With Everton taking four points from a possible six as we open up the 2019/20 Premier League campaign, fans were rightly celebrating our first victory of the year as Bernard’s tenth minute effort was enough to return all three points against Watford last weekend.
Whilst the performance can certainly improve, football is about results and we can expect better when our summer captures settle in properly at the club.
BBC pundit Garth Crooks named both goalkeeper Jordan Pickford and Bernard in his weekly Team of the Week feature in recognition of their performances on Saturday, but writing generally about Everton, Crooks felt that anything less than a top six finish this year would leave manager Marco Silva with some question marks over his future, and he felt that was purely down to how well Liverpool were doing at this moment in time.
“Everton currently lie eighth in the table with Bournemouth above them after two games. The problem with Everton is managing expectations. Should the Toffees finish in the top six then their manager survives. Anything short of that then Everton’s fans will start asking their usual questions. It’s unfortunate for Marco Silva that Liverpool are doing so well but that’s what this is all about.”
I’m not so sure myself, it’s a tired line to throw out about ‘managing expectations’ at Goodison and we clearly have a long term plan under both Marcel Brands and Silva, so whilst top six should certainly be the aim after our summer strengthening, as long as we show improvement on last year, I’m not so sure there is a question to ask.
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