Everton warning signs were not addressed before Southampton defeat but must now be dealt with

Everton are stuttering towards a tough winter but right now, the answers they need to find may lie in the past.

Every Blues supporter knows a daunting December awaits - it has been clear since the release of the fixtures at the height of the summer and the run is only looking more challenging as the month approaches.

In order to get there in as strong a position as possible, the best place to start may well be the unbeaten run heralded by Sean Dyche going into the Southampton game.

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The five match streak contained real positives. After an horrific start to the campaign the side rediscovered its resilience. Unsung and unlikely heroes like Michael Keane, Beto and Ashley Young found new prominence and popularity. And Iliman Ndiaye continued to grow into his Royal Blue shirt, his increasing influence earning him a terrace song that filled the airwaves at Southampton on Saturday.

But the run of three wins and two draws also contained warnings. Everton were almost overwhelmed in the torrential rain at Leicester City, relied on moments of individual brilliance from Dwight McNeil and Jordan Pickford against Crystal Palace and Newcastle United and, while comfortably the better side against Ipswich Town, were fortunate in the extreme to rescue a point against Fulham.

After that dismal display against Fulham the hope was that introspection would follow. Why were Everton so far off the pace for so much of that game and what could be done about it? The courage to keep fighting until the end and the character shown to rescue the point was commendable and Dyche deserves credit for his role in its creation.

Beto’s goal did cover up some cracks though and while his stoppage time header warranted celebration it should not have done enough to make anyone believe lessons did not need to be learnt from the performance.

Dyche did make changes at St Mary’s, Jesper Lindstrom’s introduction an increase in ambition that would have been inspired by the trouble he caused the same opposition in the Carabao Cup weeks earlier. Orel Mangala was an enforced change but one that offered more control on the ball when Everton did have it.

Other issues have been apparent across several games though, some of which merited a review after the Fulham let-off.

The big talking point when the team news dropped was the continued omission of Jarrad Branthwaite. Everton fought hard to make a statement by keeping him in the summer and being patient over his recovery from first groin surgery and then a quad issue was wise.

Yet he is a player the club values north of £70m and recognised as one of Europe’s brightest defensive talents. He does not deserve a blank cheque but pragmatism may be required on his inclusion.

After the defeat at Southampton I asked Dyche the reason for his absence from the starting line-up and he pointed to the form of Michael Keane and James Tarkowski and that Everton were five unbeaten. Keane and Tarkowski have played well at times this season, Keane in particular reviving his standing at Everton through his work in both boxes.

Even if both had been perfect over the past month it would be no disservice to either to drop them for a talent as prodigious as Branthwaite. The call is more bemusing given that for all their good work, issues have been apparent. Against Newcastle, the visitors’ failure to score came down to Pickford’s penalty save and the opposition’s lack of a recognised striker - big chances were missed by the away side. The same could be said against Fulham too, when Raul Jimenez was repeatedly able to drift off the back of Tarkowski to create chances that were missed by himself or teammates.

Tarkowski has been brilliant for Everton since his arrival and is still of immense importance to the side. He has been playing through injury for the start of this season though - something that has perhaps played a part in some of his decision-making. His foul on Sandro Tonali to gift Newcastle the penalty Anthony Gordon missed was needless. He has come close to crossing the line with heavy challenges on Jean-Philippe Mateta of Palace and Cameron Archer of Southampton too. His lunge on Archer earned him a booking and that was the right call, but it was a nasty tackle.

When it comes to deciding whether to bring back Branthwaite the debate is about more than the individual performances of the players ahead of him, or the wider results achieved in his absence. It is also about ambition. It is an acceptance that you are choosing not to play one of your best players and therefore your best team. At Southampton that had a tactical impact. Dyche was right to say the Saints posed little threat for most of the match. That could have been greater reason to be proactive - his pace and athleticism could have allowed Everton to push higher up the pitch, closing the space exploited by Southampton when they did break the Blues’ press but also allowing Everton to commit harder to being more aggressive - they created lots of chances by exposing the hosts’ naivety in playing out from the back. More opportunities could have led to enough chances for Everton to have got the crucial goal that would have broken a team bereft of confidence.

There is a similar debate about the positioning of Iliman Ndiaye. Ndiaye has had good moments on the left while McNeil has had some superb flashes in the number 10 role. Dyche feels he has proven people wrong by finding some joy with Ndiaye out wide given the extent of the belief he is better in a central attacking role. For the positive glimpses of both this season, there are again lessons from recent weeks even if results had been good before this weekend.

Fulham found a way to nullify Ndiaye by trapping him against the touchline, a tactic Southampton replicated with success - though with the help of a nasty challenge by Kyle Walker-Peters that clearly hurt the summer signing in the opening minutes.

Playing an attacker so adept on both feet and with his back to goal out wide feels like a waste, particularly when McNeil is still learning the central role and struggling to hold up the ball, maintain possession, or prevent Dominic Calvert-Lewin from becoming isolated. Add to that the brilliance of his left foot from wide areas and there is another reason to question the approach. McNeil’s cross to Jack Harrison when he was moved to the left on Saturday was glorious - the type of ball Calvert-Lewin would dream of but is deprived of given the current set up.

None of this is to say the perfect solutions lie within the Everton squad, nor that Dyche should not take positives from the run going into Southampton. But getting Everton into a strong position ahead of December is crucial and it felt a missed opportunity on the south coast - particularly because some of the areas where Everton struggled appeared in need of addressing before that game.