Match Thread Everton v Arsenal - Monday December 6th. 8pm

[Kev50]

So we should play a worse formation and let the other team score first every week so we can surprise them later on? Interesting idea!

I don' think I was quite saying THAT. But I do believe he holds off playing his most effective formation until later in the game. It's noticeable how many times he manages to get the better of teams in the second half, I think it's a deliberate tactic.

 

[marsh]

Arsenal are dreadful, very boring aswell

 

[BlueToff]

Pickford - 6 - didn't have much to do
Coleman - 7 - made up in part for Wednesday (well, he didn't, but he was a lot better)
Keane - 7 - good defensively, dunno why he thinks he's Pirlo
Mina - 6 - Mina should never have played tonight. Was never gonna be ready. Hardly trained
Godfrey - 7 - good defensively, could have been sent off on another day though don't think it was intentional
Allan - 7 - he looked a lot better in a 3, as expected, but was good in the first half I thought, positive passes
Doucoure - 6 - should have had an assist for the 2nd disallowed goal, grew into it but touch was off
Gordon - 7 - was key to us applying pressure in the second half as he actually did press their full-back
Townsend - 4 - good ball for the 1st disallowed goal but he was really poor again. Isn't a central player.
Gray - 8 - wonderful goal, created the 1st goal by taking a shot on
Richarlison - 9 - was brilliant. That's how you play it to Richy when he's up top. Not like he's DCL or Rondon

Holgate - 6
Gomes - 7
Iwobi - n/a but awful miss

Benitez - 7 - for recognising the pattern of the match in the 2nd half and making a good change

 

[andy4efc]

I don' think I was quite saying THAT. But I do believe he holds off playing his most effective formation until later in the game. It's noticeable how many times he manages to get the better of teams in the second half, I think it's a deliberate tactic.

Not a strong tactic then considering we’ve just won our first game since 25th Sep.

 

[Tubey]

?I can't see the Problem tbh...its clearly 2 to 3 inches in front ...zoom in.

Don't get me wrong if we never won I'd say the opposite

Show's it plainer, even though zoomed out. He's drawn the red dot in front of Richarlison's toe, and the blue dot on the boot of the defender (you can see the blue dot coming onto the white line). It's a few centimetres difference but it's enough to give Atwell the call he wanted to give.

 

[hallamblue]

I don' think I was quite saying THAT. But I do believe he holds off playing his most effective formation until later in the game. It's noticeable how many times he manages to get the better of teams in the second half, I think it's a deliberate tactic.

Well if that's true it's just plain daft. Football is about momentum. You start strong and break the other team's spirit. Look at what the rs did to Arsenal. They didn't wait for an hour, they got stuck into them from minute 1 and battered them.

 

[BlueToff]

well, we've had a few injuries like. bUt you can see the benefits of preserving an attacking outlook. Richi and Gray were flying tonight.

We haven't had an attacking outlook at all. We were 18th in the league for shots before tonight (across our winless run). It was just awful and that system will not work even with Dom fit as it's very easy to stop.

Playing with real pace and tenacity isn't easy to stop and we did that in the second half today. Got nothing to do with getting crosses in. Bar the set-piece one, none of our goals or disallowed goals were remotely from a cross.

 

[TheBigIguana]

1 - So what conclusion can we draw from other games this season where they clearly HAVEN'T been trying, like against Brentford, Villa, West Ham or Wolves?

2 - And what conclusion can we draw from other games where they have failed to handle adversity / pressure, like against Liverpool, Man City and Watford?

Looking at the body of work as a whole, many of this squad are miles off the required character. They can occasionally turn on and deliver a committed, gutsy performance, but it isn't an automatic non-negotiable for them. You're getting swept up in the giddiness of this result and convincing yourself that none of the ongoing problems, so clearly evident for so many games this season and last, even exist. Pretty fundamentally delusional.

Great result, yes. And perfectly timed. But we need these players to deliver three or four more entire matches, in succession, where they perform like they did in the second half this evening. We are languishing where we are in the table precisely because far too few of the squad can be relied upon with any consistency.

We're not very good. We're not going to win every game. The simple view is we win when we try harder but had Gray not scored a screamer would you say they didn't try?

 

[canuckblue]

About. Damn. Time.
But where has that effort been the last six weeks?

 

[Kev50]

Well if that's true it's just plain daft. Football is about momentum. You start strong and break the other team's spirit. Look at what the rs did to Arsenal. They didn't wait for an hour, they got stuck into them from minute 1 and battered them.

different managers have different ways of playing. It depends how effective your original tactics are, and your personnel. obv if you have a brilliant squad you can afford to just pass teams to death, if not, you nave to be more strategic.

 

[terryefc]

Jeez - we needed that. I think we deserved it - just. Richy was exellent and Demi's goal sublime.
I think Ramsdale tipped his effort on the bar when Richy scored. Could've even been going in.
Let's not kid ourselves though - Arsenal are poor - but have some superb young talent.
Godfrey was a good call to mark Saka - who only beat him once with the cross to Nketiah.
Lucky to stay on though. Saka was booted all over the park - which was the correct tactic.
Odegard looks very good - really intelligent positional player.
Time wasting bit them on the backside fortunately.
But I'd kill for Tierney. How did we let him slip through our fingers. Fantastic full back.
COYFBB.

 

[Runub]

Show's it plainer, even though zoomed out. He's drawn the red dot in front of Richarlison's toe, and the blue dot on the boot of the defender (you can see the blue dot coming onto the white line). It's a few centimetres difference but it's enough to give Atwell the call he wanted to give.

It is shocking but we won so less bothered. If lost, drew I would be knocking on the FAs door tomorrow

 

[Mr PEN86]

Gray's winner was A1 but Richy was hands down MOTM. When he's in this form he's a nightmare for defenders. Really bossed up and I noticed his attitude was different. Easy could've gone into one of his sulks. But even with those two decisions against him, he kept going. Great attitude and yielded the results.

 

[BlueToff]

We're not very good. We're not going to win every game. The simple view is we win when we try harder but had Gray not scored a screamer would you say they didn't try?

They have tried recently and I've agreed with Benitez on that. There's been a distinct lack of quality.

Some of that is personnel, I get it. It's injuries etc. But an equal part has been his failure to adapt to those injuries, failure to try new things.

Today could easily have gone different in a few ways. We could have genuinely scored 4 but could have conceded 3 too and probably should have done. But we got the luck late on. That's fine.

We've won the game on a stunner as you say but through actually going for it too. Actually realising that this is how you can set up a team to have a proper shape and that shouldn't be reliant on Andre Gomes being fit enough to do half-an-hour.

 

[hallamblue]

different managers have different ways of playing. It depends how effective your original tactics are, and your personnel. obv if you have a brilliant squad you can afford to just pass teams to death, if not, you nave to be more strategic.

Nothing wrong with being strategic, but letting yourself be overrun in midfield every week before changing it isn't strategic it's just daft. Anyone who watches us regularly knows we need 3 in the middle, Alan and 1 other at CDM and Doucoure further forward. It doesn't take a genius to figure it out.