The Liverpool Echo’s head of sport David Prentice has recently aired some criticism of Everton’s defence following the Toffees’ defeat to Manchester United.
Having won four and drawn one of their opening five Premier League fixtures, Carlo Ancelotti’s side have now lost three matches on the bounce in the top flight (per Transfermarkt).
Despite their impressive run at the beginning of the season, the Merseyside outfit have kept only one clean sheet over their eight league outings.
And while the Toffees occupy seventh position in the table, they have conceded 14 goals, which is the joint-fifth-worst total in the division (per BBC).
During a recent episode of the Liverpool Echo’s Royal Blue: The Everton FC Podcast, Prentice discussed the Blues’ defence and aired some criticism of it.
He said: “We’re just not defending well enough.
“When you can score four or five goals against the Brightons and the West Broms of this world, that tends to gloss over those defensive deficiencies.
“But it’s something that Carlo still hasn’t got to grips with yet, and it’s reassuring in one respect in that he’s focussing on making the team more dangerous going forward and more creative.
“As a result, [Everton are] scoring more goals, which you’re hoping, in turn, will mean that you’re going to win more matches than you’ll lose, but you’ve got to try and balance it up a little bit with what’s happening at the other end.”
TIF Thoughts on what David Prentice said about Everton’s defence…
As can be seen in what the journalist had to say, he believes that Ancelotti has placed his focus on the Toffees being more potent in front of goal, however, that may be detrimental to Everton’s defence.
Does Carlo Ancelotti need to turn his focus to Everton's defence now?
Yes, it's not good enough
No, it's not a concern
That is backed up by the fact that while the Toffees have conceded the joint-fifth-most goals in the top flight, they have also scored the joint-fourth-highest total of goals, with 16.
So perhaps, shoring up the defence either on the training pitch or in the January transfer window should be Ancelotti’s main priority now, especially given the last few weeks will have done little to allay any fears over the fragility of the Toffees backline.