2018/19 Marco Silva - New Poll Added

[Efcjake]

Why could we not play a strong side in both games though? Sane played 49 games for City last year, Sterling played 46, Bernardo Silva 53. Salah and Firmino both played over 50 times for Liverpool. All did alright though didn't they? If we reach the FA Cup final Richarlison can now start a maximum of 41 games for us this season, so why could he not have started both games this week? It's a straw man argument.
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I never said anywhere that we couldn't play our strongest side in both games. That's your strawman argument.

I asked when would you find the opportunities for these lads to play if not the early rounds of the cups and posed a hypothetical whether you would rather see a weaker team in the cups or the league, regardless of whether that game is in a week we play 3 games or 1. The fact is the players need to play competitive matches to stay fit to come into the team in case of injuries or suspensions, or do you disagree with that?

As has been said repeatedly, making some changes is OK. Did Dowell need to play though, somebody who hasn't even been making the bench suddenly promoted to the starting XI? Do we think starting him and hooking him at half time will have been good for his confidence and better for him than just being on the bench and maybe getting a run out later on? Do we need to give 'opportunities' to a 36 year old goalkeeper who has absolutely no chance whatsoever of forcing his way into our starting XI? Are we honestly suggesting that Lookman will now be quite content to stay and not push to leave because he played an hour in the carabao cup? I would say no is the answer to all of those questions.

Is he Dowell not part of the squad? Would you not want him fit if Siggurdsson and Bernard get crocked or suspended?

Same question for Stek in the even Pickford gets injured, surely you would rather have him come into the team having played a match at least once in the last three months.



It's all well and good saying play the first team week in week out but eventually they get injuries and squad players need to come in.

Silva gave him the opportunity, as a good manager should do. If Dowell gets booked at half time then so be it but at least Silva can say he gave him a chance and he didn't impress.

Nowhere did I state a cup match would convince Lookman to stay. I said if he doesn't get given the odd start, cup or not, he is getting off for certain. For someone so eager to point out strawman arguments you have a bad habit of filling your own posts with them.

He gambled with his selection and it didn't pay off. It's done now, he won't be the first or last, and it won't define his career. Nobody - or nobody sane at least - is suggesting he should be sacked or under huge pressure because of this, but i'm disappointed that we didn't do our best to win a trophy and he has to take some of the blame for that. If we win on Saturday then I might come round to his way of thinking, and while i'll still be disappointed I may accept that it's helped us in the league. If we lose though, his decision will have backfired twice over, and there'll be more questioning of his decision

Absolutely he can be questioned and criticized over it but still none of you are answering the questions I put to you.

When would you give these players opportunities?

How would you do it? The cup or the league?

We don't have a bottomless pit of money to replace these players in one season so, like it or not, they're here and part of the squad and will need matches to maintain their fitness.

 

[Lanolin]

I never said anywhere that we couldn't play our strongest side in both games. That's your strawman argument.

I asked when would you find the opportunities for these lads to play if not the early rounds of the cups and posed a hypothetical whether you would rather see a weaker team in the cups or the league, regardless of whether that game is in a week we play 3 games or 1. The fact is the players need to play competitive matches to stay fit to come into the team in case of injuries or suspensions, or do you disagree with that?

Bit unfair that. I don't 'fill my posts' with strawman arguments and i'm not 'so eager' to point them out, I just thought you were suggesting something which you apparently weren't. You wanted to know whether i'd prefer us to play a weakened side in midweek or the weekend and i'm saying neither. I wasn't sure why you were asking as if I we had to choose one because I don't think we do.

I just disagree with the whole premise of what you're saying really, because it's blatantly obvious to me that we were just resting players. Baines had played in 4 of our 8 games before this one, Schneiderlin in 6. They weren't brought in because they needed match fitness or because Silva wanted to see what they could do, they were brought in so that Digne and Gana could be rested. I understand that, and it may have been the right decision because I don't have access to their fitness stats or whatever, but I just think trying to dress it up as us using the squad is quite clearly wrong.

