In recent comments made while talking on the Royal Blue podcast, Phil Kirkbride discussed the area of the pitch in which Everton need to invest in over the summer in order to improve as a team – and his belief on whether or not the club will be successful in their recruitment.
Following Everton’s 1-0 loss to Tottenham Hotspur on Monday evening, the Toffees currently occupy 11th place in the Premier League table – 11 points behind fifth-placed Manchester United prior to their clash with Southampton on Thursday evening.
Over their last six fixtures, Carlo Ancelotti’s side have won two, drawn two and lost two games, ranking them in 14th place in the Premier League form table.
With an eighth-place finish last season, as well as the club being fairly well regarded as ‘the best of the rest‘ – one of the better teams outside of the so-called ‘big six’ – it would appear as if Everton are underperforming this term.
And, speaking recently on the Royal Blue podcast, Phil Kirkbride suggested that Everton’s poor league performance thus far could be down to a lack of depth and quality in the club’s midfield, as well as claiming that the club may not be able to sign what they need over the summer transfer window.
He said: “We knew that the midfield needed major surgery before [the Tottenham fixture], and last night didn’t offer anything new in that respect.
“We would love to bring in three new centre-midfielders and totally revamp the place, but obviously the reality is probably something quite different, and we may only see one – if we’re able to get the player in that we want this summer.
“It therefore leads me to the conclusion that Carlo is going to have to make the majority of these midfielders already at football club better – can he do that?”
TIF Thoughts…
From Kirkbride’s comments, it would appear as if he is suggesting that Everton will likely only get one new central midfielder in this summer, which, it would seem, he does not feel will be sufficient in improving Everton adequately enough.
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It would also appear that the journalist is unsure as to whether Ancelotti can improve the midfielders that are currently at the club, meaning that, unless the Toffees do manage to sign more than one new central midfielder in this summer, the club could continue to see its league form suffer.