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This article is part of Football FanCast’s The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Everton have struggled for goals this season, scoring just once in three games so far, and if they persist with Dominic Calvert-Lewin that problem will likely continue.

On the chalkboard

It is good to see Marco Silva handing more opportunities to younger players, but Calvert-Lewin has featured regularly for the Toffees without making much of an impact.

The striker has made more than 30 league appearances for Everton in each of the previous two seasons but has produced a combined total of just 10 goals. In his three league matches so far this season he has had just two shots on target and had three touches in the opposition penalty area, according to Wyscout.

Calvert-Lewin lacks roaring pace and that prevents Everton from being able to get in behind the opposition’s defence, making them more static and easier to contain.

He has completed only three successful dribbles this season – all of which came in the same match against Aston Villa – and his lack of goal threat and general presence on the pitch should be a cause of concern for Silva.

The Portuguese will already be considering alternatives in tactics and perhaps personnel given Everton’s one goal in three games, and therefore Calvert-Lewin could and probably should be the player to make way – particularly as they have £25m man Moise Kean waiting on the bench.

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Which option should Silva take?

Dropping Calvert-Lewin risks harming his confidence, but maintaining him in the team could prove far more costly as his lack of goals could lead to more disappointing results, which would threaten any ambitions of European qualification.

It is clear Everton need a shake-up, someone to reinvigorate the side and get them playing to a higher pace. Kean has all the attributes to be that player for Everton and the sooner he adjusts to English football, the better for The Toffees.

The Italian has already displayed a combination of pace and a direct style that makes him a handful for opposition defences.

He would be able to stretch backlines and offer a target for the likes of Bernard and Gylfi Sigurdsson to play through balls to, and that change of emphasis in attack should make Everton less predictable.

In turn, it should provide some much-needed goals too.

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All stats from Transfermarkt unless otherwise stated.

When the summer transfer window closed, clubs in the Premier League had spent a total of £1.3 billion, per Transfermarkt.

Let that sink in for a second. £1.3 billion. A Futurism article in 2014 claimed that the human brain cannot comprehend the number, one billion, in its raw form. It’s not possible.

And yet, this is the fifth transfer window in a row in which clubs have spent more than £1bn. Spending continues unchecked at the top-flight.

It feels slightly remiss to be writing this in a week in which Bury Football Club has ceased to exist due to a lack of funds, while Bolton Wanderers, a club formerly of the Premier League and one who reached the last-16 of the UEFA Cup just 11 years ago, were only saved by a last-minute reprieve.

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And yet, the spending has to be examined. How much have clubs spent since 2010/11? How much does the average player cost?

The answer, genuinely, is astonishing.

In 2010/11, the most expensive deal saw Yaya Toure move to Manchester City from FC Barcelona for £27m. The total money spent by clubs in the top-flight was £385.2m on 104 players. The average cost of a Premier League player that summer was £3.7m.

Since then, the cost has, for want of a better phrase, rocketed.

In 2011/12, clubs spent £487.9m, with Sergio Aguero the most expensive acquisition at a fee of £36m. A total of 119 players transferred that summer, at an average of £4.1m.

It keeps going at that rate – 2012/13 saw £559.1m spent on 132 players at an average of £4.2m, while 2013/14 was £666.7m at an average of £5.1m on 130 players.

Then something happened.

In 2014/15, 140 players were bought at a total cost of £949.8m. To look back on that window is to see a litany of stars coming to the Premier League to varying degrees of success: Chelsea bought Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas for a combined £63.9m; Arsenal spent £38.2m on Alexis Sanchez; Everton spent £31.8m on Romelu Lukaku; Liverpool bought Adam Lallana, Dejan Lovren and Lazar Markovic for fees over £20m; Manchester City spent over £40m on Eliaquim Mangala; Manchester United spent £67.5m on Angel Di Maria and a combined £66.1m on Luke Shaw and Ander Herrera; even Southampton spent over £20m on Sadio Mane.

The average of that window rocketed to an average of £6.7m.

And then the billion-pound dam broke. It was inevitable, really. Perhaps the bubble will burst eventually, perhaps it will all come crashing down around us, but it hasn’t happened yet, and 15/16 was the first window in which the mark was passed.

