Leicester City 2 Everton 0 : Toffees find a new way to lose under Unsworth

Ronald Koeman is finally out and Everton faced Leicester City in their first league match under David Unsworth. Points are desperately needed if Everton wish to stay out of a surprising relegation battle.

Below are my thoughts during the match

• Unsworth puts out a somewhat surprising line up. Gylfi Sigurdsson on the bench, Tom Davies and Wayne Rooney starting, Phil Jagielka and Ashley Williams in defence again. He’s going very simple with a 4-4-1-1 line up. Looks like Everton are going back to basics.
• Simplifying things doesn’t seem to be helping Everton. Only a few minutes into the match and Leicester are finding acres of space behind Everton’s defense. Neither Jagielka or Williams have the pace to keep up with Vardy.
• Jamie Vardy puts Leicester ahead in the 18th minute. This was a textbook counter-attacking goal and classic Leicester City.
• Everton finally get their first real chance at goal. A perfectly weighted Wayne Rooney pass finds Aaron Lennon running behind the defense. Lennon’s play into the middle of the box is broken up. Lennon has to be more selfish on a play like that.
• The downward spiral continues. Jonjoe Kenny fluffs a clearance and puts the ball into his own net. Sad turn of events for the youngster, but indicative of the season for Everton. 2-0 Leicester.
• Kevin Mirallas trying his best to put the team on his back. He takes a few shots from range that are just wide.

Overall, things not looking much better for Everton under Unsworth. Everton are still bad, they’re just a different kind of bad now. Leicester have been playing the same style of football for a number of years now and Everton appeared to be completed unprepared for it, or at least unable to stop it.

• Mirallas and Lennon are subbed off for Oumar Niasse and Beni Baningime at the break. This is simply mind-boggling. Everton’s two best players in the first half, and only representation of pace and width are subbed off to add a striker and central midfielder. If anything, Rooney off for Sigurdsson would have been the right move.
• Any semblance of spacing and formation is slowly vanishing. Everton players are on top of each other, at one point I counted 5 within a yard of the ball. Why the wingers were removed is still a mystery.
• Sigurdsson is finally subbed in for Rooney. Sadly this appears to have happened 30 minutes too late as this match becomes increasingly out of reach.
• Iborra nearly adds a third for Leicester, but a poor first touch sees the ball go wide.
• The final whistle blows, and I don’t see how Everton could get any worse.