Phil Thompson has blamed Everton’s recent dip in form on a lack of confidence.
The Toffees face Lincoln City at home on Saturday in the FA Cup, but slumped to a 1-0 loss to Leicester City on their last outing.
The result leaves them 11 points away from the top six in the Premier League, and perhaps more tellingly, the same distance from the relegation.
Speaking as a pundit on Sky Sports’ Soccer Saturday (Saturday January 5th, 12pm), Thompson said:”They’re drifting again and I think it’s because of confidence.
“It happens at a lot of clubs, it happens at Goodison and when things start going wrong, my goodness they can let you know about it and I think you can see the nervousness and the loss of confidence in a lot of these players.
“A lot of them are looking, at the moment, very leggy, as though sometimes they don’t even want to be out there on the pitch. They’ve go to be bigger and stronger and better than that.
“Listen, that wasn’t a good game – it wasn’t even a good Leicester team that beat them – and a lot of the Evertonians have come away from it thinking: ‘My goodness, if we can’t get a point out of a game like that, we must be bad.’ A lot of the natives are not happy at the moment.”
OPINION
Everton need to stop the rot and they need to stop it fast. Silva’s appointment was supposed to herald in a new era for the club, one of big signings and European football, and instead it has led to stagnation and frustration so far Patience will be key if the Toffees are to get anywhere, but in the immediate future, results have to start looking up for Silva to justify the protracted chase and wrangle that went into his capture. It still feels as if Everton need to strengthen in a few key areas if they want to be regarded on the level that believe they are deserving of, but they have already spent big and appear to have made little progress. The club has to be really careful that they don’t fall into a habit of just chucking money at a problem with little idea of how to actually fix it.