A total of 136 players were transferred at an average of £7.9m – more than double the average in 2010/11. Manchester City spent over £40m on three players – Kevin De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling and Nicolas Otamendi – in the same window, while Manchester United spent over £30m on Memphis Depay, Morgan Schneiderlin and Anthony Martial. Judging teams by their recruitment is tough but, well, that speaks for itself, really.

Liverpool, too, spent over £30m on both Roberto Firmino and Christian Benteke. Only four clubs went the entire window without spending over £10m on one player: Norwich City, Watford, Swansea City and Leicester City. The Foxes did spend £8.1m on one little-known Frenchman, though: N’Golo Kante. With the diminutive, combative, relentless and stoic enforcer dominating elite midfielders on a weekly basis, the Foxes went on to win the title in one of the greatest sporting miracles ever witnessed the season after. Bargain of the century, anyone?

As if in response to that underdog triumph, spending increased to £1.2bn in 2016/17 – an average of £10.1m from 121 transfers.

The list of transfers that summer, really, is quite staggering.

Leicester, having been so frugal the season before, lavished over £65m on the likes of Islam Slimani, Ahmed Musa and Nampalys Mendy. Arsenal spent almost £80m on Granit Xhaka and Shkodran Mustafi (stop laughing). Spurs spent £74m on Moussa Sissoko, Vincent Janssen, Victor Wanyama and Georges-Kevin Nkoudou. Manchester City splashed over £160m on the likes of John Stones (cagoule and all), Leroy Sane and Ilkay Gundogan.

Manchester United then broke the world transfer record as they re-signed Paul Pogba for £94.5m in a deal that encapsulated the perpetually rising lunacy of the market.

Southampton and West Ham both spent over £40m. Liverpool splashed £71.9m on the likes of Sadio Mane and Georginio Wijnaldum. Chelsea bought Kante, Michy Batshuayi, David Luiz, Marcos Alonso and Eduardo for nearly £120m.

Only Middlesbrough failed to spend £10m on a single player.

And then, in 2017/18, spending hit the zenith of £1.4bn, still the highest spend in one summer transfer window in Premier League history. The average rose to £12m for a Premier League player, over three times the initial average of 2010/11.

Chelsea frittered away nearly £60m on Alvaro Morata, Spurs spent over £80m on the likes of Davinson Sanchez and Serge Aurier and Manchester City broke the £200m barrier on their own, buying the likes of Kyle Walker, Benjamin Mendy and Bernardo Silva. Manchester United spent over £75m on Romelu Lukaku and Liverpool spent £37m on Mohamed Salah. In retrospect, that looks like terrific business.

It may have decreased in 18/19 – £1.2bn was spent at an average of £11.6m on 110 players – but it is creeping up again.

In 2019/20, in which even Spurs splashed over £50m on Tanguy Ndombele, the average now stands at £14m after £1.3bn was lavished on just 97 players.

Premier League clubs are not alone in this. The world record transfer was conducted between PSG and Barcelona when the former bought Neymar for over £200m.

But the numbers, when written down, are stark and the average cost of a single player, as illustrated in the graph above, looks set to continue to rise.

Since the start of 2010/11’s summer transfer window, £9.4bn has been spent on football players by Premier League clubs. The total average price of a Premier League player in that time is £7.7m.

To say that it cannot continue is flippant and, well, wrong.

Premier League football operates in its own microbubble, an island to itself, one which operates on its own terms independently from the rest of the financial world.

Nowhere else can one see such rampant expenditure. And yet it is the source of debate and speculation and, ultimately, feeds a thriving industry. Without the transfers, this article wouldn’t exist.

Maybe, at the end of the day, that would be a good thing. These numbers are sobering in the context of the events of the past week.

Trickle-down economics is clearly not, and never has been a thing, but spare a thought for Bury Football Club – now deceased – the next time your club splashes their flagrant wealth.

And maybe, just maybe, we should all despair.

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The right-back called it a ‘Mad game’, and that may be the most apt description possible.

It truly is a perfect summary of what we saw on Tuesday evening. It was a game that had everything you could ever want from what looked like it would be another boring run of the mill qualifier, unless you’re Roy Keane or Lee Dixon, who both fumed at the defensive display in the ITV studio.

In the end, England got the result they wanted, but luckily for the viewing public, it was a game that provided a lot of entertainment.

