Everton vs Brighton... Match Report and MotM Poll...

[LEONARD]

Anyone hear why Idressa was not in the squad?

 

[Ring master]

Anyone hear why Idressa was not in the squad?

Illness, same as morgan lol sam says, in his bbc interview

min 1.23 there says it
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/43267241

 

[Dario Terracotta]

Gone Sigurdsson myself, worked his trollies as did Tosun who had a decent game too,Baines looked refreshed and offered more today going forward than he has all season,all about opinions though,giz a vote laaaa's

 

[Dario Terracotta]

Illness, same as morgan lol sam says, in his bbc interview

Sick of Samlol

 

[ricer10]

Baines for me.... although Jags played very well too....

 

[Number_25]

Jagielka was absolutely superb today.

 

[AndyC]

I haven't been to.or seen any of the match so can't vote. Thanks for writing these reports Andy.win lose or draw. It must have been very tempting to not bother some weeks

Watch the highlights on MotD mate and read the newspaper reports... and then vote, the poll is open till 5pm next Friday !!

 

[NCLBlue]

We must get Europa league for a decent manager and decent signings in the summer.

Not gonna say I want us to tank just to get rid of him as I genuinely think we’re more likely to be stuck with him or a similarly skilled manager if we wind up mid table

 

[brian labone]

I gave it to Jags because after being out for a while he came back and steadied the defence, and boy did we need to.

 

[Blue Sky]

A left back gets MOTM

 

[Jr. Yanik]

3 real contenders for MOTM: Bolasie, Baines, Tosun
--------------------------
Bolasie struggled at first... he had a shot blaze well over, he ran through for a header which just went wide, he stretched on a corner and just poked it past the post, a Baines cross JUST was mis-controlled...

I know a dozen players who would drop their heads at 0-0 and disappear. But Bolasie... do you remember our 1-1 draw with Manchester City a year back or so? When Lukaku scored, it was all created by Bolasie just BARELY stretching and getting around a player to knock it through.

His end product needs work, and clearly he still needs time since that injury, it's affected his return more then Coleman or Baines.

Going into the 2nd half though, he stepped up in a big way. He kept playing direct, he kept working hard, he forced an own goal, and once when Baines was out of position on the left and Sigs had just got skinned, He ran down Schelloto (spelling???) and stretched that extra foot or so to slide tackle the ball out of play. He also had a great ball which Walcott got on the end of and rolled back to Ryan, who parried the ball. And forcing the Own Goal? He got better as the game progressed, he wasn't willing to fade.

definitely deserves a shout.
--------------------------
Baines, much like with Coleman's return a few weeks earlier, looked class already. He played some amazing long balls, he's such a great outlet on that left hand side. It's something we forget, he's still not particularly speedy, but he was playing give and goes with Tosun and Sigurdsson: he's one of the best full backs in the country with that, a reputation deservedly earned playing alongside Pienaar.

And at his age, to come back and play THAT well? pretty impressive, no doubt about it. And just like Coleman, both of them got up the flanks well all game, providing support.

not to mention, at 5'7" Baines was throwing himself about there for much of the game, putting in some heavy challenges. He has experience, he has deep footballing knowledge, and shows what true class is, compared to Martina.

My only problem with him at MOTM, is he didn't really set up any of the goals, but still was influential.

EDIT: he set up Tosun's Goal! I'm an idiot sorry
--------------------------
Tosun, now at 2 in 2. Niasse had a great spell of form, and to keep his spot, Tosun is showing us that he can finish. Don't get me wrong, I still love Niasse, he has some great physicality and direct pace... but Tosun shows us link up play better than Lukaku did for much of his time here. But where he excels in some areas... he lacks in others. He's not the fastest, nor is he the strongest. But his style of play, makes up for that amazingly.

He won quite a few fouls, getting his body in the right place and the right time. Unlike Sandro, he wasn't constantly making runs out wide, and was keeping the CBs busy. however, when he did win the ball out wide, once he did amazingly excellent to win a corner... otherwise he'd pass it off and get in position.

And his positioning is world class. His positioning got him that goal... perhaps a slight deflection but the finish was still clinical. All game long, there was room in the midfield, because the CBs couldn't step up and leave him be, it was a pretty heroic performance by Lewis Dunk in that first half to keep him contained, but couldn't keep up in the 2nd.
--------------------------
other shout outs:
- Sigurdsson, lots of hard work in the midfield, lots of great connecting play. When he is in the number 10 spot, he is at this best.

