Match Thread Everton v Manchester United - Preview, Match Report and MotM Poll

[Bob Latchford]

That was gutting to watch today.
Early season optimism has evaporated

 

[Dario Terracotta]

Old Everton has reared its ugly head way too much in the last four games,what a flawed, mentally weak group we have,we found ourselves one up today,they were either going to roll over,or respond for a ten minute spell afterwards,I thought we only had to "manage"that segment of the game and we would have well been on our way to securing the points,we left ourselves wide open,football kamikaze,no closing down,the free run Fernandez had for their equaliser,from the optimism of just a few short weeks back...to this,players look like they are running in treacle or have been "rushed back"too soon due to our lack of depth, hopefully the break has come at the right time for us and we will come out of the traps at Fulham(minus Pickford and Siguurdsonn hopefully!!)

 

[Tipp blue]

2 @MarcelsGoat threads side by side for all to see just shows us how mad us Everton fans actually are.

 

[Sassy Colombian]

For me, shows yet again how incredibly important and invaluable Richarlison is to the success of the club. Without the danger he poses going forward the attack is meager. In addition, his tenacity tracking back is so superior to anything offered by his replacements.

I was thinking the same after the end of the match. I read somewhere that Everton has never won a match without him. That's a very scary statistic and speaks loudly for our need for a few more signings if we are to achieve greater things soon.

 

[Trout Masked Replica]

This new world class midfield is great!

 

[ForeverEverton]

Some of the positive posts in this thread are laughable.

The age-old problems are very real and every Evertonian should be concerned.

We have lost THREE ON THE BOUNCE........

If any other big clubs had done the same there would be huge questions to ask of their manager.

However, we have Carlo who is the best manager in the world so he has nothing to answer for......

When any of our previous managers had a similar situation they were heavily criticized.

There are a few factors, in my opinion, that have caused this slump:

1) James is no longer playing those divine through balls and setting up Richie or Calvert with clear cut chances. In the first 5 or 6 games, these world-class passes scared the opposition and introduced uncertainty in their play. It also bred confidence in the rest of the offensive-minded players. There was a good balance. As long as Hamez pulled the strings the defensive midfielders could get on with their jobs. It was tremendous to watch, to be honest. Last time I'd seen this was during Roberto's first season.

2) Pickford's calamity goalkeeping drained the back four of confidence.

3) The loss of Richarlison has also drained the team of confidence. His persistent aggression always moves the ball upfield. This prevented silly back and side passing from lesser players. He was also great at tracking back. Tremendous energy. This is so important in our league.

4) Losing Digne, James, Richie and Coleman (the very players vital to providing assists and influencing games) were a hammer blow. The understudies are either downright poor or need a run of games to build some form.

5) Carlo has not yet settled on his centre mid pairing and it's showing. He quite rightly sees every one of their weaknesses and so is still experimenting. We literally have 5 centre-mids now, if you include Braithwaite. We are leaking literally 2 or more goals a game. Carlo is the best manager in the world and he is Italian!!!

6) I think the Southampton game destabilised our players. We started confidently but deep into the game our players knew that they had the beating of us. They were out passing us at times. It was disturbing to watch. You could see the Everton ROT returning. It's like a virus and seems to last for extended periods of a season.

7) After Gordon and Nkonkou's great performances in the Caribou Cup, I fully expected them to be blooded into the team when injuries occurred. Carlo has not done this and it disappoints me. We need hungry understudies who can get forward when Digne and Richie are out.

8) We saw this shocking run occur at the business end of last season. If we keep losing in this manner the buck should and will always stop with the manager. When Richy is back I'm expecting one or two results to swing our way. If not then it will be a very long season.......

In summary, Carlo needs to work out, when James isn't producing or absent, why the likes of Doucore, Siggy, Bernard and Iwobi can't assist and score some goals for us? They are paid sensational wages and are not earning their value.

Agree with all of this apart from the fact you label Carlo Ancelotti as the best manager in the world, this is simply incorrect. Guardiola, Klopp and even Mourinho still above him. When was the last trophy Ancelotti won? Why is he at Everton? Even Haasenhuttl is getting a tune from a squad which is in my opinion not as good as ours.

One of the most decorated yes but I think his time is over, such an Everton thing to do bring in a manager of CA only for him to be past it! I will say it again Im not sure who can sort us out. Davis Moyes was nearly there but couldnt, Martinez couldnt, Koeman couldnt and Ancelotti wont. The signs are there, the only concern is that CA and all the players he brings in are a massively expensive mistake if it doesnt come off....... Which it wont....

 

[arbok]

Here are the problems.

We knew Man U had a stack of pace and athleticism in their side. It should have been Gordon, Bernard, Iwobi, Davies at the very least. Siggy should never have been in the squad let alone in the starting 11. The difference between Fernandes and Siggy was embarassing. We lost the game because the players and the squad are just genuinely slow especially if those guys above are the fastest players in the team.

They attacked down their left (our right) again for our first goal. Second goal also came from around there, but both goals, they got to the box quickly and didn't stuff around. They're attacking James' side because he's not involved in the defensive work. That's gotta be Doucoure's work filling in there, but I rarely saw him do that. Coleman looked off the whole day.

I thought Holgate was fine today and looked better on the ball than Mina. Made a couple of errors, but still quality on the ball. Questionable defensive positioning today, i feel like that's his achilles heel.