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This article is part of Football FanCast’s In Numbers series, which takes a statistical look at performances, season-long form and reported transfer targets… 

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Manchester United side finally picked up their first win since their 4-0 whitewash of Chelsea on the opening weekend of the current Premier League season.

A tight affair was contested with Leicester City, who had been unbeaten before the full-time whistle on Saturday afternoon, with Marcus Rashford’s penalty being the only factor splitting the two sides.

Is Roy Keane actually right in his latest rant about Sir Alex Ferguson? Find out in the video below…

Eight minutes into the match, the England international was tripped inside the area by Caglar Soyuncu, and he duly stepped up to slot home the winner.

One of United’s midfielders mirrored their iconic ‘Red Devils’ nickname by epitomising precisely what that could be with an impressive all-round showing.

Scott McTominay was imperative to the home side picking up all three points at Old Trafford in both an attacking sense as well as defensively too – he was a real thorn in Brendan Rodgers’ side.

Averaging one of the highest pass success rates in the United lineup at 81.6%, the defensive midfielder also got up the pitch recording four dribbles which was only allowed to happen as Paul Pogba’s absence saw Nemanja Matic earn a rare start – his first of the season.

Industrious could be one superlative used to describe the 22-year-old after he won the ball back seven times, including a 100% success rate with his tackling.

McTominay also won three aerial duels on top of recording two interceptions – he was quite literally everywhere on Saturday.

United lacked in terms of creativity, only four of their ten shots came from inside the penalty area, which potentially was a by-product of missing a player of Paul Pogba’s quality as he scored 13 goals in the Premier League last season, per WhoScored.

The Scotland international showed why he could be a reliable box-to-box option when the system suits – when Fred or Matic are paired with him – but it would be a far riskier gameplan if he was deployed  alongside Pogba.

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Wolves’ Premier League campaign didn’t get much better on Sunday afternoon, though, manager Nuno Santo hopes it can be used as a ‘starting point’ for improvements in the near future.

They looked to be heading for a fourth consecutive defeat against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park, but late heroics from Diogo Jota salvaged a point.

Joel Ward’s effort from range was deflected past Rui Patricio by his own teammate, Leander Dendoncker, to hand the home side an early second-half lead, then things went from bad to worse as Romain Saiss received his marching orders for picking up a second yellow card.

The equaliser came in the dying seconds of the match as Wolves launched a quick counter-attack through Adama Traore’s blistering pace. The right wing-back managed to cross the ball in for Jota to slot home.

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Wolves remain second from bottom without a victory this campaign but having gone down to ten men, the result in south London could have been far more miserable.

Several of the Molineux faithful were quick to praise Traore for his contribution to the match.

One supporter claimed the 23-year-old was a weapon that no other team in the Premier League had while that was reinforced by another who described Traore’s performance as ‘sensational.’

The 5 foot 10 Spaniard began the game at right-wing – which has in the past been his usual position with Nuno deploying a 3-4-3 formation, but when Matt Doherty was substituted, he returned to right wing-back, where he has played all of this season.

Another fan believed Traore had been their best player this season with one more brandishing him as a ‘game-changer.’

Here’s the best of the reaction:

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This article is part of Football FanCast’s The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more… 

Aston Villa are finding things tough in their Premier League return. They precariously occupy 17th in the table just two points off rock-bottom Watford.

When those at the club first took a look at the fixture release earlier in the summer, it is unlikely many would have been pleased by the fact that they play European finalists Tottenham Hotspur and an Arsenal side boasted by a new club-record signing within the first six matches of the season.

It is also unlikely that has changed since, but after the Gunners’ recent showing, it should offer up some encouragement.

Just so long as Villa boss Dean Smith makes an adjustment to how he sets out his team this weekend.

On the Chalkboard

Unai Emery’s men faced a mammoth 31 shots on goal against Watford, who as aforementioned sit bottom of the table, and became the butt of one unfortunate statistic in doing so.

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No team in Europe has faced more shots than the North Londoners this season with 96.

Villa’s Wesley is only averaging 1.8 shots per game himself with 2 being the most he’s recorded in any one game. Therefore, it doesn’t seem like he’s the answer unless someone can provide him with more chances.

