Your daily dose of Everton news and rumours

Everton’s heavy derby defeat on Wednesday night seems a culmination of a lot of frustration that has been building for some time now. And while it would be unfair to pin all the blame on manager Rafa Benitez as he has only just joined the club, not had a proper transfer window’s spending to build a side and seen a horrendous spate of injuries to key players, he is still quite culpable for his squad selection and tactical choices.

Benitez is rightly being panned for lining up his players in a 4-4-2 that only played right into Jurgen Klopp’s hands, with his Liverpool in a 4-3-3 with a false 9 that saw a four-man diamond in the middle overwhelm the midfield duo of Allan and Abdoulaye Doucoure. [The Athletic]

In fact, in our Merseyside Derby tactical preview, this was exactly the worry Matt had in his analysis. He even called out how Benitez can and should take on the Reds. [RBM]

“... some key players harbour concerns over a style of play they feel limits their own ability to impose themselves on games and places a cap on the side’s potential. One key figure has gone as far as to describe it as ‘ugly football’.”
Take a wild guess at what Premier League club is being talked about here. The malaise at Everton runs deep, and is most certainly affecting the squad. [The Athletic]

With all the fume being spewed at Goodison Park on Wednesday, Thursday was a perfect opportunity for majority shareowner Farhad Moshiri to give Benitez his vote of confidence, which he duly did. [talkSPORT]

However, instead of addressing the fans directly using any one of the multiple social media channels the club operates, Moshiri texted his old buddy Jim White instead, a move which continues to sow the discord between the supporters and the Board. [RBM]

Uh oh, what will Rafa do against Arsenal, looks like Salomon Rondon is injured. [Echo]

Speaking of Arsenal, looks like the Gunners will be coming for Dominic Calvert-Lewin in the summer. [Daily Mail]

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