Everton’s fine unbeaten run was brought to a crashing halt following a 3-2 defeat at the hands of Leicester City at Goodison Park on Saturday.
While it was an enthralling game between two very good sides, Everton simply made too many mistakes on the day and gave away two cheap penalties. At the end, the penalties cost Everton dearly as they could not launch a fight back and eventually went on to lose the game.
The loss means that Everton have now failed to claim a single victory in their last four Premier League matches and if such a run continues for longer, Roberto Martinez’s men’s chances of finishing in Europe will vanish without a trace.
Here is an analysis of the performance of the Everton players on the day –
| Player Rating |
Comment |
|
Tim Howard – 4
|
An experienced goalkeepers such as Tim Howard has not been remotely consistent as he should be so far this season and it was another poor performance from the American international against Leicester.
Howard needlessly gave away the crucial penalty in the second period for fouling Jamie Vardy and his overall display was certainly one to forget. |
| Seamus Coleman – 6.5
|
Seamus Coleman looked very good going forward and gave the Leicester City backline a host of problems. Unfortunately, Coleman was unable to marry his threat in attack with a good defensive performance. |
|
John Stones – 6
|
While Stones did well whenever on the ball and could not have been blamed for the goals that Everton conceded, one could argue that the defender should have been more commanding in marshalling the backline. |
| Ramiro Funes Mori – 5.5
|
Following a string of good performances, Funes Mori endured a terrible time against Leicester City. Mori conceded the first penalty of the game after bringing down Shinji Okazaki and never really looked comfortable at the back. |
|
Leighton Baines – 6
|
Baines did okay defensively but one should expect his deliveries from set pieces to be much better.
Nonetheless, it was a decent performance overall from the 31-year old. |
| Gareth Barry – 7
|
Gareth Barry did a good job in midfield once again and the 34-year old could not be pointed the finger at for any of the goals which Everton conceded. The veteran was easily one of the best defensive minded players on the night for Everton. |
|
Tom Cleverley – 6
|
James McCarthy’s absence has been a big miss for Everton but in all fairness, Tom Cleverley put in a good shift at the middle of the park.
However, the criticism labeled at Cleverley since his Manchester United days is that he needs to be more effective in attack and the midfielder once again offered very little going forward against Leicester. |
| Gerard Deulofeu – 5.5
|
Gerard Deulofeu has been in sensational form for Everton over the past few weeks but his performance against Leicester was very poor. Things were simply not coming off for Deulofeu and he was rightly subbed in the second period for Aaron Lennon. |
|
Arouna Kone – 5
|
As for Kone, he has not enjoyed the best of times in recent matches and it was another forgettable performance from the Ivory Coast star on the day. |
| Ross Barkley – 7.5
|
Ross Barkely can most certainly consider himself to be very unlucky to have finished on the losing side on the day following another very good performance. Barkley caused the Leicester backline a lot of problems and set up Kevin Mirallas for a late consolation with a clever backheel pass. |
|
Romelu Lukaku – 7
|
Lukaku scored in the eight consecutive Premier League game with a well taken strike but despite his fine achievement, the striker perhaps should have been more effective in leading the line. |
Substitutes
|
Kevin Mirallas – 7
|
Came on during the final 15 minutes of the game and made a good impact by scoring a goal late on.
Mirallas should now be in consideration to start over Arouna Kone next weekend. |
| Aaron Lennon – 6
|
Came on for Gerard Deulofeu and did well with his pace. |
