It’s safe to say that Brennan Johnson hasn’t had the start at Everton he would have been hoping for, but Michael Ball has suggested an intriguing way for David Moyes to turn things around for him.

There was a lot of praise when Everton swapped Dwight McNeil for Johnson, with no additional payment involved. While Johnson didn’t do well at Crystal Palace, his exploits at Tottenham Hotspur and Nottingham Forest led many to believe he could be a great signing.

But up to now, Johnson has come in for a lot of criticism – mainly for lacking impact for Everton.

Against Arsenal on Saturday, Johnson had just nine touches of the ball in the 72 minutes he was on the pitch. His replacement, Tyler Dibling, had around three times as many.

He has been on the periphery of games and hasn’t yet scored or assisted in the league.

But Michael Ball believes there’s a tweak Moyes ought to explore.

Michael Ball suggests Brennan Johnson should play up top with Thierno Barry for Everton

Ball has written about Johnson in his latest column for the Liverpool Echo and acknowledged the Wales international’s struggles so far.

In his eyes, he hasn’t been good enough with the ball into feet, and reckons he is actually a bit like former Everton winger Theo Walcott.

He said: “Brennan Johnson doesn’t look like he’s an out-and-out winger. He reminds me of Theo Walcott a little bit with the way he stands because he wants the ball in behind to run on to.

“As a winger, you need to be able to show for your feet and get the ball like Dibling and Jack Grealish do, but he’s not that type of player. Perhaps he could be an option to go up front alongside Thierno Barry or replace him when he needs to come off the pitch where he could spin and try and get behind opposition defenders.”

The Walcott comparison makes sense, as he was a player who was all about running onto through balls and springing the offside trap. He was never a ball-into-feet kind of player.

But certainly, things can’t continue as they are. Playing him up front with Barry could be worth a go, but ‘two up top’ is not something we see very often in David Moyes teams.

The Scot is relatively faithful to systems that use just one striker, and that striker tends to be a bit of a target man.

Tyler Dibling deserves more minutes than Johnson

Last month Leon Osman suggested other players deserved more minutes than Johnson and that probably still rings true at the moment. And one player who definitely needs more involvement at Johnson’s expense is Tyler Dibling.

Dibling came off the bench against Arsenal and was, at the very least, more involved. But we’ve seen against Wolves and Ipswich Town what he can offer.

In the Premier League, his 5.9 chances created per 90 metric is the highest in the Everton squad. By contrast, Johnson’s is just 1.2 (via Fotmob)

The suggestion about Johnson from Ball is an interesting one, but there could well just be more value in Moyes finally trusting Dibling – given his proven creativity – than changing Johnson’s position and the team’s system.