The 3 major failures of Marco Silva at Everton
Marco Silva was finally shown the door at Everton, after a terrible start to the 2019-20 Premier League campaign saw the Toffees languishing in the relegation zone.
When Silva was hired before the start of the 2018-19 season to replace Sam Allardyce, there was a mixed reaction by fans, with many believing he wasn't experienced or good enough to be Everton's manager.
His first season saw Everton finish in 8th position, the same as they had finished the season before under Allardyce. However, a strong end to the season saw the Toffees build a 'fortress' at Goodison Park - with wins over Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United and Burnley.
This season, however, turned out differently. Shocking defeats to Burnley, Brighton and the three promoted sides - Sheffield United, Aston Villa and Norwich - saw Everton struggle in the bottom half of the league table. While they should eventually manage to avoid relegation, the club shouldn't have been in this position at all - especially with the massive millions they have spent on transfers in the past two windows.
The club's long injury list and inability to sign the players they wanted in the transfer window like Wilfried Zaha and Kurt Zouma didn't help the cause of the Portuguese manager. He was sacked after managing a 40.9 winning percentage from his 61 games in charge, lower than his predecessors Ronald Koeman, Roberto Martinez and David Moyes.
A last-minute defeat to Leicester City and then a 5-2 humbling at the hands of local rivals Liverpool in the Merseyside Derby were the final nails in the coffin for Silva. At the time of his departure, the Toffees were in 18th place with a disappointing 14 points from 15 games.
But where did it all go wrong for Silva? Here are the 3 main problems Everton faced under him:
1. The Zonal Marking Disaster
While most managers use the man-marking strategy while defending corners and free-kicks, some have turned to the zonal marking system. Zonal marking is a defensive strategy where defenders cover an area of the pitch rather than marking a specific opponent.
If an opponent moves into the area a defender is covering, the defender marks the opponent. If the opponent leaves this area, then marking the opponent becomes the responsibility of another defender.
Even though teams have traditionally done well with zonal marking, Silva's version of the system turned out to be a disaster - with teams exploiting Jordan Pickford's near post in 2018-19. And although it seemed like Silva had got it right towards the end of the season, this season teams have continuously targeted and successfully scored at the far post.
In 2018-19, Everton conceded the most goals (16) from set-pieces. In 2019-20, the problem of conceding from set-pieces has continued, with the team conceding seven goals already (only Aston Villa have conceded more).
Even when Silva was manager of Hull City, they had conceded the most goals from set-pieces. That issue clearly carried on to his life at Everton.
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