Regardless of the reason for your question though, my answer actually still addresses your point. The fact that all the players I mentioned managed to play in the region of 50 games last season means there's no reason for us to assume that our players can't do the same. I don't know why we need to assume that we'll have to use all of our squad players

I think Dowell is way down the pecking order and it would take a monumental injury list for him to get league starts for us. I would say he's behind Walcott, Sigurdsson, Richarlison, Bernard, Lookman and DCL for one of those roles behind the striker. Do I envisage us getting to a point any time soon where 4 of those are unavailable and we need him to start? No. If we get to that point after Christmas do I think the fact he played 45 minutes at the start of October will make him more prepared to play? Again no. On that basis, do I think your assertion that we needed to play him to give him a chance and keep him fit is a valid argument? It's another no from me. Obviously the same applies to Stekelenburg, giving him this run out will maybe make him less rusty if we need him in the next month or so. After that, it will have absolutely no bearing whatsoever on his readiness for games. So I don't see any need to affect our chances of winning a trophy on the off chance that Pickford gets injured or suspended in his next 2/3 games.

 

[Toffeelover]

It's up to Lookman to work hard enough to be chosen for the team not because he might want to leave in January ha.

I'd rather he played a full strength team on Tuesday and a full strength team on Saturday - I assume Everton players can play twice in one week or can only players in the CL play twice a week?

Not like in the old days when you were only allowed 11 players!

 

[4737carlin]

People moaning about the team he put out I have to ask, when would you find opportunities to give to those on the periphery of the squad if not the early rounds of the cups?

Would you lot have rather he played the stronger team in the cup and a weaker one this weekend?

He has to give those opportunities out and unfortunately bear the consequences of the decision. If he doesn't give Lookman the odd start you can bet your house on him pushing to get off again come January and so many of you were stressing that he was going to up sticks for Germany.

Yes, why not, were not getting top 4, one or two youngsters perhaps in that cup game but to make so many changes after the first decent win of the season, including the keeper was inept.

We might struggle again on Saturday, but back to back wins and a possible clean sheet back to back would of been great for confidence, something we are lacking

 

[radiostar]

Very y very disappointed with the team Silva picked.
That cup was there to be won.

Might as well have played ourselves into form if nothing else.

First major mark against him in my book.

 

[Lob]

Would you lot have rather he played the stronger team in the cup and a weaker one this weekend?

I would rather he had played our strongest team in both games. If our strongest team cannot play 2 football matches 4 days apart followed by 2 weeks off, then there is something seriously wrong indeed. Our strongest team need as many games as possible to get tighter and more consistent. It is only the first week in October. He said himself just a day or two before that there wouldn't be many changes so as to maintain and improve consistency and if he had just made a couple of changes, then fair enough. Changing 7 including the goal keeper completely unbalanced the team and took away all the momentum and feel good factor from the previous game. He like our previous managers didn't take the league cup serious enough hence the absolutely abysmal record we have in it.

It was his biggest mistake to date made worse by him trying to defend it when there is no defence. You either take the league cup serious and try and win it or you dont. We are not Man City and dont have anywhere near enough quality or consistency in our squad to be making that many changes against another premier league team in a cup competition and expect to get anything out of it.

 

[Khalekan]

The saving grace for Silva at the moment is that the players he has brought in and have actually played have so far all looked an improvement on what we already had.

Richie and Digne for sure.

Bernard has looked really good in his limited game time so far.....we need him starting in the league.

And if Zouma looks short of top drawer, he is at least better than our ither CB options.

At the moment my disappointment with the results is ameliorated by the fact we are trying to play better football.

Koeman and Sam may have had a better return in their first seven games, but I for one was underwhelmed by the performances.

I have seen a lot I like so far under Silva.

