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Marco Silva under pressure as Seamus Coleman says Everton players 'need to stand up and be counted'
Marco Silva is understood to be under increasing scrutiny at Everton after another dismal away defeat on Saturday.
Silva was only appointed in June, following a protracted and acrimonious dispute with the Portuguese’s former club, Watford, but his impact has been limited. He has taken fewer points in his first 23 league games in charge than any of his three predecessors and Everton’s away form has steadfastly failed to improve.
The club have taken just nine points on their travels this season – only four teams have fewer – and Saturday’s performance at St Mary’s was particularly limp.
Silva is believed to have been assured by the club’s hierarchy that he would be given time to effect change. That, and the lengths Everton went to in order to secure his services – Watford lodged a formal complaint with the Premier League over their approach to him when he was still in charge at Vicarage Road – may yet see him safe for now.
Countering that are comments by Everton owner Farhad Moshiri at the recent annual general meeting that the club’s league position “was not good enough”.
Silva has indicated that there are unlikely to be any new players arriving this month but several of those already there are underperforming.
“The last six or seven weeks you could say that it’s one step forwards and two steps back,” said defender Seamus Coleman. “We’ve won a game, performed well and look forward to the next game, but it doesn’t go quite so well. You don’t want to keep saying that we had new players coming in and trying to organise that, but as a whole we need to be better, we need to stand up and be counted. Our confidence has definitely dropped slightly and we need to pick that up.”
There appears to be no issue with confidence for Southampton who continue to improve under the guidance of their new manager Ralph Hasenhuttl, who has turned his Southampton players into TV addicts.
The former RB Leipzig manager took over at St Mary’s just as the intense festive fixture list was beginning, leaving little time to train. Instead, the Saints squad have been shown video after video at their Staplewood training complex in order to learn exactly what their exciting new manager wants them to do with and without the ball.
“There was no pre-season we could work in. It was very much watching, we did it a lot and from Wednesday to Saturday if you can’t train it’s video sessions, show them what’s good and where we have debited and it’s really interesting and I’m glad it seems they know exactly what to do in the next game,” said Hasenhuttl.
“They show they learn a lot from mistakes, they make it once but not twice and that gives make a lot of hope that we can build better performances. Every part of our game you can feel a development and if we go on in this way we have a big chance to be part of this Premier League.”
With seven points from their last three games, Southampton have pulled clear of the relegation zone, but only by three points. The next three games, against Crystal Palace, Burnley and Cardiff, are likely to characterise the remainder of the season as either a relegation battle or a surge towards mid-table.
“The reality is we are still right in that fight,” said Jack Stephens. “We need to keep working, keep improving and working hard and try and get as many points on the board as possible. There are teams around us who are winning as well and no-one will be giving up easy.”
Southampton’s players are cautious when asked about the difference between the Mark Hughes and Hasenhuttl regimes but the subtext seems to be a greater intensity and clearer game plan with the latter.
“We seem to be concentrating more with more video analysis. We’re clear on what the manager wants us to do out of possession,” said Stephens.
“The manager’s come here, has invented his game plan and how he wants us to play. We’ve taken that on board and each week we seem to be getting stronger and stronger.”