Seventh Place

[Canuck Darryl]

Ah well, no Europe. It’s been an off and on season for us. Lost some we should have won; won some everybody was sure we were going to lose.

The one draw that is going to define this season for me is the 0-0 vs LFC. If denying them the full 3 points means they lose the league by 1 point then it will have been a good year. I realize they had other draws, but, as far as I’m concerned, we will be the reason they will have won the same amount of silverware as we did...NONE.

Fingers crossed.

 

[Goat]

Wolves? Please. Baines trips, we blow coverage on a set piece, and they get a lucky deflection. They had 4 shots on goal including the PK. We had the ball the whole game, out chanced them, out shot them, etc. They had like 1 corner. They created nothing, we just gave them the game.

Weirdly the stats back you up, but at no point were we in the game IMO.

 

[chrismpw]

Wouldn't underestimate wolves, they own 20% of the agent George mendes company, there owners fosun are also massive
There owners have already said they will spend money again in the summer

I don't. They were my second team as a kid and I've followed their progress since. The utter chaos and disruption caused by having their break and having preseason slashed would damage even top teams like City, Spurs, United, Chelsea. I very much doubt they'll do as well next season.

 

[jazzy]

Wolves? Please. Baines trips, we blow coverage on a set piece, and they get a lucky deflection. They had 4 shots on goal including the PK. We had the ball the whole game, out chanced them, out shot them, etc. They had like 1 corner. They created nothing, we just gave them the game.

I'm guessing that you watched the game on TV.
I was at the match and your summary of the game was spot on.
Wolves were incredibly negative , flooding midfield and getting 10 men behind the ball.
Admitedly when they won it back they broke with pace and numbers but they don't play free flowing football - I would describe them as a parasite team who thrive on the mistakes of their opponents.
Defensively they were very well organised and every player knew their role - good coaching.
On the positive side if they play like that in the final game of the season they will give the RS real problems and I would willingly trade Wolves getting 7th for the RS missing out on the title.

 

[msb]

Of course i wanted european football, but this may turn out to be a blessing in disguise. Gives us a full pre-season and we avoid bloomin' Thursday night footy, meaning we may get some games on a Saturday.

UTFT.

 

[KaiserEFC]

Ah well, no Europe. It’s been an off and on season for us. Lost some we should have won; won some everybody was sure we were going to lose.

The one draw that is going to define this season for me is the 0-0 vs LFC. If denying them the full 3 points means they lose the league by 1 point then it will have been a good year. I realize they had other draws, but, as far as I’m concerned, we will be the reason they will have won the same amount of silverware as we did...NONE.

Fingers crossed.

“Yeah we haven’t really pushed on once again and we’re still basically no different to when David Moyes was our manager but we drew with Liverpool and they might not win the league so it’s a good season”.

The Everton inferiority complex is terrifying, who cares about Liverpool?! And why as a fanbase do we have to bring them into everything WE do?!

 

[EFC78]

Wolves? Please. Baines trips, we blow coverage on a set piece, and they get a lucky deflection. They had 4 shots on goal including the PK. We had the ball the whole game, out chanced them, out shot them, etc. They had like 1 corner. They created nothing, we just gave them the game.

Wolves were well organised against us and came away with a thoroughly deserved 3 points after punishing us when they needed to. They took advantage of our weaknesses, which we couldn't do to them.

I'm guessing that you watched the game on TV.
I was at the match and your summary of the game was spot on.
Wolves were incredibly negative , flooding midfield and getting 10 men behind the ball.
Admitedly when they won it back they broke with pace and numbers but they don't play free flowing football - I would describe them as a parasite team who thrive on the mistakes of their opponents.
Defensively they were very well organised and every player knew their role - good coaching.
On the positive side if they play like that in the final game of the season they will give the RS real problems and I would willingly trade Wolves getting 7th for the RS missing out on the title.

Wolves executed a game plan that saw them come away comfortable winners. Something we failed to do on many occasions in important games away, which is why we haven't finished ahead of them.

People can bemoan dropped points at Fulham and vs Huddersfield at home but Wolves were the worst offenders for dropping points in the easier matches, but they got the job done in other games which we weren't able to.

They have deserved 7th place.

 

[tnc85]

Lots of points dropped this season. Bournemouth away was the hardest to take and Newcastle recently. Even Wolves away in the first game of the season still baffles me. But that said, a decent pre season and key signings we can win more games next season. Crazy stat I saw earlier on Spurs not drawing many games... gives us hope!

 

[EFC78]

We didn't deserve 7th. Our players should have put in more effort in games like Fulham away and Southampton, but they just couldn't be arsed. That is something that needs to be addressed for next season because when they want to, this group of players is capable of doing far better, as shown in the last month or two (except for the Fulham game).

As it stands, I see ourselves and Wolves being in trickier situations than Leicester going in to next season. We are going to have to make the Zouma and Gomes signings permanent, or find alternatives, and we're in desperate need of a top striker. If Zouma and Gomes actually played for us full time I would be less concerned. Wolves are likely going to have to cope with the demands of 2 games a week which will be tough in their second season.

Leicester have Vardy who has shown no signs of decline and they have a more settled side, and having brought Rogers in, seem to have got a bit of stability back.

 

[Mugwump]

We have had a fine season, you not so much but you are only 4 points behind and will probably close the gap in the last game ( although i wouldnt be surprised if we get something at Anfield ). Your expectations though are higher than our currently, so i understand why its disappointing. I'm a bit puzzled as to why there seems to be an element who dont want European football. I hope we get it, its going to be great for our progression.

