Everton v Chelsea. 30th August at 17.30.

[Petit]

I reckon Jagielka needs dropping asap. Something is not right in his head. Mental exhaustion after world cup.

 

[Robertor]

Still looks a player though Besic. After his mistake he done some decent things in his short time on the pitch and he seems the confident type to not let this get to him.

 

[sd_1992]

Crazy how the linesman didn't see Howard handle it outside of the area. He was a good half yard out. lol

Probably did. But given that he wasn't in line with it there is no way he or the ref could have sent Howard off on something they were not 100% on. If the linesman had been in line with the box then he could probably be criticised for it.

How he didn't get sent off for grabbing costa and head butting azpilicueta I have no idea given that the ref was less than a couple of metres away

 

[blue4eva77]

2:30 AM game so couldn't watch it.
Did basic finally debut and how'd he go?

Lets put it this way...

His first touch on his competitive debut was nothing like his first touch in pre season.

 

[TX Bill]

Well I've had to wait several hours before posting just to get over the manner of the loss so here are a few observations:

1) I'm just stunned as to how our defense has gone from being one of the best last year to THE worst in the league. I guess if ManU can go from champions to missing Europe and struggling, I guess our defense can have the same kind of meltdown. Shocking stuff. I guess if I had to make an immediate change, I'd bring Stones in for Jagielka and pair him with Distin. Distin hasn't been much better but Jags was nothing short of shocking today.

2) Besic...what the hell was that?

3) 62% possession and three goals against Chelsea....and we get absolutely smashed. Only Everton. On USA national TV no less.

4) Lukaku, better but still not 100%.

5) Naismith. Keep it up son. His goal was fantastic.

6) Mirallas. Same with his goal and cruelly denied a great second by the post.

7) McCarthy & Barry. Very very poor today. Could have been McCarthy's worst in a blue shirt. Barry not much better. Offered no protection in front of our back four.

8) Howard. Saw him taking some stick on Twitter but other than the first goal, don't know if he could have done much on the others. Should have been sent off for the handball outside the box. Loved him going after Costa though.

9) Coleman. Probably my Man of the Match of for us. Great match by him...except that he's part of the defense that let in six goals.

10) The near side linesman. That should be the last we ever see of him at the Premier League level. Missed four major calls. One is ok and maybe even two. Four??? Pure incompetence.

11) Costa. The new Suarez. Everyone will hate him quickly. What an asshole.

Overall, I'm thrilled we've scored 2, 2, and 3 against Leicester, Arsenal, and Chelsea. Scoring shouldn't be a problem for us. But oh my, we've got to get that defense sorted or we'll be lucky to finish mid table. Probably too late to make a move in the window but perhaps January. I don't want to think that the Jags/Distin partnership is finished but it sure looks like it is. An end of an era.

 

[TX Bill]

2:30 AM game so couldn't watch it.
Did basic finally debut and how'd he go?

Besic?

First touch was an ill-advised backheel to a CB which was intercepted and taken in for a goal.

His very first touch.

Yeah, it was that kind of a day.

 

[LAToffee]

The whining and fuming on here. My mature collected thought on that game is that it was a genuinely extraordinary game: a kind of outlier. You can't really learn anything reliable from it. One of the truly great games that any neutral has ever watched in the premier league. Obviously awful for us like. But if you read readers comments from Chelsea fans. They are thrilled with their teams performance, but also absolutely stunned and impressed by ours. Sure, our defense is a shambles, but I think we already knew that from the previous two results. Today's game was just mad. I wouldn't take anything from that. C'est incroyable, mais ce n'est pas la guerre.

 

[blue4eva77]

Well I've had to wait several hours before posting just to get over the manner of the loss so here are a few observations:

1) I'm just stunned as to how our defense has gone from being one of the best last year to THE worst in the league. I guess if ManU can go from champions to missing Europe and struggling, I guess our defense can have the same kind of meltdown. Shocking stuff. I guess if I had to make an immediate change, I'd bring Stones in for Jagielka and pair him with Distin. Distin hasn't been much better but Jags was nothing short of shocking today.

2) Besic...what the hell was that?

3) 62% possession and three goals against Chelsea....and we get absolutely smashed. Only Everton. On USA national TV no less.

4) Lukaku, better but still not 100%.

5) Naismith. Keep it up son. His goal was fantastic.

