For Everton fans this season, there have been plenty of players to point at for the reason to their poor start to life in the Premier League, yet one name is appearing more often than others.
Morgan Schneiderlin has been a target for both supporters and pundits this season, with BBC Sport’s Garth Crooks the latest to criticise the former Manchester United man following his reckless showcase against Manchester City last Saturday.
And the French midfielder has again been subjected of criticism this week, this time from Danny Mills via Football Insider, with the talkSPORT pundit pointing out that Schneiderlin has been too rash this season, and is causing avoidable problems for his team.
Mills said: “From time to time, he does make some daft challenges that he doesn’t need to make. He’s a good player, his disciplinary record isn’t fabulous and you can get sent off so easily in this day and age, you’ve got to be so, so careful.”
Indeed, Schneiderlin has deserved his critics the season. As numbers from the Premier League’s official website show, the defensive midfielder is the only Everton player to be dismissed this campaign whilst also picking up the joint-highest yellows card in the Toffees squad.
And this is thoughtless behaviour is something Mills has picked up on, with the former defender saying: “You don’t want to be running the risk week in-week out of putting your team under pressure. That’s the problem, what you don’t want. Letting the team down can cause you a real problem.”
The Toffees have been poor this season, and Schneiderlin’s woeful outings have only added to the seemingly damming situation Everton find themselves in this year, and after yet another bad performance against Man City, it will be difficult to see how the former Saints man warrants a place in Silva’s starting team.