ANALYSIS: Rooney, Keane, Koeman: Why Everton deserve attention this season

The English Premier League take centre stage this weekend
with the traditional curtain raiser – The FA Community Shield held last Sunday
with Arsenal stealing a shootout victory over London rival, Chelsea.

A season whose build up has been characterised with mouth-watering
transfer trills and deals across board is here, Van Dijk back and forth
Liverpool /Chelsea move, the Neymar’s 222 drama, some sort of resurgence with
the Milan teams in Italy, prolonged speculations and uncertainty surrounding
stars like Bale, Mbappe and we can go on and on.

A number of teams however appear to have gone about their
bid to rebuild and consolidate its squad strength in a smart but almost
unnoticed manner, one of such is Everton football club.

A number of points got our attention about this Everton side
as you would see below.

The Manager

Since his confirmation on June 14, 2016 as Everton manager,
Ronald Koeman has displayed a quality that has been inseparable from him from
his playing days. It’s decisiveness.

Koeman always know what to do and how to go about them. The
Dutch tactician hit the ground running at Finch Farm with decision regarding
the release of Leon Osman, Tony Hibbert and Steven Pienaar and the new Blues
boss took just 45 minutes of a closed doors pre-season friendly against FK
Jablonec at an Austrian training camp to decide that Oumar Niasse wouldn’t be
featuring in his rebuilt squad either.

Koeman, in his debut season, went on to snap players like
Marteen Stekenlenburg, Yannie Bolasie, Morgan Schneiderlin, Asley Williams and
others; spending just over £73m that summarised a figure lesser than that of a
single signing from other teams like United, and despite all odds leading
Everton to an impressive seventh place finish in the league and third round
exit the cups. His prompt and apt decision making does not just play out in
transfer business, but also during the game. For instance, he deployed James
McCarthy, as a right wing-back at West Brom, and replaced him after just 38
minutes with Everton trailing. The Blues boss changes his team’s shape and it
paid off with a 2-1 win.

This season, despite losing top scorer Romelu Lukaku to
Manchester United, Koeman has again shows precision and intent in the manner of
his transfer business, securing deals that brought Wanye Rooney, Michael Keane,
Klaaseen, Pickford and still counting to the Mersyside Blues.

Formidable Defence: Michael Keane

Another ex old Trafford rookie joined Everton for a reported
£30m from Burnley following the path of ex Old Trafford rookies like Darren
Gibson, and Tom Cleverly to join the Blues. The difference here is that Keane
moved not as a rookie but as a heavily sort after defender in the premier
league owing to his success as one of the league’s standout stopper the
previous season.

With his 191cm height and ability to read the game and not
run into tackles, Keane reminds one of a young Jamie Carragher and promises to
be a quality addition to an Everton side. It appears Everton have stolen a deal
off the hands of ‘the bigger boys’ who reportedly wanted Keane. With Keane, I
dare say Everton has successfully filled the space left by John Stone last
summer, thus building a decent defence line that can hold its own, bully
successfully and come top in negotiations.

The Rooney Factor

The England captain and all time top scorer, though on the
flip side of age brings a lot to the table having rejoin the Blues in July
2017, Rooney insisted he had returned to help Everton challenge for honours and
said winning trophies with his boyhood club would be the “pinnacle” of his
career. Rooney with his wealth of experience will be a big character in the
Everton dressing room and on field. And as someone who has seen almost all at
31, the England hero can help charge the side to their next level. Rooney might
appear a shadow of himself in front of goal and with the uncertainty which has
becloud what role suits him best in recent years, characters like him are
always plus for a team like Everton.

Lukaku’s Departure

The Belgian star, after several travels in loan spells,
appeared to have found a home in Everton. First, joining the club as record
transfer fee in a £28m deal after a successful loan spell from Chelsea and
proceeding to reward Everton’s trust by banging 25 goals in each during his
time with the Blues, but the goals also came with their “evil ” as
Lukaku would soon be seen to be a fish who needs bigger river to explore.

Lukaku moved to Manchester United in a reported £75m deal,
and despite the cluster of stars Koeman has managed to bring down to Everton
this term, he doesn’t seem to have replaced his erstwhile top striker. Could
this be a hint that Wanye Rooney might find his way back up front as top 9? Can
the English man be trusted with the responsibility of goal scoring sufficient
for Everton’s ambition? Everton have consistently been linked with Arsenal’s
Oliver Giroud and much recently, Danny Welbelk, the inconsistency of the formal
in front of goal and nagging injury problem of the later raise concern about
Everton’s goal scoring potential going into the new season.

Koeman knows what he wants and might have built a squad to
achieve the feat he desires, with the armoury of stars in Koeman’s arsenal, and
his prowess, Everton definitely deserve reckoning and we hope they can prove
that on the field of play, maybe not as title contender, but certainly as
formidable dark horse.

Would Everton do a Spurs on us or maybe a Leicester? Time
will tell and I hope the Blues won’t run out of breathe as the ‘marathonic’ premier
league goes on.