How Ruud van Nistelrooy must react to transfer worry as Leicester City chants tell damning story
After 20 minutes at Goodison Park, with the home crowd bizarrely quiet, all that could be heard were the travelling Leicester City faithful chanting for their old heroes.
By then, their team were 2-0 down and were playing in such a way that suggested they had given up. The 11 on the pitch were not worthy of support, and so instead fans chanted for the likes of Leonardo Ulloa, Andy King, and Esteban Cambiasso.
It was an indictment of how wretched the performance was. There was not a single glimmer of hope, and neither did it feel like City tried to provide one.
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Ruud van Nistelrooy had spoken a couple of days earlier about the mentality shift between the Fulham and Tottenham matches. Against Fulham, he said, City went 1-0 down and then played as if only a draw was achievable. Against Tottenham, their belief that victory was possible was not dented by going behind, and they continued to play well, eventually turning the game around.
What was the mentality at Everton? Conceding after 10 seconds, it was as if they meekly accepted defeat in that moment. There was no urgency in their possession. City players did not look like they were interested in helping their team-mates. They played as if they were happy to lose 4-0 rather than suffer a more extreme embarrassment of losing by eight.
It’s on van Nistelrooy too. He seemed to accept the loss as well. A pair of substitutes on the hour, and then another couple after 75 minutes, those are the sorts of changes a side makes when they’re level in a game, or there’s a goal in it either way. There was no attempt to turn it around.
It’s now twice this has happened. This was true of the Newcastle away game too. On account that City were just one place behind Everton at kick-off means it’s the new leader for the worst performance of the season.
So it can't be considered as a one-off, but maybe it can be written off as a bad day at the office, something to brush aside and forget about. But it’s hard to shake off the feeling that the attitude City collectively took is a big concern going forward.
They should be fighting for every point, battling to produce a comeback, no matter how unlikely it is. Those have to be the standards they set. They cannot get into a frame of mind where the players and manager write off a match as a defeat midway through it.
If that is allowed to happen, then, even if it’s subconsciously, they will drop their level every time a goal is conceded, as if it’s game over. And clearly, they’re going to concede a lot more goals yet.
It didn’t have to be that way on Saturday. Of the three teams that scored faster Premier League goals than Abdoulaye Doucoure’s, none of them went on to win. Their opponents fought back. City, instead, folded.
Midfielders, attackers and manager also take blame
The goals they conceded were embarrassingly easy for Everton to score. The first was hoofed up the pitch by Jordan Pickford, the second was a curved pass that beat two lines of defence, the third a straight ball through the middle of the two centre-backs, and the fourth a catalogue of errors that has since been posted to social media overlaid with circus music.
It is easy to blame the defence, and the centre-backs were really poor. Jannik Vestergaard was bypassed as if he wasn’t there and Wout Faes was totally unaware of Beto’s movements. They made the Everton striker, who has looked ungainly and uncomfortable for the majority of his Toffees career, look like a world-beater.
But the goals were not merely on the centre-backs, certainly not the first three. The midfielders let runners sprint clear without a challenge, or completely deserted the middle of pitch. The attackers pressed without intensity.
And van Nistelrooy set up the team in a way that allowed City’s weaknesses to be exploited. If you are insistent on playing a centre-back who is renowned for his lack of pace, and another centre-back who has lapses in concentration, you cannot play such a high line so as to leave so much space in behind.
Or, if that is the best way to attack, the rest of the team needs to help guard against that. Everton had scored nine goals from open play prior to Saturday’s game. City basically gifted them another four.
Disastrous displays will cost van Nistelrooy goodwill
While there have been improvements in areas under van Nistelrooy – and the best performances of the season have come on his watch – so have the worst few. It won’t help the goodwill towards him.
These dreadful displays will, unfortunately, be remembered just as clearly as the decent ones. If he wants a positive atmosphere to help drag City to safety, he cannot afford games like this. It was so bad that it sucked all of the good feeling produced by the win at Tottenham out of the fanbase.
He’s now had just one fewer league game in charge of City than Steve Cooper had. He’s currently three points behind the Welshman. Fans will increasingly compare van Nistelrooy’s record with his predecessor, and combined with these sorts of performances, it could be an increasingly difficult job to get backing from the stands.
That’s why these sorts of half-hearted displays have to be eradicated too. They have a knock-on effect, and not one that is good for the manager.
Lack of transfers must force van Nisterlooy to consider experimentation
That’s especially because the mood of the fanbase does not look like being picked up by new signings. Van Nistelrooy’s reluctance to discuss the possibility of new recruits suggested City are increasingly unlikely to strengthen before Monday’s deadline.
If they have to get through to the end of the season without the fresh impetus of further signings, it will be tough. A £3m back-up right-back in Woyo Coulibaly will help, but he’s probably not going to transform City’s fortunes.
It may mean that van Nistelrooy has to consider doing something different with the players he currently has. If new players aren’t going to save City, trying something new with the players available has to be considered as an option.
It’s easy to forget, but when City were in trouble 10 years ago, they not only signed Robert Huth on loan, but also changed the formation. Those two factors combined to get the results they needed for safety.
It’s perhaps too early to advocate for a change of shape or style from van Nistelrooy given the result at Tottenham, but he can’t be stubborn so as to not consider it in the coming weeks. It may be his only recourse.
And there’s an FA Cup game coming up. Would van Nistelrooy dare experiment at Manchester United in the hope of discovering the key to survival? It would be the best time for him to do so.
Bottom four's quality means City shouldn't ever lose hope
Having helped Everton to pull clear, it now appears to be three from four in the relegation battle. With each poor result, hope will fade at City, and it was a blow to see Wolves leapfrog them, meaning their stint outside the bottom three lasted just six days.
But it does not feel like any of the four are at any point going to pull away. Wolves have certainly shown signs of life under Vitor Pereira, but not to the extent Everton have under David Moyes.
City cannot approach the season like they approached the Everton game, where one bad moment means giving up. The other teams around City are poor enough that they must retain hope of surviving no matter the bad results they suffer.
