Jarrad Branthwaite quotes show main problem with Everton this season

Jarrad Branthwaite has shown the overall issue with Everton with recent quotes, despite their positive overall message, as he admits defensive mistakes come from switching off.

The message from the 21-year-old was a positive one. They know what they have to do, have an idea how to do it, and will work hard to overturn their recent run of form. These are all the things you want to hear, but they also expose the weakness in the team.

While the focus at Everton has been on finding a solution to their goalscoring issues, their defensive frailty has slipped under the radar, and it is now something that needs to be addressed.

Speaking via the official club website [4 September], Branthwaite said about the 2-2 draw at Bramall Lane: “We got our goal and I thought we deserved more. It’s a massive boost in confidence to get something from the game and we know we could have got more.

“We were the better team, it was just that lack of concentration with the two goals.”

The defender went on to comment on the work needed during the international break, claiming: “We’ve got things we can learn from to develop us. That’s what we’ll do and we’ll come back after the international break ready to go again.”

The overall theme of those quotes is that the team have taken the positives and confidence despite the poor results, which is a good sign, but there is also the underlying topic of the defence switching off.

To put it plainly, if the defence is switching off multiple times in every game and that’s leading to negative results, then that is a huge problem. Branthwaite himself cannot take the blame – the Sheffield United game was his second start this season – but his quotes have exposed a weakness.

Dyche surely won’t be happy with what he’s seen from his defensive unit. The boss prides himself on setting up his teams to stay tight and rigged at the back, which is everything but what this team have been so far.

Bar the defeat against Aston Villa, Everton’s results have been tight this season. 1-0 losses to both Fulham and Wolves could have gone either way, but that shows again that the defence cannot afford to “switch off” at this level.

If the team want to push on from here, they will need to sort out what has become a recurring issue this season.