This is not going to be a piece on Everton’s 0-0 draw at Arsenal. Well, not really. For as positive as it was to see Sean Dyche’s side pick up a gritty, unexpected and valuable point on Saturday, it may well end up being a mere footnote in a seminal week for the club.
All being well, The Friedkin Group’s (TFG) much-anticipated takeover will be completed in the coming days, ending years of uncertainty around the club.
The Premier League is minded to approve the transaction, all other ducks appear to be in a row, and an independent oversight panel will likely sign off on it this week, ending Farhad Moshiri’s turbulent eight-year spell as owner.
That is the big picture.
The story of Saturday’s draw was of a return to the resilience that served Everton well at times last season.
Dyche’s side lost 4-0 at both Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United earlier this season, but rediscovered the defensive solidity that saw them stay up despite two points deductions in the 2023-24 campaign. For all their obvious limitations on the ball and in attack, they have now kept four clean sheets in five games.
These are positive omens for a goal-shy side that has not managed to dispel fears of a fourth successive relegation battle. In their situation, every point counts.
Even that, of course, is a reminder of how far the club have fallen under Moshiri.
Following Everton has become a slog. Whenever they have looked like pulling clear of trouble, something has gone wrong. Either by their own accord or factors outside of their control, they have lurched back towards danger.
TFG’s impending takeover hopefully means those days are over and loyal fans, who again travelled in droves on Saturday, can finally hope for something more.
The task in front of TFG is significant, and trips to this part of north London are a reminder of that. Everton last won here in April 2021 during the Covid pandemic, ending a 25-year wait for an away league victory against Arsenal. Across the past 27 away games against these opponents, they have only taken eight points from the 81 on offer.
Everton and Arsenal have not been relative equals since the 2013-14 season, when the two sides battled for Champions League qualification – and even that was fleeting.
Even when the result is positive, like it was on Saturday, it often comes when Everton have accepted their inferiority and dug in.
Everton have shown a pleasing stubbornness of late, the torrid 4-0 defeat earlier this month at Manchester United at the start of the month excepted.
At the Emirates, they played five across midfield and defended for their lives. Goalkeeper Jordan Pickford was inspired and those in front of them, marshalled by captain James Tarkowski, threw themselves in front of anything.
TFG will need to make urgent decisions on manager Sean Dyche and director of football Kevin Thelwell, both of whom are out of contract at the end of the season, as well as 13 senior players whose deals – temporary or permanent – are also expiring. That will map out the general direction of travel.
Their task is to plough in the resources that have been so badly missing over the past five years, with Everton the only side in the league to have a positive transfer balance in terms of spending over that time. That chronic lack of investment shows.
More than that though, they need to establish what they want the club to be moving forwards.
Are they the plucky underachievers, working on a minimal budget, of the David Moyes era? Are they the youthful exuberance of his successor Roberto Martinez’s early years?
Do they buy established talent or follow Brighton & Hove Albion’s sustainable recruitment model?
And what does a TFG-owned Everton side play like?
The evidence of the Moshiri years suggests short-cuts and Hollywood appointments are not the way forward. Under Thelwell, Everton have moved to a Brighton-like setup — buying low and trying to sell high — but the resources have not been there to determine whether that could be a success or not.
In this new era, Everton must be all of the things they are currently not: vibrant, energetic and upwardly mobile as well as positive; always looking to get on the front foot and always looking to harness the crowd during the final months at Goodison Park.
Right now, Dyche’s team can defend but little else. Even in a positive display against Arsenal, they showed little sign of knowing how to build up or attack.
They often eschewed the early ball from Pickford straight to lone striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin, presumably for fear of losing it to Arsenal’s defensive giants William Saliba and Gabriel, but then dropped it short and went long the very next pass.
They had no pressure valve or control. That is a common trait, whether the opponents are Arsenal or Ipswich Town.
Part of this is just what happens when you continually strip the team of creativity and pace in an attempt to avoid financial armageddon. But part of it is also about coaching and blueprint.
Across the side, there is significant work to do. The core of Pickford, Tarkowski and Jarrad Branthwaite is stable and can be built upon, but there are few other sure-fire bets. The team has been cobbled together and is full of sticking plasters, most notably on the flanks. It is crying out for guile and dynamism — Everton’s total of 14.9 xG (expected goals) this season is the lowest total in the Premier League, according to fbref.com.
Fresh resources across all levels will be requested and can help, but the new owners must stamp a new vision on the club. They need to get Everton behaving like a big team again.
Football is meant to be entertainment, but games have increasingly become a chore for fans of the club who attend in neither hope nor expectation.
The gap to Arsenal is cavernous but the one to Brighton and others in mid-table is also notable. The prospective new incumbents at Goodison know there is plenty of work to do.
One of TFG’s biggest tasks is to give Everton supporters a team they can believe in again.
(Top photo: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