- Walcott, his speed is sublime, and even if he is a step or two behind his old days at Arsenal, his stamina makes up for it, as he would not stop running all day long. It sounds similar to Lennon, but this boy has a much better eye for goal, and could have had much more out of this game.

- Pickford, he did his job, made some fairly important saves, one nervy moment off of a punch but he hit it far enough away and that is that. Didn't spill anything else, looks fairly solid. isn't nice when you don't have to constantly worry about your keeper?


so why didn't we win by more?
- first half, the fluidity wasn't right.

- As I said, Bolasie's end product wasn't there, and that cost us big. He has the same attacking pace as Deulofeu, but whereas Deulofeu had a godly crossing ability (in his prime) Bolasie lacks (but makes up for in work rate, where Deulofeu fell short)

- furthermore, Wayne Rooney, for all of his skill, seemed a *bit* off in distribution today. Still on the whole he was good, but not all the passes were quite working out.

- Tom Davies, I love the kid, and he worked hard... but he wasn't linking up very well today. I think he was getting tired out, without having Gana to play alongside in the midfield, but then again... if we didn't have Gana out, then Bolasie likely wouldn't have started. It just goes to show how fragile we are... there's a delicate trade off between attacking and defense prowess in the team right now, but we got it right today.


improvements:
- Michael Keane knocked into people, won headers, and was OK in distribution. he made on real mistake, but it was less than Jagielka's. All the people writing him off... you need to remember how CBs work. Terry, Ferdinand, Koscielny, we've seen them all have terrible games in the past, 5+ thrashings, but they get out and they start working the next day. Now is Keane at their level? hell no, but are we just going to pretend he wasn't amazing last season with Burnley? Are we just going to pretend that this god-awful season hasn't affected his confidence? Are we going to pretend that a 24 year old CB has NO CHANCE of recovering? This was an improvement for him, plain and simple. I hate trying to jump on bandwagons... this kid has talent, but he needs confidence. a clean sheet will help

- Jagielka looked great, several times in the game Coleman/Baines pushed up a tad too high, and usually Gana is in the pocket to help out, but Jags really had a strong display out there. no doubt about it, he's still performing despite his age.

 

[Groucho]

I actually thought Rooney was ace

 

[boris the blue]

3 real contenders for MOTM: Bolasie, Baines, Tosun
--------------------------
Bolasie struggled at first... he had a shot blaze well over, he ran through for a header which just went wide, he stretched on a corner and just poked it past the post, a Baines cross JUST was mis-controlled...

I know a dozen players who would drop their heads at 0-0 and disappear. But Bolasie... do you remember our 1-1 draw with Manchester City a year back or so? When Lukaku scored, it was all created by Bolasie just BARELY stretching and getting around a player to knock it through.

His end product needs work, and clearly he still needs time since that injury, it's affected his return more then Coleman or Baines.

Going into the 2nd half though, he stepped up in a big way. He kept playing direct, he kept working hard, he forced an own goal, and once when Baines was out of position on the left and Sigs had just got skinned, He ran down Schelloto (spelling???) and stretched that extra foot or so to slide tackle the ball out of play. He also had a great ball which Walcott got on the end of and rolled back to Ryan, who parried the ball. And forcing the Own Goal? He got better as the game progressed, he wasn't willing to fade.

definitely deserves a shout.
--------------------------
Baines, much like with Coleman's return a few weeks earlier, looked class already. He played some amazing long balls, he's such a great outlet on that left hand side. It's something we forget, he's still not particularly speedy, but he was playing give and goes with Tosun and Sigurdsson: he's one of the best full backs in the country with that, a reputation deservedly earned playing alongside Pienaar.

And at his age, to come back and play THAT well? pretty impressive, no doubt about it. And just like Coleman, both of them got up the flanks well all game, providing support.

not to mention, at 5'7" Baines was throwing himself about there for much of the game, putting in some heavy challenges. He has experience, he has deep footballing knowledge, and shows what true class is, compared to Martina.

My only problem with him at MOTM, is he didn't really set up any of the goals, but still was influential.

