such but this was anything but a negative performance. This was an Everton side who took the game to their opponents, firstly preventing their opponents from settling into their normal rhythm and, thereafter, taking advantage of the chances which that disruption within Swansea helped foster.
Everton pressing
The tone for this game was established immediately at the start of the game.
Everton started the game at a high tempo and disrupted Swansea from the outset with the Swans conceding a number of early free kicks as they struggled to match their opponents. Everton pressed their opponents, squeezing the game as much as possible with a high defensive line pushing up the pitch allowing Everton to stay compact but shut down the available space and the passing angles for their opponent effectively.
The graphic below captures the pressing perfectly. Williams has the ball but there are no short passing options with three Everton players in close proximity reducing options. Williams was forced to pass long over the halfway line where Everton regained possession and released Anichibe. The move ended when the recovering Williams tripped Anchibe and was fortunate to avoid a red card for denying a goalscoring opportunity.
The pressure was maintained throughout the first half. Everton pushed high when Vorm had possession cutting off options and forcing the goalkeeper to go long enabling Everton to regain possession quickly. The Toffee’s won 60% of all aerial duels during the match.
The aerial dominance was equally matched on the ground. Everton won 62% of all ground duels, the manifestation of which was the high number of fouls that Swansea conceded as they sought to limit Everton. Swansea committed 23 fouls against Everton whilst the men from Merseyside committed just 9, a substantial difference and one which can be a telling issue when you have players with the technical skills of Leighton Baines who can take advantage of a dead ball scenario.
Next Page:Â Swansea Problems plus Leighton Baines & the Everton “Small Society” (includes top creators in league table)