 

[Gaffa]

100% rather played a stronger team Tuesday and if the poor souls are tired Saturday after being paid tomorrow, then they could have a weekend off. To me the Southampton game was more important than Leicester. If we beat Southampton and lose to Leicester we still have 30 odd games to sort it. We have nothing to sort by being out now and even less chance of the Lookmans playing

 

[4737carlin]

I would rather he had played our strongest team in both games. If our strongest team cannot play 2 football matches 4 days apart followed by 2 weeks off, then there is something seriously wrong indeed. Our strongest team need as many games as possible to get tighter and more consistent. It is only the first week in October. He said himself just a day or two before that there wouldn't be many changes so as to maintain and improve consistency and if he had just made a couple of changes, then fair enough. Changing 7 including the goal keeper completely unbalanced the team and took away all the momentum and feel good factor from the previous game. He like our previous managers didn't take the league cup serious enough hence the absolutely abysmal record we have in it.

It was his biggest mistake to date made worse by him trying to defend it when there is no defence. You either take the league cup serious and try and win it or you dont. We are not Man City and dont have anywhere near enough quality or consistency in our squad to be making that many changes against another premier league team in a cup competition and expect to get anything out of it.

Good post, his post match was embarrassing, to say everyone rest keepers is poor, why not have a mind of your own, or at least have the dignity to admit you made a big mistake.
Strongest team in both games is right, all we had to think about on Tuesday was that game, you don't go into a important game with one eye on the next, you deal with the first game in the fixture list, get that out the way then look to the weekend.
Later in the season there are a few mid-weak league games, is he gong to play a week side in those because they have to play again at the weekend, I doubt it, so he shouldn't of done it then, might of been ok at Hull who had one eye on the drop but not here

 

[Toffe3m4n]

Regarding the starting XI on Tuesday the fact of the matter is this - we could (and should) have been home and dry by half time. First 15 minutes aside we absolutely took the piss out of Southampton, so much so that they barely got a sniff of the ball for ages.

Silva isn't wrong in his assessment that the team picked should've been enough to win.. we just, once again, didn't take our chances and were punished for it. It must absolutely do his head in whenever we're in the ascendancy and still can't score.

 

[Lanolin]

Regarding the starting XI on Tuesday the fact of the matter is this - we could (and should) have been home and dry by half time. First 15 minutes aside we absolutely took the piss out of Southampton, so much so that they barely got a sniff of the ball for ages.

Silva isn't wrong in his assessment that the team should've been enough to win.. we just, once again, didn't take our chances and were punished for it. It must absolutely do his head in whenever we're in the ascendancy and still can't score.

The obvious retort to that being that if we'd had better players on we would have taken those 'chances'...

 

[Lob]

The obvious retort to that being that if we'd had better players on we would have taken those 'chances'...

Yep and if we had our best goalkeeper on instead of a hologram we probably wouldn't have gone that goal behind either. Everything can be different when you play your strongest team.

 

[davids]

If he'd have given our real back up keeper a chance...
http://www.[Publication is blacklis...ant-believe-joao-virginia-has-joined-everton/

 

[mike91efc]

I was bitterly, bitterly disappointed with the team Silva put out against Southampton, it took me a while to come to terms with loosing the game, more than it usually does and he’s gone down in my estimations, unfortunately.

As mentioned previously by other people on here it’s a black mark in the book against us name, making so many changes after a big win on Saturday.

Saying that I do actually like the way he tries to make us play, it’s just so blatant that our players through the middle aren’t quite good enough.

If he looses on Saturday, he will be under massive massive pressure, which is totally in his own making in my eyes.

Apart from Schniederlin, I did see effort and us trying to play football. Although we we were painfully painfully slow moving the ball around at the back and into midfield, which was probably because the team that played have never actually played together before and some players just don’t have this in there locker. FFS

 

[fandjango]

Very y very disappointed with the team Silva picked.
That cup was there to be won.

Might as well have played ourselves into form if nothing else.

First major mark against him in my book.

Every cup is there to be won actually
That’s the nature of cups
If you think we were nailed on if we beat soton then the rest of your football fan career will be spend drawing in a sea of disappointment