Got to my seat today just in time to see Miralles score. Didn't go so great after that
I don't think he knows his best 11. This is the best squad I have seen in 27 years of supporting Everton. But the performances just aren't good enough right now. Today we had all of our attacking options available yet failed to really trouble Spurs in the second half.
Players are definitely being played out of position. The result is disjointed performances, with our play lacking the purpose of last season. The backwards and sideways passing reminded me of The West Brom home match last season.
Baines and Coleman are not bombing on like they did last season. To see us lose a midfield battle like today would have been unheard of last season.
He needs to figure out what to do sharpish and put it right for the hull match otherwise we are going to fall behind the rest in the race for fourth place.
Not knowing your best 11 is not necessarily a bad thing, it means lots of equal palyers nad competition for places, and people who can bring different strengths to the team. Agree with most of the rest tho,
It was just laboured, slow build-up and poor today.
...but today was disappointing.
Self inflicted again. We gifted them a goal, at a terrible time and they built on it.
Here's a revolutionary idea.
When he have the ball wide on the edge of the opposition penalty box and our player has nowhere to go, how about he just puts it in the centre and see what happens?
One of the best things about Everton last season, and the season before that, has been our flanks.
If Pienaar is fit he needs to be playing with Baines, it's as simple as that, with Mirallas and Coleman down the right, Coleman had nobody with him today, Eto'o was drifting inside, so was Barkley, we just had no balance and was too congested in the middle.
Bad setup from the off.
Barkley and Eto'o crowded each other out and neither had a particular position
As you said nobody with Seamus
Bad set up and thus bad tactics
We did absolutely nothing down the flanks all game, Coleman wasted, Baines wasted, best full backs as a pair in the league and we are not playing to get the best from them,
All good shouts, agree with these...
As much as I enjoy watching us pass out the back with elegance and skill at times, unfortunately it can be our downfall. The two goals today were gifts, both resulting from playing from the back and being a bit too lethargic.
Also Roberto is a wee bit too set on the tactic. In the second half spurs pushed their defensive line high and their midfield 5 were only about 10 yards in front of them. There was no space in between to create anything, hence all we did was play infront of 10 spurs players passing sideways until we inevitably lost it. The only real chance we fashioned after the goal was the coleman one in the second half. If we'd tried to go a bit more direct, get eto'o running the channels possibly and then begun playing in their third maybe we would of caused spurs more trouble. It's a shame that spurs scored when they did as our game plan would of worked if they were one down for a bit longer as they would of been chasng the game, similarly in the second half they easily saw it out seeing as they were in front they didn't have to really chase much down/commit men forward thus no open spaces.
Lukaku was hanging on the last defender, looking for a ball in behind the whole second half, and didn't get put through once. When they're compressing the middle like that then we should be using that ball to turn them around and stretch them out.
No balance today, Coleman isolated until McGeady came on but then Baines had the same problem when Ken came off. Passing needs to be more inciesive and with a purpose. Too much dwelling on the ball, the players need to learn that they haven't got all day on the ball against certain teams. If we shift the ball sideways, it needs to be with more tempo. Its often to slow and results in us starting again, and going side to side with no penetration. We play better when we can get in from behind via the flanks.
Should have brought Pienaar on at the subs. Don't know why those two came off, if it's both due to fitness then they shouldn't both be playing, and if Kev had to come off, two wingers should have gone on. Agree with the rest.
The 2nd goal was all Barry's fault. Distin's clearence wasn't great but they scored far too easily afterwords too.
From where I was it looked like it was Distin's?
Two bad mistakes and otherwise Spurs didn't look like scoring
Ultimately this. We didn't play great, set up and tactics/subs were off, and we still only lost due to individual mistakes. That's got to be a positive right?
