5 Telling Stats from Everton’s 2-0 Defeat to Man City

It was a gallant effort, but ultimate Everton exited the FA Cup following two late goals from Manchester City.

But what did the numbers tell us about the performance?

Gameplan

Return of the 5-3-2 hybrid

It wasn’t too much of a surprise to see Everton line-up in a similar 5-3-2 system that was used to claim a win at Anfield last month.

And, the plan largely worked. Everton limited City to very few chances throughout the game, allowing Guardiola’s side plenty of possession but suffocating their space when they approached the Everton area.

Possession

Blues have just 25.9% of possession

As expected, Man City dominated possession at Goodison Park. But Everton were more than happy to let them have the ball for the most part – after all, Everton aren’t a team that typically thrives when they’re expected to control a game.

When ever did get the ball, though, they tried to play quickly through the lines. In the first half this worked very well, although ultimately the Blues struggled to be as effective after the hour mark and looked increasingly leggy with few options on the bench to turn to.

Chances

Everton had more shots in box in first half

Indeed, despite City’s domination of the ball in the first half, Everton actually had four shots from inside the box, while City summoned just one.

It was a good example of Everton’s gameplan and how well they executed. It didn’t work out in the end – but let’s not forget City are one of the best teams in the world.

Virginia Shines

21-year-old shows himself a capable deputy

Heading into the game, I was very sceptical about having young Joao Virginia in the Everton goal against a side such as City.

But the youngster put in a near dream performance, pulling off two absolutely fantastic fingertip saves. Unfortunately the second of those cannoned off the bar to enable City to take the lead, but Virginia was flawless from a shot stopping perspective.

He’s clearly still got areas to improve on (in particular with regards to his distribution and command of his six-yard box) but he’s undoubtedly got potential. Hopefully he can make strides on loan next year and put his nightmare loan move to Reading last year behind him.

Options

Just 2 players aged over 23 on the bench

In the end, Everton legs tired and while Manchester City were able to bring on Kevin De Bruyne, Riyad Mahrez and Rodrigo from the bench, the only senior players on Everton’s bench were Tom Davies, Michael Keane and Alex Iwobi.

The other six players on Everton’s bench had a combined tally of one Premier League appearance between them. One of them was the Under-18 goalkeeper Žan Luk Leban who hasn’t even featured for the Under-23s yet.