A Dual Attacking Threat Of Onana And Doucoure For Sean Dyche’s New-Look Everton

For the first time in a while, it looked like Everton had a plan.

New manager Sean Dyche, who joined the club at the end of January to replace Frank Lampard, was presented with a tough opening game against league leaders Arsenal but emerged from it with a surprise victory.

One of the main features of this plan was the use of Amadou Onana and Abdoulaye Doucouré as dual attacking threats from midfield.

They were part of a midfield four in defence, stationed slightly ahead of holding midfielder Idrissa Gueye, but in attack had license to burst forward and join the striker—in the case of the Arsenal game, Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

It formed a formidable front three. One of drive, skill, and physicality, and the two midfielders both possess the engine to return to their defensive positions quickly when needed.

But this was more than just a low block from Everton out of possession. They were proactive in defence, too. This was a pair of attacking midfielders off the ball as well as on it.

Dyche asked his team to press high when Arsenal were playing out from the back, and there was one moment when the new manager could be seen gesturing from the touchline, encouraging Doucouré to push higher up in these situations.

Doucouré was back in the side having fallen out of favour under Lampard. It had reached the point where the 30-year-old was training on his own and had not started a game since the opening day of the season.

The midfielder has always been a good Premier League performer from his time at Watford and had been a regular at Everton under Carlo Ancelotti and Rafa Benitez.

At one stage under Benitez, he showed some great form in a more advanced position at the beginning of the 2021/22 season, and it is this version of the player Dyche will hope to unlock.

Onana joined the club this summer for $40 million from Lille and was highly rated in France.

Due to Everton’s recent downfall, dropping to the foot of the table under Lampard, during the January transfer window other clubs were keeping an eye on the 21-year-old whose stock remains high despite Everton’s recent woes.

This was an indication of how highly Onana is regarded in the game, and also that Everton may have turned a corner in terms of the type of player they sign, as the Belgian’s value is likely to rise rather than fall.

No serious offers came in January, perhaps because clubs knew Everton would not entertain them at this stage. They had already accumulated funds from the sale of Anthony Gordon to Newcastle for around $54 million, so the Toffees were in a position where they didn’t have to sell other players.

Though Dyche was not able to bring any new players to Everton late in the transfer window, having a player such as Onana at his disposal is itself valuable. He would have been one of the players any new manager would have been interested in working with, and Dyche will be no different in that respect.

A two-pronged attacking threat from midfield won’t come much more troublesome than this duo if they can find some form.

One game against Arsenal won’t tell us too much about how Everton will fare under Dyche. That will become clearer when they play the teams around them, lower down the table, as matches against a team as strong as Arsenal, and a local derby against Liverpool can be fairly unique events.

The real test of whether Everton are turning a corner under their new boss will come in games such as those coming up against Leeds United and Aston Villa.

There were already big signs that improvement is happening, though. Everton wouldn’t have been given a chance of getting points against Arsenal under previous managers, and there are now whispers they might even have a chance in the Merseyside Derby.

If they do, Onana and Doucouré will likely play key roles, and could do so for the rest of the season.