© Provided by This is FutbolPremier League - Everton v Brighton & Hove Albion
Pundit Robbie Earle has recently criticised Everton's tactical approach in their loss to Fulham recently.
Earle appeared on the latest edition of The 2 Robbies podcast and the panel discussed multiple issues involving the recent Premier League action. One topic of discussion was Everton's loss to Fulham, as Earle criticised Carlo Ancelotti's tactics in the game - suggesting that they worked against the Toffees.
Fulham's new signing Josh Maja managed to get a brace in the game on Sunday, as Ancelotti's men lined up without the injured Dominic Calvert-Lewin. The Toffees were set up in a 4-3-1-2 shape, with Richarlison and James Rodriguez acting as the two forwards in front of Iceland midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson (as per WhoScored).
Earle criticised Everton's approach, saying that there was no focal point in the attack against Scott Parker's men.
He said: "So the front three - Richarlison starts from the left-hand side, James Rodriguez on the right-hand side and Gylfi Sigurdsson played in a false nine. That was behind a three that played last week - [Andre] Gomes one side, [Abdoulaye] Doucoure on the other and Tom Davies as a central three.
"I think their hope was maybe Richarlison running in behind, James Rodriguez is not going to run in behind. The problem they had with that was that there was no focal point to the attack, we've seen Manchester City play the false nine and do brilliantly with inventive, creative dynamic runs in midfield - there was none of that from Everton.
"It just looked a system that worked against them in many ways. I was so surprised at half time that Josh King, who was on the bench, who they've got on loan in the January window, didn't come up just to bring a bit of pace and a bit of presence to the central area."
TIF Thoughts on Everton's shape against Fulham.
Calvert-Lewin has 13 goals to his name and has two assists in his bag too and considering that the Toffees had only two attempts on target, they seemed to miss the English forward's presence against Fulham.
Rodriguez picked up a rating mediocre rating of 6.66 and the ratings of Richarlison and Sigurdsson were much lower than that (as per WhoScored).
So individual performances from the attacking players weren't great on Sunday and Calvert-Lewin's absence might have cost them as well, considering how many goals he has scored in the campaign.
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