Instead, Smith should look to tweak his midfield by removing the need for a defensive midfielder and pushing skipper Jack Grealish into the number ten role.

The 24-year-old recorded 76 key passes last season at a squad-high average of 2.3 per game so moving him further up the field will allow him to rediscover that element of his game.

Smith can also bring Douglas Luiz back into the fray to sit next to John McGinn as he can add a slight defensive element.

He played in the role in their only win of the season alongside the Scot so that the loss of Marvelous Nakamba isn’t felt so hard, thus enabling this system to work.

Having their midfielders further up the pitch would allow more pressure on the Arsenal backline too and as seen first-hand with Watford that can force them into mistakes.

Grealish could press from the front in a number ten role, alongside the striker, which could allow them to make life difficult for a backline including Sokratis and Bernd Leno who have made one error leading to a goal this season.

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West Ham United fans were delighted with Andriy Yarmolenko’s performance in their 2-2 draw with AFC Bournemouth on Saturday.

The Ukraine international scored the opening goal in the 10th minute on the south coast, twisting away from Nathan Ake before bending the ball into the top corner.

Manuel Pellegrini’s men were unable to see the result out, with Joshua King and Callum Wilson both scoring to hand the Cherries the lead.

Aaron Cresswell equalised in the 74th minute as the Irons earned a point but fans were quick to lavish praise on their first goalscorer of the day.

Per WhoScored, Yarmolenko registered a pass completion rate of 91%, while he also had two shots on goal, won three tackles and played two key passes. Amazingly for a right winger, he did not complete a dribble.

Nevertheless, Hammers fans liked what they saw on Saturday.

Take a look at the best of the reaction on Twitter below!

The FAWSL Players’ Player of the Year Sophie Baggaley has enjoyed a meteoric rise to the top of the women’s game and she has spoken to Football FanCast about how she became a professional, and what she hopes for the women’s game in the future.

She impressed last season at Bristol City, helping them to a sixth-placed finish, but prior to that was part of the Birmingham Ladies squad which made the FA Cup final in 2017.

At only 22 Baggaley’s career has been short but filled with success, and she hasn’t been afraid to move around when necessary in order to pursue her goals.

Watch Bristol City Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Speaking exclusively to Football FanCast, she said: “I used to play football in the playground with my friends at lunchtime, then I went and played for my friend’s team and from there I was scouted by a Ladies team, which was Derby, and my first senior team was Birmingham and it went on from there.”

The move to the West Country has brought tremendous individual success for Baggaley, and if she continues her current form she could soon work her way into the England set-up.

However, despite her own achievements she also has an eye on the overall state of the game, and hopes that it continues to grow in the way it has since the end of the World Cup, with West Ham Women vs Tottenham Women drawing a crowd of 24,790, the second-highest attendance in the competition.

Baggaley added: “Hopefully it will progress as much as it has in recent years so hopefully bigger crowds, lots more girls playing the game from when they’re small, more involvement and hopefully the quality gets better and better.”

Carroll explained that he was buzzing for the midfielder after his goal against Man United, and you can understand why.

The striker knows better than most what it’s like to earn the adulation of the fans at St James’ Park and how much that means for a local lad who has always supported the club.

You can see just how happy Carroll was for Longstaff in his Instagram post, as the smile on his face tells the whole story as he celebrates alongside his teammate.

Loads of Tottenham Hotspur fans on Twitter have called for the club to re-sign Gareth Bale after he and current Spurs defender Ben Davies linked up for Wales’ goal in their 1-1 draw against Croatia on Sunday.

The left-back found himself in an unusual position in the centre of the pitch before sliding a ball through to the Real Madrid attacker, who showed composure to finish into the far corner to earn his country a draw in their EURO 2020 qualifier.

The 30-year-old, rated at £54m by Transfermarkt, has endured some tough times with the La Liga outfit and has even been booed by the Bernabeu faithful on occasion, but he has still scored two and assisted two more in seven appearances in all competitions for Zinedine Zidane’s men this term.

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Of course, he shone for the north London outfit previous to his move to Spain as well with 56 goals and 58 assists in 203 matches in total for Tottenham – something that clearly hasn’t been forgotten by supporters.

While one said “these two should be linking up at Spurs”, another individual demanded they “sign Bale and make that duo real”.

Here is just a selection of the Twitter reaction…