Match Thread Everton V Aston Villa. Sat Sep 13th. 3pm

[Nymzee]

Missed the game but stats show we should have won?

 

[joebocop]

That's a game that feels difficult to assess, as it really tells us nothing about where we are. I would have taken a draw beforehand as thought Villa won't be as bad as their league position suggests. However after the game it's definitely points dropped. And Villa were pretty much bad as their league position suggests.

Obviously it's hard to tell whether we were just solid and made them look bad, or are they just bad? The fact they still haven't scored makes me think it could be the latter.

If you look at it more positively though. I think that's as dominant as we've looked for some time and it was with a makeshift defence that forced our best deep lying centre midfielder out of position. So with that said, could we have been more even more comfortable with Myko back allowing Garner back to the midfield.

And that's why it's difficult to really tell how we actually did yesterday. And that's partly because it's difficult to judge what's going on with that Villa side. The quality in their squad should easily mean they end up around 8th-10th. And maybe that it makes it even more disappointing we didn't get the 3 points, as it seems we've caught them at a stage where they aren't hitting their stride and not been able to capitalise.

 

[Ikatron51]

Missed the game but stats show we should have won?

Definitely we were the much better side. Especially in the first half.

 

[Ring master]

Missed the game but stats show we should have won?

We should/could have been 3/4 up in 1st 15mins or so. Very good overall performance. The one little fear i had as we were so decent was this would be typical that we would go on to lose 1-0 to a late undeserved goal after our missed chances.

 

[Thomasc]

Think the international break was the reason it was a bit of a cagey affair, it breaks up any momentum you may have had imo, so unless you get off to a quick start the longer it goes on goalless the more cagey the players are.

That said we were the far better team from an attacking perspective and deserved to win on chances created and as the team trying harder to win the game.

Was a bit surprised how bad Villa were tbh, or maybe that is more of a testament to how much we have improved.

 

[Ring master]

Think the international break was the reason it was a bit of a cagey affair, it breaks up any momentum you may have had imo, so unless you get off to a quick start the longer it goes on goalless the more cagey the players are.

That said we were the far better team from an attacking perspective and deserved to win on chances created and as the team trying harder to win the game.

Was a bit surprised how bad Villa were tbh, or maybe that is more of a testament to how much we have improved.

No idea how Villa have gone the way they look so far this season. I expected them to be by top even this early

 

[NathDogg]

Motd. Not one word about us all villa were so hated

Joke wasn’t it, highlights were all Everton battering them, and they don’t say a word about us.

Laughable.

 

[Rooney_Tunes]

….disappointing draw but I had to miss the last 5 minutes and was nervous watching Mrs Eggs phone during injury time in case they mugged us.

Terrific now we offer threat, just makes so much difference watching my side when we provide that. I went for Keane as my MoM thinking it was a bit left-field but I wasn’t alone in thinking that way.

Onwards and upwards, you never know about next week it’s not the daftest thing that chances missed today might just go in.

Exactly Mr Eggs.

Grealish one metre either way and the goalkeeper is beaten.

Keane one metre either way and the keeper is beaten.

Beto more composure and we win.

Nip and tuck and despite Hooper being useless; we could easily have won.

 

[Melchizedek]

Thought we became to reliant on Grealish making something happen in the second half. First half we used the right side a lot more and had a lot of joy.

Obviously you try to use your best player as much as possible, but sometimes we just seem to give him the ball with three players around him and then no one provided susupport.

Agreed we were going to Grealish too often and not providing something different for Villa to think about. I also think Grealish could have changed it up a bit and had a shot at goal once or twice. The opportunity was there, but he just kept dribbling and looking for the pass.

Still our best player on the pitch by a mile, but I just hope he doesn't become too predictable and negate his effectiveness.

 

[Thomasc]

No idea how Villa have gone the way they look so far this season. I expected them to be by top even this early

Had a chat with some of their fans in the pub afterwards, they were actually turning on Emery already if you can believe that

Could be a troublesome season for them if they don’t pick up a win soon and do something really stupid.

 

[Toffe3m4n]

Missed the game but stats show we should have won?

As others have said mate - we did pretty much everything but put the ball in the net. Beto's finishing was poor & Martinez was class in sticks against us again..

 

[mahermi1]

Villa are a well drilled side. They'll only get better through the season and the majority of the game we were much the better side.

That's the way I saw it, we just need a goal scoring centre forward, wonder what result would have been with a prime Lukaku up front. We have great out balls to either wing, we just need someone to finish it off.

 

[PhilM]

Missed the game but stats show we should have won?

It felt like a game where we dropped two points because we had the momentum, quality and opportunities to score a few against them.

Had a chat with some of their fans in the pub afterwards, they were actually turning on Emery already if you can believe that

Could be a troublesome season for them if they don’t pick up a win soon and do something really stupid.

If Emery doesn't get some traction soon, I do think there'll be questions because as a club they need Europe to help stabilise their finances.

 

[Bryan+]

I ironically chose Keane as MOTM. What is this nonsense

 

[Daz1878]

Thanks for this. Their keeper the stand out.

(Just for the record, keeping an idea of who's turned up against us, the referee was leeds player of the match, Minteh Brighton, Rodrigo-Gomes Wolves, Martinez Villa)

I think the ref edged the excellent Martinez as their MotM, mate.

Nothing will be done about it of course, as there were no really huge clangers in there - just a consistent low level drip of snide behaviour that disrupted the game and made the fans furious. Making Garner move back half an inch to take a throw-in so Villa could get men back summed it up.