Match Thread Everton v Watford - Preview, Match Report and MotM Poll

Everton Man of the Match


  • Total voters
    343
  • Poll closed .
Status
Not open for further replies.

Goat

Everton's Number 9
TELEMMGLPICT000173079691_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqNadeZm0KzkFwpSYJhHDpPdnmtm3XWosTHgZTwfmkibw.jpeg


Watford up next, no rest for the wicked in the month of December.

A last minute defeat and a draw against a very poor Newcastle side sadly has us looking over our shoulder, with City and Spurs after this we could really do with all 3 points here. Teams are coming to Goodison and not just parking the bus, they are parking 2 buses and we are sadly being very wasteful infront of goal.

After a great start Watford have faded a little recently 4 defeats and a draw in their last 5 games suggests we should put these to the sword, if only the footy was that easy.

Goats 11 to start :

Pickford
Coleman - Zouma - Mina - Digne
Gana - Gomes
Iceland
Lookman - Tosun - Rico
Match Report by @AndyC

Digne wonder strike saves Everton blushes​

Everton 2-2 Watford​

Everton rescued a point on Monday night thanks to an outstanding free kick equaliser from Lucas Digne deep into added on time to preserve their unbeaten home record against Watford.

Monday night football at the Grand Old Lady saw Watford the visitors and the first opportunity for Marco Silva to cement his decision to quit the Hornets for pastures anew with Everton.

Watfords' travelling support showed their resentment towards the Portuguese by brandishing toy rubber snakes while Evertonians offered a diametrically opposite warm welcome to the returning Gerard Deulofeu.

Silva was keen to see Everton back to winning ways after the disappointment of the Newcastle draw, with victory meaning the Blues would move above back into sixth place in the standings.

And he intimated of a potential change in defensive formation to a back three to allow Digne and Coleman a more attacking role in support of the forwards. He eventually settled on the eleven that started the recent Derby: Pickford, Digne, Mina, Keane, Coleman (c), Gana Gueye, Gomes, Sigurdsson, Walcott, Bernard and Richarlison.

Watford coach Javi Gracia was unable to include Etienne Capoue due to his red card against Leicester, midfielder Will Hughes was doubtful with a slight injury too, and Tom Cleverly still missing after almost a year out through injury.

In his pre-match briefing he noted, "We are playing well. I think the players have confidence in the way we're playing. But, they also know we need to improve something to have better results."

Gracia handed in his team sheet thus: Foster, Femenia, Kabasele, Cathcart, Holebas, Doucoure, Quina, Success, Pereyra, Sema and Deeney (c).

Our referee was Kevin Friend.

Two early half chances in the opening couple of minutes saw Pickford save easily from Pereyra and foster dive to gather a Walcott header from a left wing cross.

After that bright start, the following minutes saw too many misplaced passes and it wasn't till around ten minutes in that Everton began to string some passes together. A Watford giveaway was picked up by Richarlison and he found Sigurdsson who was quickly closed down before he could shoot.

Bernard set Digne away with a smart pass but the eventual cross was just too strong for Walcott to get on the end of. Watford countered and the Blues defence was forced into some hasty defending.

Everton opened the scoring on 14 minutes with a move down the right that saw Coleman and Walcott combine with Gomes finding space to fire a perfect cross into the area for Richarlison to lash home from twelve yards.

Coleman went down two minutes later and Watford played on with Quina crossing for Deeney to volley over from two yards.

Everton again attacked fluidly down the left with Bernard finding Digne whose cross from the byeline was flicked on by Sigurdsson but Richarlison was denied a shooting chance. Yerry Mina picked up the games first yellow card for hand ball going for a cross from Sigurdsson.

The game began to turn scrappy and referee Fried was making no friends amongst the crowd with some of his decisions, one of which saw Seamus Coleman get involved in a rather heated debate with the official.

Pickford was needed for a good punch on a cross from Femenia as Watford strove to get back into the game, with Everton a touch untidy at times.

A nice move on 42 minutes saw Digne, Bernard and Sigurdsson all involved before the cross from Digne found Sigurdsson but his hot was deflected away for a corner.

Just before the break, a clearance saw Richarlison go down and again no whistle, Watford pumped the ball forward and Deeney shot wide.

Half Time: 1-0

The second half began as scrappily as the first had largely been with Watford direct and Everton failing to get a handle on the game. A poor decision for a foul by Mina gave Watford a free kick from which Pereyra hit the side netting, a warning to Everton.

