How it all went so wrong for Marco Silva in the latest sign of Everton’s complete lack of vision

Portuguese has been on borrowed time for what feels an eternity, and while other failing clubs acted with managerial dismissals, Everton dithered in the latest sign that they have no idea what they want to be

(Reuters)

When the long, inevitable end for Marco Silva finally came, it did so in poetic fashion. Everton were beaten to their announcement on his sacking, with the news relegated to the background during another Premier League matchday.

The fourth English top-flight manager to be axed in 16 days seemed to be relieved of his duties in super slow motion. The process was sparked by back-to-back defeats in the division against Bournemouth and Sheffield United in September, speeding up in intensity after the 3-2 loss at Brighton on 26 October.

It was a surprise when Silva wasn’t asked to pack up following the 2-0 humbling at Goodison Park against Norwich nearly a month later, especially as Tottenham had already dispensed of Mauricio Pochettino, the man responsible for their reconstruction into an elite club.

Everton were not as decisive nor clear in the direction they would take and so the status quo remained.

Unai Emery bit the bullet at Arsenal and Quique Sanchez Flores lasted just 85 days in his second spell at Watford, but Silva was left limping on to field questions about his job security before and after every match. To his credit, he remained dignified throughout.

“The problem is never the sack,” Jurgen Klopp said last week. “It’s the period before it happens, which makes it really uncomfortable for everybody.”

That period felt never-ending for Silva and it’s impossible to imagine how anyone can command authority and demand consistency from players in the midst of such uncertainty.

It would be fair to reference the misfortune he has dealt with, namely injuries to Andre Gomes, Fabian Delph and Jean-Philippe Gbamin. He was left a centre-back light and without a pedigreed replacement for Romelu Lukaku, and there were those few unkind VAR calls.

But the truth is that all the teams Silva has been in charge of in England – Hull, Watford and Everton – have either been relegated or in the latter’s case, reside in the bottom three. He has won only 32 league games since 2017.

A 2-1 defeat by Leicester at the start of December pushed the Portuguese closer to the edge despite a promising performance at the King Power Stadium, before he became the first ever Everton manager to leave the club with a Merseyside derby as his last game in charge.

The 5-2 annihilation against a Liverpool-lite side at Anfield brought the dithering to a conclusion, but only after a full day of talks at Finch Farm.

There was over a 10-hour wait from the time Silva arrived at the training ground to his fate being revealed.

Everton owner Farhad Moshiri discussed the manager’s future and the path forward with director of football Marcel Brands, chairman Bill Kenwright, CEO Denise Barrett-Baxendale and Sasha Ryazantsev, the chief finance and commercial officer.

At around 7:10pm, confirmation of the 42-year-old’s dismissal filtered out with the club publishing their official communication half an hour later.

It is hugely concerning that for well over two months, the club have shown no concrete strategy nor conviction in what they want or need to do.

Silva was sacked after lengthy talks at Everton’s Finch Farm training base (Reuters) (Action Images via Reuters)

The persistence with Silva, whose league points-per-game average of 1.28 is the lowest of any Everton manager since Walter Smith (1998-2002) and is underwhelming on the whole in England, was more out of indecision rather than design.

That David Moyes has been the most persistent name linked with the vacancy further points to ad-libbing on their part – a throwback a large section of supporters don’t care for and a man at odds with the ambitious future they so crave.

Kenwright is the Scot’s greatest advocate, in a pining for the days when Everton were safe and stable, but that was an altogether different era.

Moyes hit his ceiling at Goodison Park, with his CV since departing for Manchester United in 2013 not inspiring much confidence. He did take over West Ham with the side in the relegation places, where Everton are currently camped, and steered them to safety before his six-month contract expired.

Moyes has been out of work since May 2018 and with the club having frittered away so much in transfer funds and churned through managers – four casualties in under four years of Moshiri’s ownership – can they keep getting it so wrong when the likes of Leicester, Wolves, Sheffield United and Co are showcasing such surety?

Given there has not been consensus on Moyes, who is readily available, the answer is no.

Shanghai SIPG coach Vitor Pereira is the other candidate in the frame, one of the best-paid managers in the world, but nowhere near being one of the actual best.

David Moyes has been strongly linked with an Everton return (Getty)

The 51-year-old has previously taken charge of Porto, Olympiakos and Fenerbahce. He is not unfamiliar to Everton having been interviewed by the club before Roberto Martinez was appointed in 2013, only to be undone by his failure to speak English.

Pereira is now fluent in the language, but there is understandable apprehension from sections of the fanbase towards the Portuguese, who has already been termed “a carbon copy” of the departing manager.

His replacement at Olympiakos? One Marco Silva.

The worry is the contrast between Everton’s two top targets – the Devil You Know and Who?! – and how it feeds into the wider feeling that Everton’s moves aren’t being underpinned by an overarching and clear vision. Silva is gone, but the muddled thinking that has led to multiple transfer blunders, awful appointments and a general deficiency in decision-making remain.

Everton need to settle on who they are before they can decide on who is the right fit for their identity or we will soon be back here to conduct a post-mortem on managerial casualty number five under Moshiri.