Tough November/December

[Bernth]

1 million points

Guess we'll be champions then

 

[Bigmaclad]

Guess we'll be champions then

Without a doubt

 

[Brennan]

You are a miserable lot aren't you. You think our fixtures look bad, have a look at West Ham's, flatter to deceive. I can't believe anyone would say Newcastle/Liverpool/West Ham/West Brom have better/more depth to their squads than us. Apart from Spurs and the Arse which neither seem to quite tick (Arsenal also letting in heaps of goals) I'd say no one outside the top 3 have a better current squad. If it will translate into decent points only time will tell, but barring a couple of injury setbacks I believe we'll be able to compete with the better teams as well.

To say Jelavic is out of form is ludicrous, he's not being fed like he was last year. The main problem right now is Pienaar not doing his usual ball retention, and our center leaking goals when we're hit on the counter, something I have real trouble seeing teams like Tottenham and Chelsea do as they will likely push us further back than we have. The more compact we get, the harder it will be to hit us on the break, which would hopefully lead to us conceding less stupid free kicks and/or our defense having to work face to our goal.

Our main difference this year from previous years is we actually look able to hit other teams on the counter. We have better movement and more fluidity to our team with pacy alternatives on the wings (well, mainly Mirallas and maybe Oviedo)..

1) What makes you say we're miserable ?
2) West Ham's next six games are a lot easier than ours. Do you disagree that playing four of last season's top five in the next 7 games is a bad run ? If so, what would you class as 'bad' ?
3) Who has said that we have a worse squad than those teams you mentioned in bold ?

Your post confuses me because you're labelling everybody in this thread with the same brush when it's not close to true.

 

[Ashtonluke]

Tough run coming up which in some ways will shape our season moving into new year. Useful to have a few of the top teams at home like arsenal, spurs and chelsea. We can beat anyone at Goodison and those teams will not be relishing the prospect of the trip. If we win all our home games up to new year I will be optimistic about our prospects.

 

[when i score we riot]

WWWWWW

Well, not really. I vote 6-9. I can't help but think that this is the time when pundits find out why they differentiate between "pre-christmas" and "post-christmas" form. We're really gonna struggle in these games, an assessment which also includes West Ham and Stoke. Smell the coffee like, when was the last time you saw us perform away at the Britannia?

 

[when i score we riot]

LAst time we won at Stoke was in 2008, 3-2 away thanks to Cahill. One of Felli's first games, and we lined up like below: Notice how many of these players are not at the club anymore?

Everton
T. Howard
P. Neville
J. Yobo
P. Jagielka
J. Lescott
M. Fellaini
V. Anichebe
T. Cahill
S. Castillo
M. Arteta
A. Yakubu

Substitutes
C. Nash
L. Baines
J. Vaughan (90 Anichebe)
J. Nuno Valente
J. Rodwell (80 Cahill)
J. Kissock
J. Baxter

 

[grandjoeblue]

We badly need Kissock back for the Stoke match.

EDIT: ALSO CASTILLO!!

 

[Jamo Martinez]

WWWWWW

Well, not really. I vote 6-9. I can't help but think that this is the time when pundits find out why they differentiate between "pre-christmas" and "post-christmas" form. We're really gonna struggle in these games, an assessment which also includes West Ham and Stoke. Smell the coffee like, when was the last time you saw us perform away at the Britannia?[/QUOTE]
When was the last time we won at Villa Park? Before this sesaon is what I'm getting at.

 

[when i score we riot]

Yeah, last time we beat Villa away was 2005.
http://www.evertonfc.com/match/report/0405/9464/aston-villa-26-02-2005-15-00.html

See your point, but it's just like i always dread the Stoke away ties, blackburn too, before the game. Always gets so scrappy, like.

 

[Jamo Martinez]

Yeah, last time we beat Villa away was 2005.
http://www.evertonfc.com/match/report/0405/9464/aston-villa-26-02-2005-15-00.html

See your point, but it's just like i always dread the Stoke away ties, blackburn too, before the game. Always gets so scrappy, like.

I know what you mean mate. Feel exactly the same. Maybe easy to say and harder to do but it always feels like we tend to get dragged down to their level instead of playing the way we can.
Just trying to keep the positive buzz up while I'm on holiday. Ha.

 

[toffeejack]

LAst time we won at Stoke was in 2008, 3-2 away thanks to Cahill. One of Felli's first games, and we lined up like below: Notice how many of these players are not at the club anymore?

Everton
T. Howard
P. Neville
J. Yobo
P. Jagielka
J. Lescott
M. Fellaini
V. Anichebe
T. Cahill
S. Castillo
M. Arteta
A. Yakubu

Substitutes
C. Nash
L. Baines
J. Vaughan (90 Anichebe)
J. Nuno Valente
J. Rodwell (80 Cahill)
J. Kissock
J. Baxter

spurs hadn't won at old trafford for 28 years

 

[bignev23]

LDDWWWD

 

[Jamo Martinez]

I voted 41

 

[PeterMeter]

1) What makes you say we're miserable ?
2) West Ham's next six games are a lot easier than ours. Do you disagree that playing four of last season's top five in the next 7 games is a bad run ? If so, what would you class as 'bad' ?
3) Who has said that we have a worse squad than those teams you mentioned in bold ?

Your post confuses me because you're labelling everybody in this thread with the same brush when it's not close to true.

As is usually the case, most of those whom responded to the thread in a positive manner did not feel caught out. After having read the first few posts there were a fair few positive responses and it's gotten gradually better along the way. Still feel like a few grumps are colouring most of the thread though.
West Ham's upcoming 7 are Spurs (A), Utd (A), Chelsea(H), ****e (H), WBA (A), Everton (H), Arsenal (A). I'd say that's worse, yes. After listing the above, that's what I would classify as a 'bad run'. Spurs and Arsenal at home are a lot different than playing them away, and games that I'd feel are definitely winnable for us.

I'm not saying anyone in particular highlighted those as better than ours, I'm trying to clarify my viewpoint that no matter how you feel about the other teams we're in better shape than all those mentioned outside the 5 specified. Why we shouldn't be able to compete for 4th, against both Arsenal and Spurs seems negative in the extreme.