OPINION
Everton managed to secure a last-gasp point against Watford on Monday night, and that was all down to the brilliance of a Lucas Digne free kick.
His magnificent effort rescued the Toffees from the jaws of defeat in this 2-2 draw, with Richarlison opening the scoring before Watford equalised through an own goal from Seamus Coleman.
The Hornets no doubt thought that they had got one over their former boss Marco Silva when Abdoulaye Doucoure put the visitors head, but Digne saved the day as well as his manager’s blushes at Goodison Park.
This is Futbol has rounded up the three things we learnt about Everton’s draw with Watford below:
Sigurdsson struggled and must be dropped
Gylfi Sigurdsson is usually Everton’s star of the show, but he was a far cry from that on Monday night. His poor penalty attempt pretty much summed up his evening, but his overall play really lacked any sort of quality, which is unusual for a player like him. Any consistency that the 6ft 1in [Transfermarkt] fan favourite had went out of the window in this clash, and for that reason, Silva must ruthlessly axe him for the fixture with Manchester City on Saturday. He cannot afford to have players – players who are usually his star performers – lacking quality against such a top-level side. Sigurdsson has undeniable talent, but none of it was demonstrated here. He is winging it.
Walcott needs to go in January
The amount of chances Silva keeps handing Theo Walcott is incredible. The former Arsenal speedster has been off-the-pace for a while now, and that does not seem to be improving any time soon, and the faster the manager recognises this, the better. He does not benefit the team in any shape or form, and to be honest, he has most likely gone down in the fans’ estimations recently. Walcott has the talent to tear defences apart but that side seems to have worryingly disappeared lately. However, there is only so long this can continue for. Silva must bin Walcott in January for his sake as well as the team’s sake, as his relationship with Everton just is not working any more.
Everton need to learn to close out games
At the moment, Everton seem to have a habit of surrendering their lead easily – the 1-1 draw with Newcastle last week being another example – and this is certainly not a healthy habit to have. Even though they were not performing at their best on Monday, they should have made the most of their 1-0 lead in the first half, but this was not the case in the slighest. They had the opportunity to win the game 3-2 when Yerry Mina was fouled and they were awarded a penalty, but even that was a poor effort. City will wreck havoc on them this weekend if they continue to play with this lack of effort, so fans will no doubt have their fingers crossed that everyone improves in the mean time.