Everton v Sunderland. Boxing Day @ 15.00.

[Jags..class]

Still gutted about the result, you cant afford results like this at this stage, Southampton will be hard to beat, looks impressive yesterday.

 

[Rook]

Save against Barkley is sportscenter play of the day. I could not watch that highlight all day.

 

[Tree13]

As far as I'm concerned the difference between us and the teams above us are:

*They can replace quality with quality. Giroud has stopped scoring for Arsenal but Walcott (and possibly Podolski) can take up the slack. We could do with someone like Jelavic or Mirallas hitting some goalscoring form while Lukaku is having a lull.
*They get the benefit of the doubt more often from officials. Very often we're actually hard done to by the men in black.
*They'll do pretty much anything to get an advantage. You don't see Everton players diving or surrounding the ref.
*They 'manage the game' better eg. time-wasting.
*They'll take more risks chasing the 3 points. Even though we had 10 men we persevered with two defensive midfielders and we didn't bring another striker on until 76 minutes.

All of that puts us at a disadvantage before you even look at the quality of each side.

I agree with what you say, and I think the two lines in bold are linked. Because we lack quality depth we seem to be unable to bring in players to take over from those not in form... we struggle to even make substitutions!

 

[Tree13]

I posted this in the immediate aftermath of the game, so may have got lost among the knee jerking...

OBSERVATIONS

1. We would never have lost that game playing with 11 men.

2. You cannot legislate for the red card/ penalty incident.

3. Osman was to blame for receiving the ball "blind"; should've been more aware and received it side on. An argument could be made for Howard to call for it to be passed straight back to him if he sees Ki closing down his team mate.

4. Howard barely touched Ki, if at all.

5. Referee was poor all round.

6. Unfortunate not to get a point (or even all three) based on the second half.

7. Mannone played the game of his life.

8. We were slightly overly-reliant on Barkley's long shots, albeit the majority of these being very good.

9. We showed great character and spirit in our second half performance.

10. We really went for it, but just couldn't break them down.

11. We'll miss Barry and Howard for Southampton.

Now looking at the stats and getting over the horrible feeling of disappointment, I remain positive and upbeat. I know it was Sunderland at home, but to have the following stats having played with 10 men for 65 minutes is incredible:

Possession: EVE 55% SUN 45%

Shots: EVE 26 SUN 13

On Target: EVE 9 SUN 6

Corners: EVE 11 SUN 2


Quite frankly, it was just one of those days.

I admire your optimism, but points 6 and 7 are simply not true. Mannone faced the grand total of 8 shots, and only 2 of those were from inside the box. Other than the Barkley free kick, he didn't make any spectacular saves, because we didn't ask him to. Hardly the game of his life. And precisely because we lacked any penetration and creativity, we didn't deserve anything; we would have been enormously lucky to get a point on that performance. It doesn't matter that we had 26 shots and 11 corners - we only had 9 shots on target in the entire game. We aren't feeding Lukaku in the box, and we aren't trying to dribble into the box.

I do agree however that it would have been a totally different game had the penalty and red card not taken place, because even with eleven men against our ten they never looked like scoring at any point.

 

[AndyZ]

Do we even have another CM btw?

we need to get John Lundstram in here now! I know the lad's ready.. but Bobby knows best, I guess...

 

[Steve Wigan]

Or actually take on a man and try to beat him? You might succeed, you might draw a foul, even a penalty. But all we did was pass it side to side twenty-five yards out until someone had space to shoot.

We are lacking imagination, creativity and penetration.... the only players who provide this are Deulofeu (injured), Barkley (sometimes) and our bloody fullbacks. McCarthy, Pienaar and Mirallas all need benching IMHO but we don't have any depth. I hope we see Donovan come back on loan again, we could certainly use him right now.

Fair play to Sunderland. They were lucky with the goal, but after that they played very tactically-aware football and got the points.

Typical knee jerk reaction. We are FIFTH in the best league in the world, have lost only two games all season, less than anyone else, have one of the best defensive records in Europe, have the leading goalscoring defender in Europe, and have just gone almost a whole calender year without losing at home. We have just played with ten men and completely outplayed a Premier League team who although bottom of the league, have a new manager who knows how to organise them. And yet you want a disinterested, ageing player from an easy league to be signed, presumably to sit on the bench most of the time. And you want to 'bench' McCarthy, who has been outstanding all season, Mirallas who was ill yesterday, and Peinnar who has had an excellent season. Give me strength !!

