Back at Finch Farm after an injury-plagued season, the dominant defender’s recovery pace and aerial prowess are essential for stabilizing the Toffees' backline and improving results.
Everton’s squad is now returning for pre-season, with the majority of David Moyes’ side back to Finch Farm on Friday.
Seven senior players were absent from the return due to international duty, with some at the World Cup in the summer.
The England international started just seven Premier League games last season and was a huge miss at the heart of the defence. Multiple injuries saw Branthwaite’s season heavily impacted, but he’s now back in the fold ahead of pre-season, which could be crucial for the Toffees.
Branthwaite’s influence on this Everton side can’t be understated, and he has a positive impact defensively as well as in other aspects.
The basic data
Last season, Everton managed 1.50 points per game while Branthwhaite was on the pitch. Only Jack Grealish managed higher, for players to have played more than 600 minutes.
In the previous campaign, Branthwaite played 30 times in the Premier League, with his points per game ranking fourth for those with over 1000 minutes played.
Everton allowed just 1.18 goals per 90 minutes when Branthwaite was on the pitch, lower than every defender to have played more than 300 minutes.
To put it simply, Everton are a better team with Branthwaite in it.
Defensively
You may have to take into account sample size when reading some of this data, but all stats are 90 minutes. I think it’s difficult to look into his data from his time under Sean Dyche and then Moyes in the 24/25 season, and it makes more sense to look at his data strictly under Moyes last term.
Branthwaite’s box defending is excellent, winning a large number of headers and a high percentage. In fact, per 90 minutes, he was one of the best in Europe’s top five leagues last season.
Branthwaite does struggle at times with his ground duels, diving in at the wrong times, but this is something he can still learn to cut out of his game. He was a little more erratic defensively last season, but the sample size was fairly small, and it wasn’t as prevalent in the previous campaign.
Branthwaite uses his speed to get into wide areas to defend on the regular. If a full-back is beaten, he gets across quickly to close the space, making it difficult for the opponent to get a cross into the box.
Branthwaite’s recovery pace is also crucial. If losing duels or getting beaten, he often has the speed to get back into position or make a tackle. That is something we massively lack when Michael Keane and James Tarkowski play, and it impacts the way the whole team plays, as I will explain.
Impacting the team’s style
Having Branthwaite in the XI impacts the team’s style both in and out of possession. Branthwaite’s pace means that Everton’s defensive line can afford to be higher, which in turn pushes the midfield and forwards higher.
This allows Everton to implement more of a high-pressing system, whereas Keane and Tarkowski as a duo mean we naturally drop a few yards deeper. If we don’t, we can easily get caught in behind, and that’s something that happened regularly last season without Branthwaite.
When chasing a game, we often push higher up the pitch, but this leaves huge gaps in behind that Keane and Tarkowski struggle to deal with. That’s a key reason why when we went behind, we’d often concede multiple goals, particularly at home when we’re expected to take the game to them. Think of the Newcastle, Sunderland, Tottenham, and Brentford games at home.
Branthwaite played in none of those games.
It also impacts the team’s style from an attacking perspective. Just look at the graph below to sum it up…
The progression Everton make from deep when Branthwaite is in the team is on another level. Branthwaite looks to play forward and positively so often, breaking lines with his passing, but also his ball-carrying.
Branthwaite also likes to carry the ball out of defence, which is helped by the balance he offers being a left-footer on the left-hand side. This helps us break lines through both his pass and carrying, beating the opposition press by keeping possession rather than lumping it long.
Branthwaite has a higher long-pass completion percentage and progressive pass completion percentage than both Tarkowski and Keane, so he’s more accurate when trying to play positively.
This helps us retain the ball more and get into more dangerous areas. Everton struggle to get their dangers players on the ball in dangerous areas, and Branthwaite helps with that.
Especially on the left-hand side.
A final point is that Branthwaite and Grealish didn’t play together once last season. Branthwaite was creating all the progressive play without Everton having their best attacking threat in the final third.
I’m looking forward to a full season of Branthwaite, and fingers crossed he can keep fit.
