Paul Merson has questioned Marco Silva’s decision to leave Gylfi Sigurdsson out of his starting lineup for Everton’s loss to Brighton on Saturday.
A lacklustre Toffees’ side failed to trouble their hosts as the slipped to a 1-0 defeat, with their 29-year-old creative talisman watching on for the first 65 minutes.
Speaking after the match as pundit on Soccer Saturday (Sky Sports News, Saturday December 29th, 12pm), ex-Arsenal man Merson said: “I thought Everton were poor. I don’t know if he [Silva] made the right decisions. Sigurdsson on the bench.
“Seriously? Sigurdsson’s the first name on the team sheet and you go from there.
“If I was an Everton fan and I was travelling there, after Christmas and going all that way and you’re not playing Sigurdsson, I’d want my money back.
“He’s their man, he makes things happen for me.”
OPINION
When Everton’s team news was announced on Saturday afternoon, there will have been many fans bemused by Marco Silva’s decision to bench Gylfi Sigurdsson. Admittedly, the Toffees have had a brutal festive fixture schedule, but if there was one man you would expect to be in the side it would probably be the Icelandic international. So much of what the Toffees do well goes through the 29-year-old, and without him they looked defunct of ideas and void of any creativity. Whether it was a case of misplaced confidence following the dismantlement of Burnley on Boxing Day, or whether it was a calculated risk that didn’t come off, Silva massively impeded his attacking options by not playing the midfielder and will have a lot to answer for in the inquest that will surely follow. Everton have been so underwhelming in recent weeks, midweek aside, that they have to put out the best team they can consistently to get back on track. At the moment they are a real letdown.