 

[big_daddy]

Come home davey.

 

[Eggs]

....disappointed, but no inquest as games like this happen. Move on.

 

[TyphooToffee]

....disappointed, but no inquest as games like this happen. Move on.

That's exactly how I feel

 

[Bungle]

I've had more satisfying wins obviously but 700 return from a 100 stake can't be dismissed lightly

If you can post a screen shot of this bet.. I will donate £10 to Alder Hey.

Hi mate, I believe we are still waiting for the evidence of this bet? I realise you are not contractually obliged to provide it but what sort of person wouldn't take the opportunity to get some money donated to a very worthy cause?

Let's see a screenshot eh?

 

[Hangleton]

How about this for the Southampton game?

Joel
Coleman Jagielka Distin Oviedo
McCarthy Baines
Mirallas Barkley Pienaar
Lukaku

 

[Mikey_Fitzgerald]

Osman is playing against Southampton

I've made my peace with it

 

[GoatJR]

How about this for the Southampton game?

Joel
Coleman Jagielka Distin Oviedo
McCarthy Baines
Mirallas Barkley Pienaar
Lukaku

dont put mirallas on he will prob go for another poop during the game.

as we speak hes having one now

 

[Tree13]

Typical knee jerk reaction. We are FIFTH in the best league in the world, have lost only two games all season, less than anyone else, have one of the best defensive records in Europe, have the leading goalscoring defender in Europe, and have just gone almost a whole calender year without losing at home. We have just played with ten men and completely outplayed a Premier League team who although bottom of the league, have a new manager who knows how to organise them. And yet you want a disinterested, ageing player from an easy league to be signed, presumably to sit on the bench most of the time. And you want to 'bench' McCarthy, who has been outstanding all season, Mirallas who was ill yesterday, and Peinnar who has had an excellent season. Give me strength !!

You don't need strength my lad. You need wisdom.

By no stretch of the imagination did we "completely outplay" Sunderland. Had we done so, we would have won. We won the possession and we took 26 shots, but the stats don't tell the whole story - why did we have more possession and more shots? Because they parked the bus once they were ahead, daring us to have a go at them and risk being hit on the counter. We didn't take the risk and instead restricted ourselves to long shots from outside the area. We failed to break down the bottom team in the division. It's that simple.

Pienaar has been pretty good (not brilliant) most of the season, but was poor yesterday. Martinez saw fit to sub him, so maybe I'm closer to being right than you are on that point. Mirallas has been hot and cold all season - I'm still waiting to see the same Mirallas who was tearing the RS a new one in the derby last year prior to Suarez stamping on him. We are simply not giving Lukaku any quality ball - he was out on the right wing several times in the second half ffs - and Pienaar and Mirallas are two people who I expect to be providing that quality ball but they aren't doing it, and haven't done for several games. Be it a loss of form or simple fatigue, they need someone else sharing the load - that's why Deulofeu was loaned in the first place.

How many times did McCarthy burst forward into the box yesterday? How many shots did he have? He covered a lot of ground, yes, but what creativity, guile or offensive threat did he provide? We NEEDED someone other than Barkley and our fullbacks to step up yesterday, to provide an alternative means of attack: no-one did.

Donovan has proved that he can play prem-level football, and is likely available on a cheap loan for long enough to cover until Deulofeu returns. If Deulofeu was fit, I'd not be asking for Donovan; if we had squillions in the bank to sign a marquee player, I'd not be asking for Donovan. If we had a sub who was as good as him or better, I'd not be asking for Donovan. However we are pi$$-poor, our squad depth out wide is Naismith and then nothing, and we just lost to the bottom-placed team in the league. Having the highest-scoring defender in the prem isn't making all those problems go away.

Having a brain and using it is not "knee-jerking" pal. We need a couple of starter-quality additions to maintain our position, because we cannot handle even two or three injuries and suspensions with a squad as thin as we currently have. The proof of that is yesterday's loss.

 

[Jay]

I'll go with:

Joel
Coleman Jagielka Distin Baines
Pienaar McCarthy Barkley Oviedo
Lukaku Jela