There are a few things we need to address in this 3-4-3 Conte seems to have settled on, imo.
- The first is that the two wing-forwards, Son and Lucas, aren't providing any support to the wing-backs by coming deep when we're being pressed - Everton sprung out of the blocks with an extremely high, aggressive press, and we were pinned in a lot to the point where it felt they had two or three more players than we did. That wasn't the case - but Son and Lucas took up positions more suited to breaking than to beating the press by passing through them. This meant that, often, Kane came deepest to support by providing a passing option, but then, he's so unfit and off the pace that he couldn't execute the passes to Son/Lucas on the break that he would have done last season.
- The second is that, while we're now clearly trying to keep the damn ball on the deck - which is a *huge* improvement from both Mourinho and Nuno's hell of low-percentage long balls aimlessly lifted forward - the two central midfielders, Hojbjerg and Skipp, just are not gifted at that style of play. Skipp is a bit more able on the ball than Hojbjerg, but curiously, he seems to be the one more centrally positioned with less remit to get around the field, while Hojbjerg is the one tasked with drifting everywhere to offer a passing option. But both have the problem of just not being gifted forward passers - Hojbjerg tries, but it's 50:50 whether he succeeds or just gives it away, and Skipp doesn't try much, preferring sideways passes or simple balls into the middle.
- The third is, of course, fitness. Credit to @alekaras - he predicted a more managed game than the frenzy at Vitesse, and he was right. But the fact remains, Everton looked like they had a gear on us the whole game - even when we were on top, they were able to close us down more easily than we were able to when they were pinging it around. Mourinho, Nuno or both - someone has utterly destroyed our fitness levels to the point where I can confidently say we are the poorest in the league at that, and it remains utterly shocking to me.
The fixes are straightforward to see, imo - but difficult to execute.
- For the first, drop the 3-4-3. Conte liked the 3-5-2 at Inter, at Chelsea, for Italy and at Juve - you don't need the extra forward. Drop Ndombele or Lo Celso into the starting eleven, and our passing and ball retention will immediately improve just by players having more passing options - while Kane can stay higher to compensate and retain that attacking threat.
- For the second, *buy* a better midfield partner for Hojbjerg or Skipp. A passer who is adept on the ball but prefers sitting deep - Marcelo Brozovic in January would be my top pick, but Ruben Neves, Mikel Merino, Kalvin Phillips - players like that aren't in short supply on the market right now. Sacrifice Bergwijn, or Doherty, or any one of the other wasters we're presently not using.
- For the third, just time. I wish we had the tradition of a 'ritiro' like in Italy, where players are taken away from their WAGs and their houses to train in a group environment for a few weeks when results are bad - but we don't, and have to make do with what we have. But treat the rest of the season as less a tactical adjustment, more a fitness session to get players up and firing. Get them in next summer for the tactics bit of it - the damn WC will happen in the winter, anyway, so there will be time to do it.
The most encouraging thing from today was just the evident instruction from Conte to *pass our way out of the press* - pass, pass, f*cking pass it out. Don't panic and hoof it. It's been too long since we tried that, and barring one typically brainless, aimless long ball from Davies, we genuinely tried at that today.
All else will come with time, and (most importantly) investment.
