It hasn’t been the best season for Everton. 11th place, out of all domestic cups in the first round and out of Europe. Today, I look at all the Everton players, analyse them and talk about there season.
1. Joel Robles
Minutes played: 584
Rating: 8/10
Win%: with 14%| without 35%
It must’ve been a frustrating season for Joel Robles. Roberto Martinez admitted how difficult it was to drop him when Tim Howard returned. However, I feel this season Joel has improved massively however the course of the season. The Spaniard kept three consecutive clean sheets before Howard returned and Robles has improved in his kicking and saving. If he continues the way he’s been performing he should become a top goalkeeper.
2. Tim Howard
Minutes played: 2,836
Rating: 5/10
Win%: with 34% | without 16%
Tim Howard has certainly taken a massive dip compared to the season before. Howard hasn’t had a good season, full of inconsistency and individual errors. The American kept just 7 clean sheets all season, having a few good games and then followed by three bad ones. In my opinion, I feel like Robles should’ve remained in goal when he returned. To win trophies, you need a top goalkeeper. Howard isn’t one.
3. Seamus Coleman
Minutes played: 3,065
Rating: 6.5/10
Win%: with 34% | without 0%
Comparing this season to last, Seamus wasn’t as good as he was last season. Seamus scored less goals, got a less passing accuracy (88% compared to 84%) and has created less chances (45 compared to 34). He still cannot defend cross coming into the box and overall, Coleman hasn’t improved. However, Coleman is still up there with some of the best in the league and although he has dropped in consistency recently, I can still trust him to ‘do the job’ when fully fit.
4. Leighton Baines
Minutes played: 2,774
Rating: 7.5/10
Win%: with 32% | without 28%
We still rely to much on Leighton Baines to create chances. Leighton created 70 chances this season, getting 8 assists and has also scored twice this campaign. Without Baines’ creativity we could’ve ended up in a completely different position. Defensively however, Leighton isn’t the best left-back to have. Still crosses come into the box and he doesn’t do as much defending as the likes of Jagielka and Stones. He is the best going forward but not the best defensively. He has still had a good season though and we need him back before the season starts again.
5. Phil Jagielka
Minutes played: 3,286
Rating: 8/10
Win%: with 32% | without 0%
It was a difficult start to the campaign for Phil Jagielka, but as the season continued, he progressed and turned out to be a very important player in the Everton set-up. No, I don’t think he should be captain but he certainly needed to be in the defensive set-up. His work earned him the ‘Player of the Season’ award at the Everton awards list, I don’t think he was the best player this season but he certainly was important for Everton.
6. John Stones
Minutes played: 2,044
Rating: 8.5/10
Win%: with 30% | without 33%
By far our best defender this season had to go to John Stones. He only appeared once in the first three games of the season, but as time continued Stones was introduced into the first-team and has been there ever since. He is our best defender in aerial duels, arguably our best tackler and he has been crucial for Everton this season and has so much potential. He also has one of the best passing accuracy’s in European football (90% – for players who have played 20+ games). John had a quality season and fully deserved his ‘Young Player of the Season’ award for Everton.
7. Sylvain Distin
Minutes played: 1,080
Rating: 5/10
Win%: with 15% | without 40%
I think it was time for Sylvain to bid his goodbyes especially after this campaign. The Frenchman struggled this campaign, especially after that awful game he had against Chelsea. Sylvain made 12 appearances up til the end of December, since then he completely vanished from the first-team until the final day of the season. It’s good that he is going for him and for us, lets hope Roberto Martinez does bring in someone in the summer to fill his place.
8. James McCarthy
Minutes played: 2,403
Rating: 8/10
Win%: with 35% | without 20%
It was another strong campaign for James McCarthy, despite the injury that occurred to him mid-way through the season. We saw James managing to score his first goal at Goodison Park against Newcastle United and we also saw him score against Manchester United. For me, he is still our most important central midfielder and without his tackling abilities and his covering of the pitch, it could’ve been a completely different season without him there.
9. Muhamed Besic
Minutes played: 1,285
Rating: 7/10
Win%: with 30% | without 33%
Muhamed Besic signed from Hungarian side Ferencvaros for £4m after a successful tournament with Bosnia. Besic fitted rather well at Goodison Park, with his tackling and leadership abilities, it was a big mistake from Roberto Martinez to leave him out of the squad and give a return to Gareth Barry. Muhamed has done rather well when he starts, but doesn’t look as great when he comes off the bench. He also needs to learn to work with James McCarthy, we look much more open when it’s them two in defensive midfield.
