By Paul Conatzer
Twitter @Toffeepaul.com
Everton manager Marco Silva hasn’t had the best of weeks and he’s a little frustrated.
Actually, things were purring along quite nicely until late Saturday afternoon in Newcastle. Everton looked to be heading towards a second-straight away win and a third clean sheet in a row. With 30 minutes left to go, Everton were up 2-0 and seemed to be in control. A little more than half-an-hour later, Everton had allowed three goals, including two in the last 10 minutes and were sideswiped with a 3-2 loss.
To add to Silva’s annoyance, he has been charged with improper conduct by the Football Association after he questioned an offside decision on Newcastle’s winner.
According to the Talksport, Silva said he was not happy, first of all with his team’s performance as well as some of the officiating decisions.
“I never was aggressive, never disrespectful with the referee. I didn’t use abusive words or something like that and in that moment I wasn’t happy with the two decisions. I was clear with what I said to the referee and to the assistant about the situation.”
Bad words are something Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri has some experience with, especially with goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga, who refused to be substituted during the Carabao Cup Final.
Everton will host Chelsea on Sunday afternoon. Chelsea are coming off a big win in the Europa League against Dynamo Kiev on Thursday night. However, the game was played in Kiev, forcing Chelsea to take a long journey back.
Both Sarri and Silva have come under attack from segments of their respective teams’ support.
Everton will not win any silverware this season and are unlikely to qualify for Europe. They currently sit in 11th place on 37 points, 20 points behind Chelsea in sixth and seven behind Wolves, who are in seventh-place. Barring a complete collapse, Everton should be safe from relegation. They are nine points ahead of 18th place Cardiff and have a far better goal difference.
Realistically, Everton would rather not be playing Chelsea this weekend. If it wasn’t for another late collapse against Millwall in the fourth round of the FA Cup. Everton could well be playing for a spot in the competition’s semi-finals. After beating Everton, 3-2, Millwall followed up with a 1-0 away win at AFC Wimbledon in the fifth round and will host Brighton in the quarterfinals on Sunday.
Everton and Chelsea drew 0-0 when they met earlier in the season at Stamford Bridge. Yerry Mina had a solid game for Everton as he filled in for Kurt Zouma, who is on loan from Chelsea and can’t play against them.
Another subpar performance by Everton, could really increase the pressure on Silva and have Everton money man Farhad Moshiri checking for taxi contact information.