During the latest edition of The Unholy Trinity Everton podcast, one of the panellists, Pete, spent some time talking about central midfielder Abdoulaye Doucoure’s role in Carlo Ancelotti’s side.
It may be fair to say that Doucoure has been a prominent member of the Toffees’ first-team squad this season since he was signed by the Merseyside club for £19.89m back in September, as he has started all eight of Everton’s Premier League games so far this term. Only two other Everton players – Michael Keane and Dominic Calvert-Lewin – have also started all of the Toffees’ top-flight fixtures this term.
During this recent edition of The Unholy Trinity Everton podcast, Pete talked about how Doucoure has been used by the Toffees this season and the podcaster suggested that the £22.5m-rated man should be given “a bit more freedom” than he has been given in possession for Everton to really get the best out of him, saying:
“Look at the way they set up, Doucoure always tends, doesn’t he, to sit on the right of that [midfield] three and if either [Andre] Gomes or [Gylfi] Sigurdsson play, they tend to be on the left-hand side, really, and get a little bit more freedom when we’ve got the ball.
“I’d really like to see Doucoure, hopefully, in the future, [to] be given a bit of an opportunity to maybe go on the left-hand side and have a bit more freedom because he’s a ball-carrier.
“When we struggle to get out, we struggle to find a pass, sometimes you need someone with the physicality or the footballing ability just to take the ball and run and bring it out.
“Arguably, it’s hampering us a little bit by having Doucoure in such a sort of solely defensive role.”
Should Doucoure be given more freedom on the ball?
YES
NO
TIF Thoughts on what the podcaster had to say about Doucoure’s role…
According to WhoScored, Doucoure has made fewer dribbles per Premier League game (0.6) this season than he made in any of his four seasons in England’s top flight with Watford.
The midfielder earned the highest overall Premier League WhoScored rating of his Watford career (7.00) in the 2017/18 season and he also made the joint-highest number of dribbles per Premier League game (1.1) of his Watford career that term.
Perhaps this indicates that Doucoure does deliver higher-quality performances when he is given a role with plenty of freedom to carry the ball forward in possession, as the podcaster suggested, so he may have a point in saying that Everton should think about utilising him in this way.