Moyes’s Midfield Conundrum is Leaving Difference-Maker Hackney Out in the Cold

It started in promising enough fashion with an opening-day victory and a creditable away draw on the south coast and slipped to merely decent following the draw at Hull. But now, on the back of two toothless defeats — albeit to significantly better sides — Everton’s season has taken on a decidedly underwhelming air.

The loss to Chelsea, given our home record against them in recent seasons, may not have fallen into the category of “expected losses” but the one at champions Arsenal certainly did. As is always the case, though, there are ways to lose even in the face of significant odds and, on both occasions, David Moyes’s men fell far below the required levels.

The effort is there, as you’d expect from a Moyes side, but from a creative and chance-creation standpoint Everton failed to lay a glove on either London opponent and the focus is increasingly on the shortcomings of the manager’s coaching vis-á-vis some of his more dynamic younger peers and his team-selection policies that continue to favour certain under-performing players while more dynamic options warm the bench.

At the heart of the debate is the midfield where Jack Grealish’s reintegration into the side has been frustratingly slow while he tries to regain match fitness and sharpness, Brennan Johnson defies his continued selection with anonymity and ineffectiveness, and the central midfield pairing of James Garner and Harrison Armstrong just isn’t working.

That last issue was brought into sharper focus on Saturday at the Emirates Stadium by another impressive cameo off the bench from Hayden Hackney, a player who, as was observed in the column linked above, didn’t even make the pitch against Chelsea, that despite a game-changing cameo against Manchester United.

Just as he was against Michael Carrick’s side last month, the summer signing from Middlesbrough was an immediately and consistently positive presence on the ball when he was brought on (which might not even have happened had Vitalii Mykolenko not been forced off with an apparent calf injury), always looking to link play and push the Toffees forward. Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s levels also went up with Hackney on the pitch and he might have at least made a game of it against the Gunners had he managed to steer a late header inside the far post rather than beyond it.

It’s baffling why Moyes is unable to see the difference that Hackney makes but he might also be paralysed by the conundrum posed by Armstrong’s energy and work-rate and the security in the middle that Garner ostensibly provides.

On paper, it should make for a solid partnership but, in practice, they’re too similar to work in a team that, on the one hand, isn’t able to effectively move the ball around the pitch on a consistent basis and, on the other, is bereft of sufficient creativity while Johnson is on the right flank and doesn't press effectively enough as a unit.

It’s a dilemma that will only intensify when Christian Nørgaard is fully fit, although the fact that the Dane is regarded as a bona fide No 6 would at least settle that part of the debate over Everton’s midfield.

Currently, despite Garner’s impressive defensive metrics last season and the player’s own professed desire to play that holding role in front of the back four, he hasn’t managed to convince anyone so far that he is the answer in that position.

Meanwhile, his contributions going forward since joining the club haven’t pointed towards him being an effective attacking midfielder either which, ordinarily, would see him falling between the two proverbial stools and out of the team.

He appears, however, to be a Moyes favourite, as does Armstrong. And, again, the 19-year-old has been one of the most consistent performers of the season so far and could feel hard done-by if he lost his place.

But unless Moyes is to change the system, drop one of Garner, Armstrong or Dewsbury-Hall (unlikely), or play Hackney out of position on one of the flanks, there doesn’t seem to be an easy solution to the glaring need to get the ex-Boro man’s forward drive and footballing intelligence into the starting XI.

In the immediate term, the manager’s hand might be forced by Mykolenko's injury. (It is unclear if it’s the same issue that kept him out against Hull.) Garner was moved to cover Mykolenko’s absence on Saturday and he might be asked to continue on the left side of defence for as long as the former is sidelined.

Moyes will hopefully not feel compelled to rush Nørgaard back before he is completely ready and instead be comfortable enough in allowing Hackney and Armstrong to renew the partnership for the Newcastle tie that did well enough against Crystal Palace on the opening day and certainly no worse than when Garner has been in the team.

Two successive 2–0 defeats is no time to panic, but a record of two Premier League wins in 15 — relegation form whichever way you slice it — is a cause for concern. It means that the Blues go into an eight-day stretch before the next international break with some unwanted pressure on their shoulders.

Back-to-back games against a Magpies outfit that was struggling itself before it came up against an even more fallible Palace at the weekend and then a home date with newly-promoted Coventry offer an ideal opportunity for Everton to get back to winning ways.

Even more importantly — and at the risk of repeating the closing line of the last column on these pages! — it’s time for the manager to take off the handbrake and allow those younger, dynamic players to prove that he has been wrong to starve them of minutes in the opening weeks of the season.