There’s no denying that the news of Lucas Digne’s ankle injury has dealt Everton a huge blow.
The Blues left-back suffered ankle ligament damage during a training session at Finch Farm earlier this week and is set for an extended spell on the sidelines. There’s been no date yet set for his return, however, early reports suggest Carlo Ancelotti could be facing up to eight weeks without the influential Frenchman.
Digne has been a key player at Goodison Park pretty much since his arrival back in 2018 from Barcelona. He quickly dislodged club icon Leighton Baines and has since gone on to regularly top the charts for the Blues in terms of assists and underlying creative numbers.
This season, only James Rodriguez has registered more shot-creating actions. But not just that, another underrated facet of his talent is his general ability to stay fit - he has missed just five league matches since his arrival at Goodison Park.
Whilst it’s undoubtedly been a positive for Everton to possess a player of Digne’s capacity with a general ability to always be available, it does mean that the Blues haven’t really had to set in place a contingency plan for an extended length of time should the Frenchman not be fit.
At this stage then, it’s not entirely clear how Ancelotti is going to fill the void left by Digne. The security blanket provided by Baines has been pulled away after he opted to retire and move into a role within the backroom staff in the summer.
A replacement of sorts was brought in in the form of Niels Nkounkou from Marseille, and the 20-year-old has certainly impressed when called upon. Yet he remains untested truly at Premier League level, with his one league appearance so far coming in an away defeat to Newcastle United.
Ancelotti may then turn to Fabian Delph given that the midfielder fulfilled a left-back role efficiently for Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City side during their 2017/18 Premier League-winning campaign.
But of those two options, who looks most suitable?
With the Toffees set to face tough opponents in the form of Leeds United, Burnley, Chelsea, Leicester City, Arsenal and Manchester United in the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup over the next month, Delph and his proven defensive solidity could make the most sense.
For opposition attackers, he proved a worthy competitor and finished that 2017/18 campaign for City with a solid defensive duel success rate of nearly 70%.
However, he lacks two key ingredients in order for Everton to rely on him in these coming weeks, and one is a general inability to remain fit.
The second concerns capacity to contribute to attacking sequences.
Guardiola was aware of this at City when using him at left-back and usually opted to instruct him to play in a more conservative manner that was better suited to his natural midfielder skillset.
He avoided pushing high and making overlapping runs, and instead remained deeper and drifted into a central-midfield position when City were in possession, allowing the likes of David Silva to push forward whilst wide-attackers like Raheem Sterling would take up a position out on the touchline.
Delph’s all-round lack of attacking contribution from this position is captured by the fact that in nearly 1800 minutes of on the pitch action, he managed just one assist and nine passes leading to a shot on goal.
No matter the formation Everton play, chance creation from the wing-back positions tends to be crucial - especially down the left.
We witnessed this at Craven Cottage on Sunday when Digne provided two exquisite balls into the box for Everton’s second and third goals in their 3-2 victory vs Fulham. Additionally, 42% of Everton’s attacks have come down that side of the pitch this season, further reiterating its importance.
We have already witnessed how without Richarlison during his recent three-game suspension, the equilibrium of Everton’s attack was imbalanced, and without an attacking profile similar to that of Digne’s in that left-back area, the same could easily happy again.
For the reasons above, Ancelotti may see Nkounkou as Everton’s best option.
When signed from Marseille in the summer, Nkounkou was somewhat of an unknown quantity. He has made just four senior appearances so far for the Blues, yet in each, he has shown promising signs of a player set for a bright future.
His first two appearances came in the Carabao Cup against lower league opposition in the form of Fleetwood Town and Salford City.
As you’d expect, Everton dominated both fixtures allowing Nkounkou to showcase his capacity to attack. He looked quick and powerful, but yet also skilful and intelligent, making clever runs and applying exquisite touches to bypass challenges from opposing defenders.
After impressing in both of those fixtures, sterner tests for Nkounkou came in the form of Premier League opponents West Ham United and Newcastle United. The 20-year-old performed adequately in both, without particularly standing out.
He still, therefore, feels somewhat untested. This may mean Ancelotti could try and set Everton out in a formation that could provide him with a platform to showcase his attacking threat, but also offer him greater protection than what he would look to provide with Digne on the pitch.
If this is the case, the better-suited set up might be the 3-4-3 we saw at Fulham on Sunday. Whilst it looked to produce some unsettling moments in that match, some of that can be attributed to Everton’s decision to sit deep and allow the hosts to pen them into their own half.
With better game management and more familiarity, it could be a formation to get the best out of the Blues during this tricky period.
The main benefit for Nkounkou would be that it allows him to push forward and remain an attacking threat without the ball, but then the added security of a three-man central defence eases some of the defensive burden on his shoulders without it.
Nobody at Everton can truly replicate the capabilities of Digne, and he’s going to be a huge loss in these coming weeks.
Yet if there is a positive, then perhaps it’s that the next few weeks will act as a perfect window for Nkounkou to solidify a role as the Frenchman’s capable deputy.
