By Northern Gazette Sports Desk
Sunderland 1-1 Everton, Monday 3 November 2025, Stadium of Light
A draw at the Stadium of Light felt more like a verdict rather than a reprieve. Everton led through Iliman Ndiaye’s stunning solo goal but were pegged back at the start of the second half by Granit Xhaka’s deflected strike.
The second half told its own tale: Sunderland in control, Everton pinned deep, and a point that neither shifts the table nor the mood. One win in eight remains the larger context.
A structure that squeezes the team back
David Moyes is an experienced manager who commands respect; that much is uncontested. But the current structure could be boxing Everton into a game they don’t want to play. Persisting with James Tarkowski and Michael Keane together narrows what the team can do without the ball. The pairing’s lack of recovery pace encourages a conservative line – so deep at times that Everton’s build-up begins at Jordan Pickford’s feet. Moyes himself admitted the team “sat back” and “didn’t manage long periods of the second half well,” a concession that mirrors the eye test of recent weeks.
The reluctance to move Jake O’Brien inside to his natural centre-back role compounds the problem. That one adjustment could add enough mobility for Everton to defend five to ten yards higher and compress the pitch – something that was badly needed against Sunderland.
Slow, lateral build-up – numbers and patterns
Across the season to date, Everton’s chance creation profile is modest at best. According to Understat, Everton are generating roughly 1.0 expected goals from open play per match (9.27 xG from open play across the first nine league games), and about 11 shots per game – stats reflective of a team spending too much time circulating the ball without breaking the lines.
The visual pattern matches the data: long spells of sideways/backwards recycling, then hopeful territorial gains. When that patience yields a progressive pass, Everton look dangerous, but when it doesn’t, the move stalls and resets. The Toffees’ display at Sunderland was an emblematic case – brisk and ambitious for half an hour, but cautious and reactive thereafter.
Over-reliance on wing play and crosses
Everton’s attacking route has been very much concentrated on the flanks of late. That can be fine when the full-backs maraud forward and vary their deliveries, but at present the full-back threat is minimal, which blunts the approach. Sequences default to: funnel wide, cross under pressure, second ball. In isolation that’s a valid pattern, but as a dominant plan it becomes predictable.
In addition, it doesn’t suit Beto or Thierno Barry, who thrive more on balls played into space in front of them rather than a steady diet of contested aerials. The match narrative in Sunderland captured that tension – Grealish clipping the post, a big Barry miss from a wide delivery, control ceded after the break.
Opta’s broader read on this Premier League season notes a general upswing in direct deliveries and long distributions across the division – context that fits with what we’re seeing from Everton, where long passes have become an overused tactic rather than an occasional weapon. In moderation it’s sensible; as the default it drains variety.
Between the lines: the road not taken
The irony is that when Moyes arrived last season, Everton briefly lived between the lines: earlier passes played through the centre, Beto released into channels (Brentford away a prime example), and Carlos Alcaraz trusted to connect phases. That risk-and-reward edge has now ebbed away. What remains is tidy possession without incision and crosses without overloads.
Full-backs and the missing overlap
If the team keeps leaning on wide zones, the full-backs have to be more aggressive: earlier overlaps, underlaps, and cut-backs should be the order of the day rather than delayed, high crosses. The current set-up rarely commits both full-backs aggressively; and when a centre-back profile is used at right-back, the team loses cutting edge. That was a clever stop-gap last year – less so now, with different needs and fitter personnel. The knock-on effect is plain: fewer early cutbacks, fewer ground-level pullbacks, and more balls lofted into set defences.
Striker confidence and the 60-minute swap
Blaming the strikers would seem like the natural thing to do in this instance, but it’s also lazy. Confidence erodes when the forwards aren’t provided with the right kind of chances and when the No. 9 knows he’ll be hooked on the hour no matter what. Sunderland offered the full picture: one brilliant goal, one huge miss, and a final act of containment rather than assertion. Moyes’ post-match verdict – pleased to take a point by the end – was understandable on the night but points to the bigger issue: Everton play too cautiously, as if avoiding risk is their plan all along.
The temperature outside the ground
During and after the game, Everton supporters on X and across fan forums made their feelings clear about their team’s slow tempo, relying too much on the flanks, and a shape that looks too rigid for the league’s pace. That disquiet is no longer fringe; it has entered the weekly conversation around the team. The match reports reflect the same themes: fast start, missed killer chance, deeper line, second-half passivity.
How Moyes could make things right
There are several things Moyes could do to improve his side’s play without ripping up the work he’s already done. This isn’t a manifesto – it’s more of an advice sheet.
• Lift the defensive line, selectively. O’Brien inside alongside one of Tarkowski/Keane could add recovery pace and let Everton defend higher in certain phases, compressing distances and supporting a quicker counter-press.
• Consider a true right-back profile. Treat James Garner as an option at right-back in matches where build-up speed matters, or lean into a natural full-back to restore overlap/underlap patterns; both options would enable ground-level cut-backs to become a key weapon again.
• Bias central progression. Use Alcaraz (and Merlin Röhl when fit/available) to receive the ball between the lines more often, then feed Beto/Barry into space – an approach that previously delivered better opportunities to carve out dangerous chances.
• Vary the delivery. Keep the long pass as a change-up, not a heartbeat. When the league as a whole is trending towards more direct play, the competitive advantage is often in timing and disguise, not frequency.
• Manage the No. 9’s game time. When the striker is fed appropriately, don’t take him off at the 60-minute mark; confidence is cumulative.
None of this questions Moyes’ pedigree – he’s proven, meticulous and has already improved standards at Everton. However, their style looks rigid now. The data suggests mediocre open-play creation and a tilt towards safer, wider routes; the match footage shows a line that drops, full-backs that rarely commit, and forwards waiting for the right pass rather than running onto it.
Until these issues are sorted, Everton risk turning promise into paralysis.
