The Liverpool Echo’s head of sport David Prentice has recently aired what is concerning him about Everton’s English striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
Since the Premier League’s restart, the 23-year-old forward has neither scored nor assisted for Carlo Ancelotti’s outfit (per Transfermarkt).
Furthermore, he has only scored above a 6.60/10 performance rating in two of the seven Premier League matches prior to Everton’s clash with Sheffield United (per WhoScored).
So, in a recent episode of the Liverpool Echo’s Royal Blue: The Everton FC Podcast, Prentice aired some of his concerns about Calvert-Lewin.
He said: “The thing that concerns me most is he has had half-chances, or better than half-chances, in a number of the games since the comeback [and] he hasn’t looked like scoring them.
“The far-post header at Norwich, which was tricky, but [he] should have done better with. [Against] Southampton – that was a very, very good chance that, again, he didn’t connect properly with. And then the one against Villa which, it was almost like he was a bit too eager. He just connected with the ball a fraction too early.
“Now that is possibly a young player who’s beginning to feel the weight of pressure building on his shoulders and snatching a little bit at chances, and he’s snatching because he’s not getting a great deal of service.
“That’s three chances I’ve mentioned in the space of how many games is it? Five games, six games? Which is very, very slim pickings for any kind of striker to try and feed off.”
TIF Thoughts…
As can be seen in what Prentice had to say, his main concern with Calvert-Lewin, who is now valued at £21.6 million (as per Transfermarkt), seems to be that he is not getting many chances during matches and that he is snatching at them when he does.
Have you been concerned with Dominic Calvert-Lewin's performances since the restart?
No, he's been doing okay
Yes, not been good enough
However, the forward has still had the second-most shots per league game in the Everton squad over the season with 2.4, which is only narrowly trailing Richarlison’s 2.5 shots per game (per WhoScored).
The fact that he has not scored or assisted for the Toffees since the restart could certainly be a cause for concern for Ancelotti, though.