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After managing just two clean sheets in 14 Premier League matches, Everton doubled that tally in the space of five days this past week.

A potentially difficult trip to relegation-threatened Cardiff followed by the Merseyside Derby could have spelled trouble for the Blues, yet Everton remained resolute and picked up four points from a possible six.

Whilst the results were important for Marco Silva’s men, the manner of the performances pleased many Evertonians. The Blues followed up an impressive 3-0 victory at Cardiff by drawing 0-0 with Liverpool and limiting their free-flowing attacking opponents to their fifth lowest Expected Goals (xG) total this season at 0.91.

It was also just the second time this season Everton have put together consecutive clean sheets.

With Everton being gifted 17 days off prior to the Cardiff game, it’s clear Silva has been working hard with his side to strengthen their defensive capabilities. In the past, the Portuguese coach himself had been quoted saying his approach for all opponents would be the same and he will not show any fear.

However, he has perhaps been guilty of demonstrating a certain naivety in his tactical setup, sometimes overestimating his own side’s capabilities and consequently leaving his team vulnerable.

This was best demonstrated in December when Everton played Tottenham at Goodison Park, the day they were easily torn apart and lost the game 6-2. As can been seen from the below sequence, Everton deployed an admirable, but yet fatal, high-press against Tottenham. Spurs could comfortably beat that press by passing in shapes around the Everton players.

Through a simple passage of play, the away side comfortably eliminate four players out of the game.

(Image: WyScout)

Both Son Heung-min and Harry Kane come short, pulling Everton’s centre-backs with them, and leaving a huge space in behind them for the Spurs attackers to expose.

As the ball is chipped into Kane’s feet following their passing through Everton’s press, he can lay it off to Son who in turn passes it to Christian Eriksen; he is then able to thread it through the space in the Everton defence for the onrushing Kane.

(Image: WyScout)

Against Liverpool on Sunday, as was the case against Cardiff, Everton lined up in a 4-2-3-1. Although this formation is similar to the one installed against Spurs, there were fundamental differences.

In both games, trio Lucas Digne, Michael Keane and Seamus Coleman made up the defence in front of Jordan Pickford, with Kurt Zouma and Phil Jagielka playing one game apiece; Morgan Schneiderlin was picked ahead of Andre Gomes to partner Idrissa Gueye, with Gylfi Sigurdsson sitting in front. Bernard or Richarlison were wide on the left, with Theo Walcott wide to the right, and Dominic Calvert-Lewin up top.

Although Everton have played this formation a lot this season, the inclusion of Schneiderlin over the likes of Gomes or Tom Davies meant Everton had two strong defensive midfielders on the pitch. Schneiderlin assists Gueye in limiting the space through the middle causing the opposition to try and play around them or attempted lofted balls over the top.

Effective player positioning has been key to making the team compact and nullifying the threat in both of Everton’s recent games. Silva is demonstrating he has been doing his homework and knows how prevent a team implementing their preferred style of football.

Against Cardiff, despite not being known as an elite passing team, they have averaged 181 successful passes per 90 minutes in the league this season. Despite being the away side, through their tactical structure, Everton restricted Cardiff to just 160 passes.

This meant Cardiff struggled to build any momentum in possession and advance through Everton and into their final third. As a result, the home side managed no shots on target for the first time in five league matches. Their xG total of 0.22 was also their lowest in five league games.

In Liverpool, Silva identified their tendency to play out from the back. Therefore Everton maintained a mid-block with emphasis on a midfield press when Liverpool attempted to move the ball forward.

In the below, Everton were happy to let Liverpool centre-backs have possession of the ball deep in their own half. Calvert-Lewin and Sigurdsson block the passing lanes to either Fabinho or Gini Wijnaldum; meanwhile Schneiderlin closes down Jordan Henderson, cutting out any passes to the Liverpool captain.

(Image: WyScout)

After moving the ball from side to side attempting to create an opening, left frustrated, Liverpool were forced to attempt a long ball over the Everton defence.

(Image: WyScout)

The long ball didn’t threaten Everton’s defence and they were able to regain possession from a goal kick.

(Image: WyScout)

The strength of Everton compact structure was illustrated by Liverpool’s passing statistics. Their average pass length on Sunday was 21.85 meters, which is much higher than their season average of 19.72. Of all their passes, 14.69% were long passes, again much higher than their usual average of 9.26%.

If Cardiff or Liverpool did attempt to play through Everton, the Blues were quick to apply pressure in attempt to recover possession of the ball. In both games, Everton averaged 37.5 possession recoveries per 90 minutes in the middle of the pitch, which is more than their season average of 32 per 90 minutes.

When both teams did manage to bypass Everton’s setup, Everton’s central defenders have remained resolute and extremely robust. Keane, Zouma and Jagielka have all produced assured displays when called upon, with Keane putting in a goal saving challenge on Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah ten minutes into the second half.

(Image: WyScout)

The stats back up their improved outings at the back. They averaged 52.5 interceptions in both games, which betters their season average of 44.42. They also bettered their average in terms of clearances in those games, averaging 27.5 in comparison to their season average of 19.23.

Overall, it’s fair to say Everton’s improvement defensively is as a result of tactical tweeks by their coach, as well as improved defensive displays from key players. Everton’s structure in their previous two matches has made it difficult for the opposition to break through.

Whilst it’s proved successful, there may be a slight concern that playing two defensive midfielders will hamper Everton’s attacking capabilities. Although managing three goals at Cardiff, the Blues overall xG value for both games was just 1.19, suggesting Everton would be expected to score just 1.2 goals over the two games given the chances they created.

Yet, with Everton leaking goals and struggling for clean sheets, questions were asked as to how Silva would rectify the issue. It seems he has answered those questions successfully - for now.

The Blues will no be hoping they can use their new found sturdy defensive foundations to stake a claim for a strong finish to their Premier League campaign.