Merlin Rohl believes versatility will be crucial for Everton in their upcoming matches after he and James Garner finished the 2-0 Premier League defeat at Arsenal on Saturday occupying the two full-back positions.
Both players are primarily central midfielders, but David Moyes' squad contains just 18 outfield players, with only one recognised option in each full-back position and at striker. That has forced players to fill in across different areas of the pitch.
Full-Back Cover
Moyes waited almost 20 months after his return to the club to sign a new right-back. Against Arsenal, Ainsley Maitland-Niles was dropped to the bench against his former team at the Emirates Stadium, allowing Rohl to move into the position he had played in pre-season and the first three games of the campaign. Rohl had operated as a right winger in the previous match against Chelsea.
An injury to Vitalii Mykolenko in the second half saw Garner finish the match on the opposite side of defence.
Upcoming Fixture Run
Everton return to action on Thursday with a home Carabao Cup tie against Newcastle United, the first of three fixtures in seven days. They then face the Magpies again in the Premier League at St James' Park the following Monday, before hosting Coventry City on the Friday before the international break.
Asked how important versatility could be, Rohl said: "I think you will see it now in the next games. You saw today, one player gets subbed out with Myko and you've got Jimmy Garner who can play left-back. I think it helps that our midfielders and other players are so versatile, and it will be hugely important for the next games."
Defeat at Arsenal
Everton fell behind to the defending Premier League champions after just seven minutes. Rohl admitted it was a tough assignment, saying: "It's always quite difficult directly after the game. We wanted to win and give them a little bit more of a battle. We did fight with everything we had. We defended partly well, but in two crucial situations we couldn't defend. That changes the game."
The 24-year-old added: "Of course, an early goal sometimes changes something, but no matter if we concede one goal, it couldn't change the fact that we tried to get back into the game and get one goal and it's open again. It's always possible. We had one or two actions – not enough – but a few chances or counter-attacks where we had more possibilities. But I think the second goal killed us in a way."
The early goal for Mikel Arteta's side also thwarted any Everton attempts to sit deep. Rohl said: "It's always difficult to say against those top teams what exactly the plan is defensively, to sit deeper. Sometimes you're forced to sit deeper because they've got so much quality on the ball. We tried our best to keep on pressing and we had one or two actions where we won the ball when we got higher. Generally, they are so good defensively. They're so well put together and everyone knows exactly their space defensively. A team with that quality in the offence and defence is hard to beat. It was a big challenge today and we couldn't get the win."