Allan's job is to protect the centre halves, but he's been asked to do too much and ends up not being effective, used to look boss. Doucoure needs to get back to what he does - which is pressing and tackling. Gomes is needed as the outlet ball.

DCL starting to get frustrated, starting to want to get involved, but he's been more successful when he waits all game and poaches a goal.

James doesn't look right, might still be injured. I knew he would be as soon as Carlo gave that answer at the presser. He was asked if he was 100% and dodged it. Looked better in the 2nd half but didnt really create anything.

People are blaming Pickford making goalkeeping errors. He has a problem in the air, either catching it and then coming down and dropping on the impact, or just judging it in the air (ie the liverpool goal in the 94' minute). He goes up and is unbalanced every time. Explains why he used to never come out for it. He needs to acknowledge this and fix it. Stop hiding behind the excuse it was a mistake. It's not - its technique.

Man U deserved to win, but we're shipping way too many goals. And Everton were ok for 20 minutes again, and dire for 70.

If Richarlison doesn't go into beast mode next game ill be very disappointed.

 

[Oh how the maggots taste]

For all the disappointment I'm sure everyone is feeling about our own performance, it's worth saying that Bruno Fernandes is a very, very dislikeable character.

 

[TheNinja]

Get dragged into a fight at the bottom and we are in trouble, these cowards have zero fight in them

Slight over reaction... We were much better today than against Newcastle and pressed them back for large periods without really creating anything.

We're still miles better than last seasons team and there are some terrible teams at the bottom this year...

 

[everton1953]

Defeat at Fulham will see the knives come out.

 

[arbok]

Some of the positive posts in this thread are laughable.

The age-old problems are very real and every Evertonian should be concerned.

We have lost THREE ON THE BOUNCE........

If any other big clubs had done the same there would be huge questions to ask of their manager.

However, we have Carlo who is the best manager in the world so he has nothing to answer for......

When any of our previous managers had a similar situation they were heavily criticized.

There are a few factors, in my opinion, that have caused this slump:

1) James is no longer playing those divine through balls and setting up Richie or Calvert with clear cut chances. In the first 5 or 6 games, these world-class passes scared the opposition and introduced uncertainty in their play. It also bred confidence in the rest of the offensive-minded players. There was a good balance. As long as Hamez pulled the strings the defensive midfielders could get on with their jobs. It was tremendous to watch, to be honest. Last time I'd seen this was during Roberto's first season.

2) Pickford's calamity goalkeeping drained the back four of confidence.

3) The loss of Richarlison has also drained the team of confidence. His persistent aggression always moves the ball upfield. This prevented silly back and side passing from lesser players. He was also great at tracking back. Tremendous energy. This is so important in our league.

4) Losing Digne, James, Richie and Coleman (the very players vital to providing assists and influencing games) were a hammer blow. The understudies are either downright poor or need a run of games to build some form.

5) Carlo has not yet settled on his centre mid pairing and it's showing. He quite rightly sees every one of their weaknesses and so is still experimenting. We literally have 5 centre-mids now, if you include Braithwaite. We are leaking literally 2 or more goals a game. Carlo is the best manager in the world and he is Italian!!!

6) I think the Southampton game destabilised our players. We started confidently but deep into the game our players knew that they had the beating of us. They were out passing us at times. It was disturbing to watch. You could see the Everton ROT returning. It's like a virus and seems to last for extended periods of a season.

7) After Gordon and Nkonkou's great performances in the Caribou Cup, I fully expected them to be blooded into the team when injuries occurred. Carlo has not done this and it disappoints me. We need hungry understudies who can get forward when Digne and Richie are out.

8) We saw this shocking run occur at the business end of last season. If we keep losing in this manner the buck should and will always stop with the manager. When Richy is back I'm expecting one or two results to swing our way. If not then it will be a very long season.......

In summary, Carlo needs to work out, when James isn't producing or absent, why the likes of Doucore, Siggy, Bernard and Iwobi can't assist and score some goals for us? They are paid sensational wages and are not earning their value.

Alright Ill have a go answering some of these.

1) Players were taking chances getting forward, Digne and Richarlison when James whipped those cross field balls. There's been less of them , but then again James has had less of the ball. Saw a few today, but only one real decent one to Digne. Some decent balls to Iwobi. I'm going to blame it on James not being fit, also not getting as much of the ball and better defence on him

2) I don't think Pickford drained the back 4 of confidence, many of the goals from the last 4 games were either decent goals from the opposition, or some comical goals like the last week's where Fraser just went round Mina. That was a great cross and header today for the first goal. And that needed to be snuffed out way before the cross comes in. Barely any pressure on the ball in the leadup to that goal.

3) Agreed on Richarlison - gets us forward.

5) 4231 is doucoure and allan, 433 is that and Gomes... no more experimenting. Davies if Gomes is injured.

6) Southampton did the simple things well, they weren't amazing or anything...

 

[Smodger]

Defeat at Fulham will see the knives come out.

Yes I agree for brands.

 

[Eggs]

We will lose the next two. We have forgotten how to win.

...Richarlison’s makes such a big difference to this team.

 

[LEONARD]

Somethings never change.

A manager under pressure, and in desperate need for a win= Just play Everton.

Looking to get your first goal= Just Play Everton..

 

[peteblue]

From top to looking like relegation fodder?

We are not relegation fodder. A lot of our play was good, but two failures to stop a cross and no challenge from the CB’s done for us. Richarlison will bring that added cut and thrust again. Top 4-6 is still a sensible goal......