10. Gareth Barry
Minutes played: 2,827
Rating: 6/10
Win%: with 24% | without 80%
Prior to the season starting, I would’ve said his permanent move from Manchester City to Everton would be one of the best deals of the transfer window, I was wrong. Gareth hasn’t lived up to his loan spell last season at Goodison Park, he couldn’t handle the ‘Thursday to Sunday’ schedule and it effected his performance. When players press on him, he struggles, and he clearly cannot play against teams that has a very speedy attack. He is 34, we won’t replace him but his career is over.
11. Leon Osman
Minutes played: 1,274
Rating: 7.5/10
Win%: with 42% | without 18%
Leon has turned out to be one of Everton’s most important players this season. The midfielder is without doubt one of our most effective players in the final third, creating and scoring chances almost all the time. He has always been a good player for Everton, but this season his role has been needed a little more. I hope he remains in the side again next season.
12. Aaron Lennon
Minutes played: 1,071
Rating: 8/10
Win%: with 42% | without 0%
Aaron signed on loan from Tottenham Hotspur on deadline day back in January. A majority of Everton supporters weren’t to happy with the deal early on, but as time went on we all seemed to enjoy him. Lennon certainly created a big effect on the Everton team and the supporters. Every time we moved forward with him, we looked dangerous when before hand we looked afraid to move forward. I really hope we manage to sign him in the next window.
13. Steven Naismith
Minutes played: 2,055
Rating: 6.5/10
Win%: with 32% | without 28%
It’s been an up and down season for Steven Naismith. The Scotsman is still scoring in some important fixtures, scoring against Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United but hasn’t been scoring recently and hasn’t appeared as often as you may inspect. He is still hard-working and is our best presser in the final third for us. Lets hope he gets his scoring mojo back.
14. Ross Barkley
Minutes played: 1,964
Rating: 6/10
Win%: with 34% | without 22%
Ross hasn’t lived up to his amazing breakthrough season. Last season Barkley was fast, scoring more and playing in just the one role. This season, we’ve seen Ross on the wing and in defensive midfield. We’ve also seen the English midfielder blasting more balls into the top row of the Gwladys Street End than ever before. The injury before the season started had clearly effected him, which it has done for the entire season. Barkley needs to rest and come back the player he was before to fulfil his full potential.
15. Kevin Mirallas
Minutes played: 1,424
Rating: 7/10
Win%: with 24% | without 55%
Kevin ended the season having scored 7 goals but only picked up 1 assist throughout the campaign. Mirallas can be a very hard player to stop, when he’s bothered, full of pace and he has a very good finish (hence the goals against Tottenham and Manchester United). I think he has struggled with injury throughout the campaign and for him to get fully going again he needs a good rest.
16. Romelu Lukaku
Minutes played: 2,876
Rating: 8/10
Win%: with 31% | without 50%
Romelu signed for a record £28m fee for Everton from Chelsea. It took a while for him to get going, thanks to the World Cup and him not having a pre-season. Lukaku hasn’t scored as much as you expect in the league, he scored 15 goals in the league last season and now he has scored 10 in the league this season. Despite this, Romelu Lukaku has still hit the back of the net in other competitions, scoring 8 goals in the Europa League and 2 goals in the FA Cup. Romelu has had a up and down season, sometimes being impossible to stop and sometimes struggling to hit the net. If we bring someone in to challenge his position, maybe he would start performing on a more consistent basis.
And the rest of the players…
Aiden McGeady hasn’t done enough in my opinion to get a regular start in the Everton team. He still has a lot of skill, but he needs to add much more too his game if things will work out for him at Goodison Park. Arouna Kone hasn’t recovered from his injury, he only scored once this campaign and doesn’t look ready to challenge Romelu’s spot. Darron Gibson is starting to make a few more appearances since his injury and has looked good in most of his appearances made in an Everton shirt, but he is still struggling with other injuries and Everton need to make a quick decision whether to give him another try or let him move on.
Like Gibson, Steven Pienaar has also struggled with injuries. However, Pienaar looked well against Swansea (that was until he was injured again). I feel that we missed the trick with Christian Atsu. The winger came back from AFCON looking fresh and ready but he has made very few appearances. Antolin Alcaraz has also seen a dip in form this season, he looked horrific against Kiev. Bryan Oviedo came back from his leg break, but has been so unfortunate, still struggling with injuries.
The club are meeting up with Luke Garbutt, who looks good enough to play for the team moving forward but needs to work on his defending. Tony Hibbert done well covering Seamus Coleman when he was injured, but isn’t first-team quality anymore. I hope we see more of Tyias Browning and Brendan Galloway in the near future, both of them have good potential to become great players at Everton.