We have finished probably where i thought we would. In all honesty, we have blown finishing top six with some of the points we have dropped. I said on here before the season started we would surprise people, and even though plenty of you wrote us off then, i think we are going to surprise people again next season. We arent a Burnley who cant compete financially. I dont have any doubt we will see another 3 quality players at least next year. Hopefully it will be at least another of Moutinho's ilk. How Pogba got in the PFA team ahead of him is beyond me.

All the best for next season. Dont think you are too far away from being a very good side.

 

[EFC78]

We have had a fine season, you not so much but you are only 4 points behind and will probably close the gap in the last game ( although i wouldnt be surprised if we get something at Anfield ). Your expectations though are higher than our currently, so i understand why its disappointing. I'm a bit puzzled as to why there seems to be an element who dont want European football. I hope we get it, its going to be great for our progression.

We have finished probably where i thought we would. In all honesty, we have blown finishing top six with some of the points we have dropped. I said on here before the season started we would surprise people, and even though plenty of you wrote us off then, i think we are going to surprise people again next season. We arent a Burnley who cant compete financially. I dont have any doubt we will see another 3 quality players at least next year. Hopefully it will be at least another of Moutinho's ilk. How Pogba got in the PFA team ahead of him is beyond me.

All the best for next season. Dont think you are too far away from being a very good side.

Wolves definitely proved me wrong this season. Since you stuttered against Huddersfield at home early on you went from strength to strength and the organisation and togetherness shown in your side at Goodison proved to me you were going to be fighting for 7th. I was also impressed with Watford at Goodison, whereas I thought Leicester were terrible and spawned a win against us due to an error by Keane.

The problem I see for you next season if you do enter the Europa League qualifiers is that you don't have a big squad and will likely have to use most of your first 11 early on. That will be a challenge for them and then if you qualify you will have to handle 2 games a week and there is the psychological aspect of the Thursday - Sunday games. It will affect the players and fans, especially if you aren't doing as well as hoped in Europe.

Since Moyes had us qualifying for the UEFA Cup/Europa League in the late 2000's, I think we're the only side outside of the Sky 6 who have been able to handle the qualifying rounds, the main competition and the league. In 07-08 we had to qualify past Metalist Kharkiv (albeit for some reason in September) before entering the group stages. We then won all our group games, beating Zenit who were the eventual winners and we got to the last 16 whilst getting to the League Cup Semi Final, and finishing 5th with 65 points.

No one since has come close to that. Southampton, West Ham and ourselves have all struggled to compete on 2 fronts, with West Ham not even being able to get beyond the qualifiers twice.

 

[evertonarntwe]

Wolves will get found out next season. I mean I don't personally think they are very good they are just very organised. They've picked up points against the top 6 some of them from playing well but some of them have been ridiculously lucky ( both games against Chelsea theg got absolutely battered ) we battered them at molyneux with 10 men. I always want eurppe and gutted we missed out but given we are still in transition and still in the middle of selling half the crabs on the club could be a good thing until we get a solid squad together

 

[Mugwump]

Wolves will get found out next season. I mean I don't personally think they are very good they are just very organised. They've picked up points against the top 6 some of them from playing well but some of them have been ridiculously lucky ( both games against Chelsea theg got absolutely battered ) we battered them at molyneux with 10 men. I always want eurppe and gutted we missed out but given we are still in transition and still in the middle of selling half the crabs on the club could be a good thing until we get a solid squad together

I think you will be in for a surprise tbh. If you listen to some people, we have apparently going to be found out now ever since Nuno took over as manager and it hasnt happened yet and i dont see it happening any time soon. Nuno is an absolutely fantastic coach. Our formation wasnt working for us at the start of the year, so Nuno tweaked it and we havent looked back. He will do the same if its not working next year for us. We are much better than just being very organised. We have some real quality players and if we add another 3 to our first 11 we will push on again.

What do you think you guys need to be a more consistent team next season?

 

[evertonarntwe]

I think you will be in for a surprise tbh. If you listen to some people, we have apparently going to be found out now ever since Nuno took over as manager and it hasnt happened yet and i dont see it happening any time soon. Nuno is an absolutely fantastic coach. Our formation wasnt working for us at the start of the year, so Nuno tweaked it and we havent looked back. He will do the same if its not working next year for us. We are much better than just being very organised. We have some real quality players and if we add another 3 to our first 11 we will push on again.

What do you think you guys need to be a more consistent team next season?

Well for one we need a striker who scores mate because dcl doesn't

What cost us is that 3 month spell from Christmas to March we were in relegation form

We started well and have been excellent the last dozen or so games

 

[EFC78]

I think you will be in for a surprise tbh. If you listen to some people, we have apparently going to be found out now ever since Nuno took over as manager and it hasnt happened yet and i dont see it happening any time soon. Nuno is an absolutely fantastic coach. Our formation wasnt working for us at the start of the year, so Nuno tweaked it and we havent looked back. He will do the same if its not working next year for us. We are much better than just being very organised. We have some real quality players and if we add another 3 to our first 11 we will push on again.

What do you think you guys need to be a more consistent team next season?

Some challenges I see for you, aside from those mentioned, is your best players being sold to the "big clubs" by the media meaning if they don't go this summer, they likely will next time. Don't think you got many injuries this season to key players either although could be wrong.

Jota annoyed me in both games this season but he looks like he's been excellent and I was impressed at Goodison with his performance.