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Everton’s top six aspirations already look in disarray after their 2-0 defeat to Sheffield United at Goodison Park made it just two wins from their opening six league matches.

That six game sequence included a favourable run of two newly promoted sides and four teams that finished outside of the Premier League’s top ten last season.

Marco Silva is now tasked with finding a quick solution to their faltering form. With Premier League Champions Manchester City, West Ham and Totteneham all lurking in the not so distant future, the Blues could find themselves in a precarious position very quickly if he doesn’t.

Perhaps the biggest frustration for Everton fans so far has been that their side have tended to prove the most dominant team in most of their matches.

This was no different on Saturday where Everton posted an Expected Goal (xG) total of 1.32 as they attempted 15 shots - three of which were on target and enjoyed a possession average of 65.11%.

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For comparison, Chris Wilder’s side mustered up just two efforts on goal with only one of those efforts being on target. Furthermore, their xG total of just 0.18 highlights how fortunate they were to run out 2-0 winners on the day.

Yet Everton’s clear lack of prowess with the ball indicates there are more fundamental problems than simply lady luck being against them.

The Blues’ ball possession average of 59.1% so far this season ranks as the third highest in the league behind only City and Liverpool. However, only three Premier League sides have scored less than their total of five league goals.

A big problem seems to be an inability to break down sides sitting in low defensive block.

A low block is a tactic in which a side looks to hold a deep rigid defensive position in order to restrain the amount of space the opposition has to exploit in the attacking third.

Teams who deploy the tactic will often be happy to forgo possession of the ball and avoid pressing the opposition until they enter their defensive half.

Everton have faced this sort of set up in nearly all of their matches so far this season. This is highlighted by their possession dominance and by looking at the oppositions Passes Per Defensive Action (PPDA) average.

PPDA is a metric that provides an insight into how frequently a team presses, by measuring how many opposing passes are allowed before a defensive action is made to regain the ball. To put it simply, the lower the figure, the more aggressive the press is.

Everton’s average of 6.26 so far this season ranks as the most aggressive press in the Premier League. However, their opponents PPDA has averaged out at 13 so for this season, demonstrating just how much more relaxed they have been when it comes to pressing the Blues in possession.

Whilst this sort of set up can be difficult to bypass, it is certainly not imperdible.

However, there are key factors to breaking down the same. Firstly, good player positioning is essential.

Attacking players are required to source and take up clever positions in between the defensive lines in order to receive possession of the ball and attempt to pull defenders out of position to create openings for team-mates.

A good example of the same is in the below image taken from Manchester City vs Watford. City attackers are up against a ridgid defensive set up, however their attackers are positioned in good areas across the final third.

In contrast, the below image was taken from Everton vs Sheffield United on Saturday. Note the cluster of Everton attackers in the one position awaiting the cross from Bernard.

There is very little in the way of spacing between the players and none of the attackers look to attack the space highlighted.

Another important facet to the success of breaking through these setups is varying the method of attacks.

As the defensive side sitting in this formation, you will favour and almost invite crosses and shots from distance. This is because these forms of attack will have a very low success rate in terms of leading to a goal.

With so many players in the penalty area, the defending side will always hold a numerical advantage against the attacking side.

Rushed shots from distance will be blocked and crosses are often easily defended against allowing the ball to be cleared up field and bestowing the defence time to reorganise.

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Too often, Everton’s main form of attack is working the ball into the wide areas and aimlessly crossing the ball into the area and hoping an attacker can latch onto the cross. This explains why their average of 20.5 crosses per 90 minutes is the second highest in the league this season.

There should instead by a focus on keeping the ball moving in the oppositions final third, using players good in areas as previously mentioned in order to wear down an opponent down, forcing lapses in concentration and exposing the gaps that do appear.

Everton’s foundering in this regard is demonstrated below in a shot taken from the defeat to Aston Villa earlier this season.

Morgan Schneirderlin picks the ball up with the Aston Villa defence penned into their defensive third. There is a large amount of space to Schneiderlin’s right that should be occupied by one of the three Everton attackers on the edge of the box.

However, no player populates the space and the Frenchman himself doesn’t have the confidence to drive into the gap with the ball.

He instead turns back into an area occupied by five Villa defenders and plays a pass to Andre Gomes who then passes to Digne as Everton try to work a crossing opportunity that is ultimately easily defended against.

All of the above sheds some light on why Everton are struggling to secure the results to justify their relative dominance in their matches so far this season.

The quality of the up and coming opposition suggests they should be bestowed more space in attack which may alleviate some of their woes so far this season.

However, with plenty of the season still to go, Silva must find a way to overcome this tactical issue or Everton won’t pick up anywhere near the level of points needed to challenge those sides with top six aspirations.