Match Thread Aston Villa 0-1 Everton. Sunday 18th January 2026 @ 16:30

[Marcus Kendall]

Indelible.

Graham was a brilliant manager, tactically astute, afraid of no one, could go head-to-head with Ferguson and Dalglish without fear or favour. As good an organiser as there has been, actually. Wenger's sides played more flamboyant football, but I'd sooner have Graham's play for my life. Give them a goal to hang on to and you could breathe easy.

Yeah I remember in the 90s he won European trophies with some bang average sides purely with his ability tactically and his incredible ability to organise a defence (reading Tony Adams autobiography the sheer attention to detail in the defensive drills in training was executed to perfection the defenders all knew just by instinct the positioning of each other) Like a fellow Scot Stephen Hendry you could bet your life that they'll get the job done without fear of losing it

 

[windymiller]

We're away from home so maybe there's a glimmer of hope but I can't see us getting even a point at Villa.

 

[Drico]

Yeah I remember in the 90s he won European trophies with some bang average sides purely with his ability tactically and his incredible ability to organise a defence (reading Tony Adams autobiography the sheer attention to detail in the defensive drills in training was executed to perfection the defenders all knew just by instinct the positioning of each other) Like a fellow Scot Stephen Hendry you could bet your life that they'll get the job done without fear of losing it

He gets mischaracterised as a negative manager, but that's a misreading. He had Ian Wright, Paul Merson, David Rocastle, and Anders Limpar among his attackers. Alan Smith was an excellent target man. His sides were very well balanced, but he was a master of defence, no doubt about that. He'd have been adored in Italy.

 

[Drico]

We're away from home so maybe there's a glimmer of hope but I can't see us getting even a point at Villa.

Agree. The excuses write themselves. The season ended yesterday and I can see us losing a few more between now and late February, then Moyes will go on his patented late-season run when the pressure is off, surge to 11th and have his preservation society demanding an extension even though we wouldn't have kicked a meaningful ball since January.

 

[Swartzy]

I'm with James Garner on this one.


James Garner:

“The season definitely isn’t over".

“The season is over for the Carabao Cup and FA Cup, but we still have half a season left. You see how tight the league is; if you win one game, you are right up there again, so the season is definitely not over".

​

Just stick the Armband on him now..

We lose him, and me and Moyes will be at the end of our journey..

 

[supertoffee98]

Would be the most Everton thing in the world for us to beat Villa on Sunday. Desperately need to get back in the European spots before the teams above start to pull away from us. Hopefully Dibling/Barry/Beto all feel like they've got a point to prove and come out with fire in their belly.

 

[supertoffee98]

I'm with James Garner on this one.


James Garner:

“The season definitely isn’t over".

“The season is over for the Carabao Cup and FA Cup, but we still have half a season left. You see how tight the league is; if you win one game, you are right up there again, so the season is definitely not over".

​

Great words from Garner. Down to Earth and a local lad who's smashing it in the prem, living the dream of many young lads and girls. Hope he realises how much we appreciate him and his performances this season, honestly think he's been a standout player in the league as a whole this season, no one is coming close to his flexibility and ball control at the minute. In a world where football is based on systems and Pep style possession-geared formations Garner is a throwback to exciting football where players make runs, get the ball from A to B even when A and B are miles apart. Pep would hate him making those runs.

 

[James Patrick]

Would be the most Everton thing in the world for us to beat Villa on Sunday. Desperately need to get back in the European spots before the teams above start to pull away from us. Hopefully Dibling/Barry/Beto all feel like they've got a point to prove and come out with fire in their belly.

Hate being pessimistic but can't see it with what we have available. Those 3 right now aren't good enough to overly trouble Villa. The squad that will be available incl Grealish simply does not in my humble opinion offer enough problems to an in form Villa. I envisage us being camped in our own half trying to cut off passes to Villa runners who are great at getting in between the lines. It may suit us somewhat to sit deep but when legs are heavy late on they also have more options off the bench.

 

[Seathestars]

We need to take any chances we manage to create, but then I think Barry or Beto and cringe

0-1 Everton

 

[Hinchcliffe's Corner]

 

[jazzy]

Sadly I think we will get absolutely battered

 

[jazzy]

Boss….is it on telly

Unfortunately

 

[Harryflashman]

Great read that was Gilbert especially the part about why he chose us over Arsenal. As I said Harvey was brilliant on the training pitch and was a massive reason for our success under Kendall but a bit like Roy Evans he wasn't suited to management for whatever reason. I think with the recruitment we brought in talented players but not ones with champions mentality as the likes of Cottee, Nevin and Beagrie were fair-weather types you couldn't rely on when times got tough not to mention they were wildly inconsistent too

There is some really interesting stuff written about why we fell away , I think there were lots of factors in the way it feels only Everton can have a perfect storm to create failure .

Obviously the European ban , whilst Clearly recruitment was lacking , Howard’s departure and our failure to realise we needed to build on success rather than sit back . However Much as I love our 80’s side I think the way they welcomed our new signings had a lot to do with it unfortunately.

 

[judge]

There is some really interesting stuff written about why we fell away , I think there were lots of factors in the way it feels only Everton can have a perfect storm to create failure .

Obviously the European ban , whilst Clearly recruitment was lacking , Howard’s departure and our failure to realise we needed to build on success rather than sit back . However Much as I love our 80’s side I think the way they welcomed our new signings had a lot to do with it unfortunately.

It's not like we didn't have form for it, remember the 70/71 season?

 

[knowing your history]

Hard to see anything but Villa winning this comfortably. Not 4-0 bad like one year under Dyche but they are just so much stronger all over the pitch these days.

Team pretty much picks itself but you'd like a stronger bench for this. Is KDH in any way close to coming back, Alcaraz? Also if Senegal lose their SF do Gana and Ndiaye have to stay out to feature in the 3rd place play off or could they be recalled early?

Goes without saying an actual new signing would be welcome this week but nothing seems imminent.

Think this will be 2-0 damaged limitation loss but can't be the same for Leeds at home otherwise there will be a fair bit of anger coming from the stands if there are no new signings for that game.