With Everton on the verge of a favourable run of fixtures, we turn our attentions to Tim Cahill in our latest “Monitor” article for Members. The midfielder, so often a reliable source of goals, has yet to find the net this season and with the Toffees getting off to their typically slow start, Apostolos Vellios, with 3 goals, is currently their top scorer.
The sale of both Jermaine Beckford and Yakubu has dented their attacking threat and with Louis Saha netting just once, Cahill’s contribution has been sorely missed. David Moyes recently admitted he feels the player has never been quite the same since picking up a thigh injury while representing his country in January’s Asian Cup but expects a turnaround in fortunes is imminent:
It has been difficult for Tim. He has not really recovered correctly since he came back from the Asian Cup last season and he has found it quite tough since then. I have no doubt his goals will come – he will get his goals; he has got them every other year and I’ve no reason to think he won’t. The sooner he starts the better but I believe he will get his usual tally of between eight and 10 goals a season.
We delve into the Opta data and our own ICT Index, comparing the past two seasons, in order to ascertain just why:
