Twenty one games is never enough for any manager and in my opinion, sacking Marco Silva would only create more embarrassment and chaos for Everton Football Club.

Following Everton’s latest defeat against Leicester on New Year’s Day, there has been a flurry of criticism aimed towards Marco Silva, his tactics and his suitability for the role he occupies at Goodison Park.

Critics have argued that he has never been worthy of the Goodison hot seat and his first twenty one games he has not done anything remarkable to change the naysayers opinions and in some cases he has only strengthened their argument.

Since his arrival in England, Marco Silva has been targeted as the foreigner who plays open football by the media, and this agenda has only been increased by the size of the club he finds himself at and the man whom he replaced. Replacing the “Media Darling” Sam Allardyce was always going to be a poisoned chalice from the media’s perspective due to the ‘wonderful 8th place finish’ he achieved last term when in charge of the Blues.

Silva’s first six months or so at Everton has been a mixed bag to an extent. His start was shaky whilst he waited for key summer signings to arrive at the club, his middle part was fantastic with the last month since the Merseyside Derby being not what we expected, with the form falling off a cliff. All could have been expected from a largely naïve and young manager with a squad of horrors that he inherited with ageing starts coming to the end of their careers, players like Schneiderlin in the prime of their careers arguably but have not yet been fit for purpose and a lot of young talent who are not ready to take the step to first team action and be reliable on a regular basis.

Bearing in this in mind, by bringing the talent he has in, Marco Silva has had a respectable first twenty one games as Everton manager, despite the drop in form recently. Uncertainty now hangs over the team, despite an FA Cup victory at home to Lincoln City, as a further drop in the Premier League could bring some questions to the table regarding Silva’s future and the knives would certainly be out from a section of the fan base.

What Marco Silva has to be is be bullish in his approach for the games ahead and get the team back to basics almost and fight for everything on the pitch to drag ourselves out of this period of gloom. If he does, the critics will be silenced and Silva will then have the summer to get to grips with the squad further and go again next season. Should he not show the capable skills, the knives will be out for a section of Everton fans and from then it is going to be difficult to shift that perception from there.

Twenty one games is not enough for a manager to stamp their authority on any club and Marco Silva is going to need time. Time to sort both the results and the squad out. The pair come hand in hand and can only be rectified at this moment by Marco Silva. Additionally the list of prospective replacements given to replace Silva is not only short sighted but also makes grim reading.

Up the Toffees and let’s hope for a revival.

Owen Parkes