Michael Keane Suffering From Lack Of Structure And Continuity At Everton

Michael Keane Suffering From Lack Of Structure And Continuity At Everton
16:14, 21 Nov 2017

It's been a tough start to the season for Everton defender Michael Keane. Joining for a fee in the region of £30m from Burnley over the summer, the move to Goodison Park seemed like the logical next step in the career of a player supposedly destined for big things. At the time, Ronald Koeman's aspirational project looked, for all intents and purposes, like being the right platform to catapult Keane to the big-time both domestically and internationally.

Yet as the rot has set in on Merseyside, the ex-Claret has had to watch his former club go from strength to strength under former boss Sean Dyche. In a dramatic role reversal, it is the men from Lancashire that are hanging on to the coattails of the top six, with Everton embroiled in a relegation battle at the other end of the table. As such, Keane could be forgiven for wondering what on earth he's got himself into.

Worse still, a brief glance at social media after Everton's 2-2 draw at Crystal Palace on Saturday would have shown just how quickly Keane's own personal fortunes have changed. Arriving as a confident new England cap- and one who had acclimatised so seamlessly to the international arena - the Manchester United academy graduate has looked increasingly unsure of himself of late as the Toffees concede goals with alarming regularity. There is an argument that Twitter outrage should always be taken with a pinch of salt, but on this occasion, the evidence on the pitch has been overwhelming. Keane has often appeared slow, error-prone and easily flustered.

In many ways, the form of his successor at Turf Moor, James Tarkowski, offers a firm indication as to why he is struggling so much on Merseyside. For if Burnley provide their centre-halves with the sort of structure and continuity in which to thrive, Everton have done the exact opposite over the first four months of the campaign.

The Clarets tend to defend deep, saturate the middle of the pitch and force teams wide. The remarkably simple brief means that little space is left in behind to be exploited, while adequate protection is afforded in front of the two central defenders. Keane, former partner Ben Mee and now Tarkowski, have all benefited from such a secure framework. Players know who they're likely to play alongside and that there's little change in setup from game to game.

Contrast that to the environment Keane has walked into at Goodison Park, and it's easy to see why someone used to such rigidity is having problems. Under Koeman, the ex-Burnley stopper has played as part of both a back three and a conventional four, with the Dutchman frequently swapping between Ashley Williams and Phil Jagielka. When the Barcelona legend was sacked after a 5-2 drubbing by Arsenal, the arrival of David Unsworth as caretaker manager added a further layer of upheaval.

Performances, on the whole, have improved under the interim coach- but, equally, glaring tactical frailties remain. Crosses regularly come into the area from good attacking positions, while Unsworth bizarrely had Ashley Williams and Phil Jagielka- two veterans- playing on the halfway line at Leicester in Keane's absence. Add in a nasty foot injury sustained in the Carabao Cup tie against Sunderland and the poor form of holding midfielders Idrissa Gueye and Morgan Schneiderlin, and the mitigating factors start to stack up in Keane's defence.

Frustratingly, we've seen enough with both Everton, England and Burnley to suggest that there's a good defender in there somewhere waiting to reemerge. Impressive on debut for the Three Lions and solid for Burnley last season to such an extent that Manchester United and Liverpool were strongly linked with a move for his services, the Stockport-born defender also started the campaign well for Everton.

In the season opener against Stoke, the 24-year-old delivered a commanding performance in which he also played a key role in Wayne Rooney's decisive winner. Striding forward with the ball, Keane paused before playing a smart pass into midfield to break lines and get the move out of first gear. At Burnley, Keane also won the most headed duels in the Premier League last season. There are, evidently, clear strengths to his game- even if weaknesses are still on display too.

A lack of pace means that Keane is not particularly suited to a high defensive line unless accompanied by a 'recovery defender' next to him. It's also true that as Everton's form has declined, so too has the player's. Given the age at which defenders tend to mature is on average later than that of attackers, perhaps this is not surprising for someone who, at 24, is still learning both the technical and mental sides of the game.

And so Keane is, in many ways, a player who needs a helping hand from Everton if he is to get out of his current rut. Certainly, the feeling lingers that he would almost certainly benefit from playing in a settled system- alongside a regular partner- over the coming months.

It would be no surprise if, even fleetingly, he's cast envious glances at the solid structure his replacement at Turf Moor, James Tarkowski, finds himself in at present. Keane's improvement, thus, has to become a two-way street.

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