EDIT: he set up Tosun's Goal! I'm an idiot sorry
--------------------------
Tosun, now at 2 in 2. Niasse had a great spell of form, and to keep his spot, Tosun is showing us that he can finish. Don't get me wrong, I still love Niasse, he has some great physicality and direct pace... but Tosun shows us link up play better than Lukaku did for much of his time here. But where he excels in some areas... he lacks in others. He's not the fastest, nor is he the strongest. But his style of play, makes up for that amazingly.

He won quite a few fouls, getting his body in the right place and the right time. Unlike Sandro, he wasn't constantly making runs out wide, and was keeping the CBs busy. however, when he did win the ball out wide, once he did amazingly excellent to win a corner... otherwise he'd pass it off and get in position.

And his positioning is world class. His positioning got him that goal... perhaps a slight deflection but the finish was still clinical. All game long, there was room in the midfield, because the CBs couldn't step up and leave him be, it was a pretty heroic performance by Lewis Dunk in that first half to keep him contained, but couldn't keep up in the 2nd.
--------------------------
other shout outs:
- Sigurdsson, lots of hard work in the midfield, lots of great connecting play. When he is in the number 10 spot, he is at this best.

- Walcott, his speed is sublime, and even if he is a step or two behind his old days at Arsenal, his stamina makes up for it, as he would not stop running all day long. It sounds similar to Lennon, but this boy has a much better eye for goal, and could have had much more out of this game.

- Pickford, he did his job, made some fairly important saves, one nervy moment off of a punch but he hit it far enough away and that is that. Didn't spill anything else, looks fairly solid. isn't nice when you don't have to constantly worry about your keeper?


so why didn't we win by more?
- first half, the fluidity wasn't right.

- As I said, Bolasie's end product wasn't there, and that cost us big. He has the same attacking pace as Deulofeu, but whereas Deulofeu had a godly crossing ability (in his prime) Bolasie lacks (but makes up for in work rate, where Deulofeu fell short)

- furthermore, Wayne Rooney, for all of his skill, seemed a *bit* off in distribution today. Still on the whole he was good, but not all the passes were quite working out.

- Tom Davies, I love the kid, and he worked hard... but he wasn't linking up very well today. I think he was getting tired out, without having Gana to play alongside in the midfield, but then again... if we didn't have Gana out, then Bolasie likely wouldn't have started. It just goes to show how fragile we are... there's a delicate trade off between attacking and defense prowess in the team right now, but we got it right today.


improvements:
- Michael Keane knocked into people, won headers, and was OK in distribution. he made on real mistake, but it was less than Jagielka's. All the people writing him off... you need to remember how CBs work. Terry, Ferdinand, Koscielny, we've seen them all have terrible games in the past, 5+ thrashings, but they get out and they start working the next day. Now is Keane at their level? hell no, but are we just going to pretend he wasn't amazing last season with Burnley? Are we just going to pretend that this god-awful season hasn't affected his confidence? Are we going to pretend that a 24 year old CB has NO CHANCE of recovering? This was an improvement for him, plain and simple. I hate trying to jump on bandwagons... this kid has talent, but he needs confidence. a clean sheet will help

- Jagielka looked great, several times in the game Coleman/Baines pushed up a tad too high, and usually Gana is in the pocket to help out, but Jags really had a strong display out there. no doubt about it, he's still performing despite his age.

*will read later.

 

[Big Fat Sam]

Pickford. 6. Had nothing to do.
Coleman. 6. Quiet but solid game. Will be fully fit for next game.
Jagielka. 6. Solid game.
Keane. 5. Did ok, but some very very poor passing particularly in the first half.
Baines. 7. Very solid comeback. Even got himself an assist.
Rooney. 7. Penalty aside, had a very good game.
Davies. 5. Thought he was very poor, it's a shame we have so little competition in midfield. Maybe Klaassen should be given a go.
Sigurdsson. 6. Looked tidy and all of his corners were very good, just very poor of the rest of the team to not take advantage of that.
Bolasie. 4. Thought he was appalling, but thankfully Bong turned Bolasie's cross into their goal for our opener. He had a bright 10 minute spell in the second half, but that's hardly good enough for a 27m footballer.
Walcott. 7. Very good indeed, he's a superb player.
Tosun. 7. Very promising, looks settled. Great header last week, top finish this week.

 

[Oguz Kurtlutepe]

Cenk is a great footballer. He can use his left foot as good as his right, he has got wonderful headers, he isn't selfish, an absolute team player. He will be the best player of Everton very soon, if Sam A. insists on him.