Marco Silva has Everton moving forward and they approach the Merseyside derby with genuine confidence that they can shatter their Anfield hoodoo.

The mantra at Finch Farm this week from Everton's head coach has been for the players to show no fear in a stadium where they have failed to win since September 1999. Results over the last six weeks — and the style in which they have been achieved — augur well for the future.

It's very different to last December when Sam Allardyce took Everton across Stanley Park with the sole ambition of limiting the damage. Sportsmail looks at how Silva is overseeing change and building a team to make Everton supporters proud.

Since taking charge, Marco Silva has moved Everton forward and brought back confidence

ATMOSPHERE

No club can hope to progress unless there is harmony behind the scenes and towards the end of Allardyce's brief tenure there was unhappiness within the dressing room.

When Silva added six new faces during the summer transfer window, he recognised the need to create a stable environment.

At the beginning of autumn, Silva arranged a meal for the whole squad and this was the night when the new signings, among them Yerry Mina and Lucas Digne, had to perform their karaoke initiation. Despite striker Cenk Tosun's best efforts, Silva did not take the microphone.

Summer signings Lucas Digne (L) and Yerry Mina had to perform karaoke for their initiations

'It was the perfect time for singing,' said Digne, the left back who arrived from Barcelona. 'I don't remember what I sang but it was always bad! Now everybody sings in the locker room… Mina is not bad. It's good for dancing. In the locker room, we are a real family.'

An idea of the importance Silva puts on camaraderie was shown at the start of this week.

Monday was a day off for the first-team squad but they reported to Finch Farm, where the indoor gym had been transformed into a Laser Quest arena.

ATTENTION TO DETAIL

Silva is usually first into Finch Farm, around 8am. He is a football obsessive who has built strong relationships with director of football Marcel Brands and chairman Bill Kenwright.

He tends to work until 6pm, spending his afternoons studying videos of opponents and hatching plans.

He is notoriously guarded. One of the new rules that has been implemented at Finch Farm is that nobody is allowed to watch his two-hour training sessions unless they are part of the first-team squad. Silva does not want word of tactical plans to leave the premises.

First team training sessions are not able to be watched by any outsiders as Silva is very private

Only backroom staff and doctors are allowed to watch. Nobody else, not even groundstaff. Silva's view is that if you are not involved with it, you don't need to see it.

When the secretive Silva is talking in specifics about a game, he reverts to Portuguese to converse with assistant, Joao Pedro, fitness coach Pedro Conceicao and goalkeeping coach Hugo Oliveira.

Another little detail is that mobile phones are banned from the medical room and gym. Anyone caught using them is fined £20.

TACTICAL TUTORIALS

A big theme of Silva's management style since arriving has been his one-to-one tutorials with each member of the squad.

Some coaches will physically drag players around the training field to explain a point, but Silva does it in front of a smartboard in his office.

The Everton boss is a big fan of giving one-to-one tutorials to his players on the training pitch

'Every day, he is teaching new things,' Turkey striker Tosun explained.

'Sometimes on the pitch, there are too many people and he cannot explain what he wants properly. He is so ambitious. It feels very nice to work with him.'

Ambition

Silva's ultimate objective is to lead a club that has been starved of silverware back to the good times but his immediate target is to become the first Everton manager since Howard Kendall, during his third spell at the club in October 1997, to win his first meeting with Liverpool.

'There is a power about this derby,' said Silva, who is undefeated in two games against Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp since arriving in England as Hull City boss in 2017.

'A win can lead us to good things. So we don't mention fear — I have told them since the first day. It is important to see our players performing with confidence.'

Everton are certainly performing with confidence. Now the big results must follow.