6) Mirallas. Same with his goal and cruelly denied a great second by the post.

7) McCarthy & Barry. Very very poor today. Could have been McCarthy's worst in a blue shirt. Barry not much better. Offered no protection in front of our back four.

8) Howard. Saw him taking some stick on Twitter but other than the first goal, don't know if he could have done much on the others. Should have been sent off for the handball outside the box. Loved him going after Costa though.

9) Coleman. Probably my Man of the Match of for us. Great match by him...except that he's part of the defense that let in six goals.

10) The near side linesman. That should be the last we ever see of him at the Premier League level. Missed four major calls. One is ok and maybe even two. Four??? Pure incompetence.

11) Costa. The new Suarez. Everyone will hate him quickly. What an asshole.

Overall, I'm thrilled we've scored 2, 2, and 3 against Leicester, Arsenal, and Chelsea. Scoring shouldn't be a problem for us. But oh my, we've got to get that defense sorted or we'll be lucky to finish mid table. Probably too late to make a move in the window but perhaps January. I don't want to think that the Jags/Distin partnership is finished but it sure looks like it is. An end of an era.

Excellent summary really...

How you're able to write this after watching that is a credit to you really. But then you've had 12 hours off the burner I suppose.

Could be a good thing or disastrous, time will tell but we have to wait two weeks now to sort this out. Good thing to settle it down and reassess things maybe? But then you just want to get back out asap to get the monkey off your back. Time will tell.

 

[blue4eva77]

The whining and fuming on here. My mature collected thought on that game is that it was a genuinely extraordinary game: a kind of outlier. You can't really learn anything reliable from it. One of the truly great games that any neutral has ever watched in the premier league. Obviously awful for us like. But if you read readers comments from Chelsea fans. They are thrilled with their teams performance, but also absolutely stunned and impressed by ours. Sure, our defense is a shambles, but I think we already knew that from the previous two results. Today's game was just mad. I wouldn't take anything from that. C'est incroyable, mais ce n'est pas la guerre.

I get what you're saying...

We should fume though. In the space of a couple of months we've gone from one of the tightest defences in the league to diabolical, shipping 10 in 3.

Nothing against you but im tired of hearing about this thrilling, best game ever, had everything game we were involved in. We were torn to shreds at the back time and time again. The best part is that chelsea... the leagues best side, had only 30 odd percent possession. That indicates further how utterly shambolic we were as we conceded 6... not seen the complete stats but did every one of their efforts on target go in??

We should fume after that. Third game running we've looked terrible at the back, conceding at will. Going forward we've done enough to win all 3 games to be fair. Thats why people are stunned and confused. Not pressed the panic button yet but I tell you mate, anything less than 3 points at west brom and the finger pointing will start.

 

[TX Bill]

Yep.

Could have/Should have 9 points.

We have two.

Says it all really.

 

[hktoffee]

Yep.

Could have/Should have 9 points.

We have two.

Says it all really.

I do think the major problem is the high defensive line and both CB tend to play the useless offside trap which didn't work just like three at the back.

 

[cronullasharks]

I do think the major problem is the high defensive line and both CB tend to play the useless offside trap which didn't work just like three at the back.

I really hope Martinez doesn't change the formation to 3 at the back for the WBA game.

 

[Eggs]

Cheers lads, not what I wanted to hear, but after you concede 6 there's not that many positives you can have from a midfield/defensive standpoint.

.....keep the faith, it was clearly a misjudgement but better he did it when already 2 down and with only a few minutes to go. I described the game as a 'freak' following a 'freak' start. We were chasing it after conceding 2 in the first 3 minutes, but there were a lot of plusses. Coleman and Naismith played really well and there was a very encouraging cameo from Eto'o. Great spirit to continually fight our way back into contention and then frustratingly concede again.

 

[tonyhorne]

11) Costa. The new Suarez. Everyone will hate him quickly. What an asshole.

I disagree. I thought he was superb. I would much rather have an in-your-face honest scrapper than a diving-biting cheat like Suarez. I really enjoyed him and Coleman having a go. More of this. Less of the theatrics.

 

[ilikecheese]

I disagree. I thought he was superb. I would much rather have an in-your-face honest scrapper than a diving-biting cheat like Suarez. I really enjoyed him and Coleman having a go. More of this. Less of the theatrics.

Mate...he did a snidey dive right after the scrap with Coleman...he's well on his way.