Why Ronald Koeman Needs to Find His Best Everton Starting Lineup & Stick With It

Football is, as they say, a funny old game. Managers are damned if they do and damned if they don't, depending on the fickleness of fans at any given time.

One such problem that consistently rears its head is that of squad rotation. With the demands placed on footballers these days - three-game weeks becoming the norm for the biggest clubs - football has grown into more of a squad based affair, and bosses utilise every possible player at their disposal to keep their teams fresh and stars on their toes.

For Evertonians, such a matter has become something of a cause of consternation as Ronald Koeman continues to tweak his starting lineup seven weeks into the new season - and some feel it is having a negative effect on results.

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It's not hard to see why. Four points from a possible 15 in the league sees the Toffees lying in the bottom three, their Europa League group campaign is off to a terrible start and only an average of one goal every game has been racked up by Koeman's Blues from their 10 outings this term.

Of course, mitigating circumstances have played their part. The failure to land a top class goalscorer has been well documented, and taking on four of last season's top six in their first five opening league encounters is enough to give any top flight side a tough start.

Is it high time, though, that Koeman stop beating around the bush and just played his best XI?

The Dutchman has been deprived of key personnel due to long-term injury, with Seamus Coleman and Yannick Bolasie certain to be regular starters under him upon their return from broken leg and knee injuries respectively.

Those two aside, there's no reason for Koeman to continue tweaking his side's starting lineup and formation every game - and it's about time that he settled on a tried and trusted selection to help Everton get back to winning ways.

Some of Everton's big arrivals this summer will obviously start in any potential best XI. After all, the likes of Jordan Pickford, Wayne Rooney and Gylfi Sigurdsson were brought to the club for big bucks by Koeman himself.

Other consistently good performers must be handed a starting berth too, with Leighton Baines, Idrissa Gueye and Tom Davies all starring with alarming regularity in the past 16 months.

Koeman has spoken about players like Sandro Ramirez and Davy Klaassen needing time to acclimatise to English football, so why not slowly introduce them from the bench instead of expecting them to drag the Toffees through testing matches domestically?

And then there's the other young stars in his squad. Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Ademola Looman and Nikola Vlasic are all great players in the making, but they too should be allowed to grow and impress in cameos - with the odd start - rather than be relied upon to haul the Blues to victory.

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Needs must this term, given Everton's fight on four fronts, but it will be for nowt if Koeman doesn't get a grip on his best 11 players and find a system that gets the best out of them.

Changes can be made to keep players fresh and other squad members happy, but not every match. Not at this stage of the season.

Everton are desperate for wins and, with three more home games coming up, it might be time for Koeman to stop his best 'tinkerman' impression and let his best XI go out and earn the wins to boost confidence at Goodison Park.