A Deeney push on Coleman went unpunished and the visitors resulting shot earned a corner. On 57 minutes Pickford had to dive full length to his right to turn another Deeney effort away as Gomes went down needing treatment.

Deulofeu came on just before the hour mark and his first involvement was to find Femenia for a cross that Pereyra hit the post from, the rebound hitting Coleman to cross the line for 1-1.

And it got worse for the Blues as two minutes later we fell behind Doucoure getting on the end of a Pereyra cross to head Watford in front.

Marco Silva responded with a double change, Lookman for Walcott and DCL for Bernard. A minute later and referee Friend gave Everton a lifeline in the form of a penalty but Foster denied Sigurdsson with his legs much to the anguish of the Goodison crowd.

Cenk Tosun replaced Gana Gueye with twenty minutes remaining as Silva committed Everton to all out attack, but things were just not going the Blues way.

The final twenty minutes were largely huff and puff but with a lack of the quality needed to break down a resolute Watford rearguard.

That is until a free kick was won just outside the penalty area deep into the six extra minutes and Lucas Digne brought Goodison to erupting point with a stunning shot, bent around the wall and into the top corner.

Full Time: 2-2
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I'd go back to Richarlison up top and give Lookman a go on the left where I think he will be more comfortable and also probably get more of the ball playing on the same side as better technical players in Gomes and Digne. Also Keane back in because I think we missed his occasional line splitting balls up to Gylfi or the right wing. Keep a clean sheet and we will win but we definitely need to find a consistent creative spark and some finishing. It is impressive that we have had shots from 3 yards out get saved in consecutive games so hopefully that stops.
 
I doubt they will play the FSW double decker parked bus as much. Guessing they will actually try to win.

Should be much more open offensively for us without having to expose ourselves for potential couter attacks.

I think we get this one right. Digne and Gylfi atoning for their sins.
 

We're going to continue to struggle until we sort out the forward line. Our best hope is to keep it tight and try and control the midfield.
 
TELEMMGLPICT000173079691_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqNadeZm0KzkFwpSYJhHDpPdnmtm3XWosTHgZTwfmkibw.jpeg


Watford up next, no rest for the wicked in the month of December.

A last minute defeat and a draw against a very poor Newcastle side sadly has us looking over our shoulder, with City and Spurs after this we could really do with all 3 points here. Teams are coming to Goodison and not just parking the bus, they are parking 2 buses and we are sadly being very wasteful infront of goal.

After a great start Watford have faded a little recently 4 defeats and a draw in their last 5 games suggests we should put these to the sword, if only the footy was that easy.

Goats 11 to start :

Pickford
Coleman - Zouma - Mina - Digne
Gana - Gomes
Iceland
Lookman - Tosun - Rico​

I can only assume you want to lose with Tosun and Lookman in your team.
 
TELEMMGLPICT000173079691_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqNadeZm0KzkFwpSYJhHDpPdnmtm3XWosTHgZTwfmkibw.jpeg


Watford up next, no rest for the wicked in the month of December.

A last minute defeat and a draw against a very poor Newcastle side sadly has us looking over our shoulder, with City and Spurs after this we could really do with all 3 points here. Teams are coming to Goodison and not just parking the bus, they are parking 2 buses and we are sadly being very wasteful infront of goal.

After a great start Watford have faded a little recently 4 defeats and a draw in their last 5 games suggests we should put these to the sword, if only the footy was that easy.

Goats 11 to start :

Pickford
Coleman - Zouma - Mina - Digne
Gana - Gomes
Iceland
Lookman - Tosun - Rico​

..I think I might even start Niasse ahead of Tosun. I would definitely prefer Niasse coming on as a substitute over Tosun. I know Niasse is very hit and miss but that sometimes works coming off the bench.

I do agree, though, that we look better balanced with Richarlison on the left and the striker option is open to debate.
 

We didn't get the best out of our forwards last night. Walcott makes space and wants balls to run onto. Lookman wants balls to his feet and can play in congested areas. Bernard, Richarlison and Walcott seem to work together better. And Keane is more used to playing with Coleman on the right side of defence.

A better balanced team will beat Watford. We are clinging on to sixth place. Credit must go to teams like Bournemouth, Leicester and Watford who have risen to the top half of the table.
 
Watford are on a bit of a bad run,lets hope we are not the usual lot to turn up and assist them with a win,but going 2-1 Everton
 

Status
Not open for further replies.
Top