Everton “monster” has become their best player over Branthwaite & Onana

Everton-Dyche-Onana-Branthwaite
The dust of the 2023/24 Premier League campaign has yet to settle but Everton supporters will not change in their conviction toward their team and their immense pride that Sean Dyche and his squad have battled through adversity to finish comfortably.

 

It, of course, has not been plain sailing for a team that saw their season punctuated with points deductions and lapses in form after the going got good, but ultimately Everton have maintained their coveted top-flight status yet again and this time did so with confidence and composure, steering away from the relegation threat of the past few years.

There is a frightening sense of the unknown lying ahead for Goodison Park and its supporters, with takeover attempts foiled and fears over what lurks around the corner.

Everton manager Sean Dyche
But on the pitch, the squad have done their job and they have done it well. So many stars deserve praise for their efforts but Jarrad Branthwaite and Amadou Onana are probably the two outfield players who can hold their head highest.

Everton’s best players in 2023/24
Branthwaite, particularly, has been incredible, with club icon Seamus Coleman among those to sing the praises of a gifted talent set for a rewarding career.

“He’s top class. You see him every week, he’s unbelievable,” Coleman said, via The Athletic. “The maturity has grown and it just shows how good it is to get out and play some football and grow your own wings.

“He came back (from PSV) a much more confident player and person, and he’s great to have around the place. Let’s not underestimate the influence of Tarkowski alongside him — they’ve worked extremely well together.”

If he had not emerged from the academy, Dyche’s system would not have found half the balance and steel that Branthwaite’s youthful exuberance forged alongside the tried and tested solidity of James Tarkowski.

And, of course, Onana has been striking in the centre of the park. The 22-year-old has featured 30 times in the Premier League this season, as per Sofascore, scoring two goals, completing 85% of his passes and averaging 2.4 tackles, 5.3 ball recoveries and six successful duels per game (winning an impressive 66% of the latter).

Manchester City’s Rodri, in comparison, emerged on top of 59% of 5.9 duels won per game in the English top-flight this season.

Everton midfielder Amadou Onana.
Unsurprisingly, Branthwaite has been on Manchester United’s radar, as confirmed by Fabrizio Romano, while Onana has been listed as a transfer target of Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal project, according to Football Transfers.

It’s hard to envisage Everton reaching the same levels of security without either star, with BBC Sport listing the Belgium international alongside Branthwaite and Idrissa Gana Gueye as the candidates for the club’s Player of the Season.

But, there’s another. Indeed, goalkeeper Jordan Pickford has been in fine fettle this season and might actually have been the most important cog in Everton’s team.

Why Jordan Pickford is “one of the world’s best”
It speaks volumes that Gareth Southgate has kept Pickford instated as his Three Lions squad’s first-choice shot-stopper since the build-up to the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford
It speaks volumes that Everton have absorbed the storm of an eight-point deduction in the Premier League this season to secure a confident 15th-place finish, with a defensive record of 51 goals shipped better than all but that of Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool.

And it speaks volumes that Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya is the only shot-stopper to boast more clean sheets than the 30-year-old this season, and the table below shall illuminate why Pickford has clearly had a better individual campaign than his Danish counterpart.

Manchester United’s Andre Onana has had his moments but he’s got a case to make that he has been the Premier League’s finest goalkeeper this season, facing the most shots of any counterpart in the top five and boasting the best save percentage.

But Pickford has been more commanding and he’s been more reliable, making just one error all term, albeit conceding a penalty too, even praised for his “monster” campaign by content creator Josh Wright.

Raya made five errors across the duration of the campaign despite saving just 45 shots, while Onana made two errors and conceded one penalty. Arsenal’s golden glove winner did, to his credit, save one penalty, whereas his peers did not.

This is all basically a roundabout way of highlighting Pickford’s brilliant ability and how important he has been for Everton. Branthwaite and Onana have been excellent and have found top outfits sniffing around for their signatures, but Pickford is just as important a piece in Dyche’s well-wrought structure.

And anyway, Football Insider have recently reported that Chelsea are considering a swoop for the England international, proving that he is indeed a player capable of performing at the highest level, with his former teammate Asmir Begovic hailing him as “one of the best goalkeepers in the world”.

Everton have been one of the Premier League’s best defensive teams throughout the 2023/24 campaign and Pickford has truly been paramount.

Branthwaite and Onana are young and ebullient but Pickford has been the true locus of Goodison Park’s defensive power and fortitude, with his commanding, purposeful performances and leadership prompting his manager to, correctly, dub him as a “top keeper”.