What's the plan?

[Deckard2049]

I've no idea how we're going to play and the early signs don't look good, even before the Chelsea debacle the only decent spell of our season up until the point was the first half against Split at Goodison.

I think our best team (at the moment excluding long term injuries) would look something like:

Pickford

Martina - Keane - Williams (i'd rather Holgate but doubt the manager would go for him) - Baines

Gana - Schneiderlin - Klaasen

Rooney - DCL - Sandro

Until this team plays together (or something similar to it) for a sustained run and we get our absentees like Coleman and Bolasie back into the team I think we will see an improvement in the football that we're playing.

Irrespective of whether anyone agrees with you or not, from an objective point of view I don't see a scenario where Koeman doesn't play Sigurdsson. Furthermore, I'm just not sure (apart from in the midfield three), we have the personnel for 4-3-3, especially in the wide positions in the front three. Rooney on the right? Not a chance that happens. The fact is the more we try and discuss what the plan is, it appears that quite frankly whatever plan Koeman has we didn't do the correct business in the window.

Also as much as DCL has been a decent performer so far this season I personally didn't see much difference in quality between him and Solanke at the U20 World Cup. The fact one of those players will probably be eased into the season, playing cup games of lesser importance whilst the other will have to lead the line and probably play the majority of games is just one indicator of where we messed up this window. For me I wish DCL all the best and hope all these games expedites his development. He doesn't deserve the pressure our inability to land another striker has placed him under.

 

[ilikecheese]

Confuse our opponents by appearing to have no plan.

 

[Efcjake]

The question I have been asking myself for the last month.

 

[jceverton]

An A for the English Language, go to a college of your choice....actually a good,clear, thoughtful post which like all similar good essays, asks some good questions without malice and without resorting to cyber heckling. Personally I think that the long term injury to Bolassie ,even more than Coleman, has effected Koemans thinking,and while we had a pretty good window in regard to getting his first choices in, it is plain that he is prepared to use stop gaps or deserving youngsters until he can get what he wants. I'm sure that we will have no fixed way of playing, and on occasions Koeman will overthink tactics...much preferable to Martinez not thinking at all. Koeman wants a core of 17/18 'first teamers', each knowing their specific job and in some cases, more than one job. Rooney will 'float' for example, between striker(stand in striker?) and midfielder sprayer of 'boss balls all over the gaff',as some one else said so eloquently on here recently. Siggarsson will find his correct,effective game for Everton and so will others. The 'stop gaps'(Williams,one or two others) are keeping places warm for Koemans choice. We will vary between 3 and 4 at the back dependent on the opposition and player availability, and if Bolassie doen't come back as pacy as he was, RK will look for another pacy winger. There is still a chance this season for some players at Everton to seize the opportunity to establish themselves in Koemans thinking,but this season is their last chance..Lennon,Mirallas, Besic,McCarthy,will more than likely be gone next summer.

Koeman is a professional,efficient, tunnel visioned student of football, with a tendency to over intellectualise the whole caboogle, and as long as he remembers that football is really a simple game with a simple object, we will be OK.

Given the signings that we have made i have my doubts about this.

 

[canuckblue]

Where's Herve Villechaize when you really need him?

"De plan, boss! De plan!"

 

[Timak]

Confuse our opponents by appearing to have no plan.

Its like the Brexit negotiations but for a football team.

 

[Igrok]

Thank God none of you are f coaches or football directors...

 

[gerryandtheRedhaters]

Are we good enough to go toe to toe with top six? No chance.

So we stiffle them and hope to sneak a goal.

That's been the policy of 1000s of teams down the years.

No suprise here.

 

[chicoazul]

Hello mein frandels

I will try and keep this short (rather than the excellent prose written by @catcherintherye and others) because any more than 500 words and I'll be running out of letters.

Now the transfer window has closed and we are a season into the Ronald Trump / Steve Walsh Revolution, what do you think the intended plan or style of play is for this version of the mighty Blues?

The last senior game before Koeman joined, we lined up like this

Howard
Pennington (Kenny)
Stones
Jagielka
Baines
McCarthy (Lennon)
Barry
Dowell (Barkley)
Davies
Mirallas
Lukaku

Broadly speaking (and not including the general mayhem of the Martinez final two seasons) the club played a certain way - even at junior level. 4 at the back, a strong base in midfield, a player roaming behind the striker(s) and either wingers and one striker, or one defensive midfielder two strikers two wingers (the latter more common in Unsworth's sides than with Martinez). The general idea was to get the ball to the man behind the strikers (Barkley at senior level, Dowell at junior) would in theory either play in the striker or play it wide for a cross. The six at the back (defenders / midfielders) would provide the strong base (again, worked well first season, theory fell apart entirely in the second).

Go forward to 11th March 2017. Koeman had been here a while, Walsh had had two windows to work in, and we win 3-0 at home against West Brom, who at that point were one position behind us in the league.

Robles
Coleman
Jagielka
Williams
Baines (Funes Mori)
Schneiderlin
Barry (DCL)
Barkley
Davies
Mirallas (Gueye)
Lukaku

Again, the manager's ideas and intended style of play was pretty obvious here. Solid defensive platform and control the game. Get a goal and shut down the game, knowing that your centre forward was always likely to score a half chance to put you two (or in this case three) up and kill the game entirely. You couldn't rely on Lukaku to keep the ball for you in the final third but that didn't really matter as you could strangle the life out midfield and the defensive third with two of three from Barry, Schneiderlin and Gueye. The side had goals in it (hence the many different scorers) so again, it wasn't critical to get it to Lukaku immediately - he'd likely score at some point anyway.

Let's go to this season and the recent defeat at Chelsea, following a disjointed (rather than unsuccessful) start to the season.


Pickford
Keane
Williams
Jagielka (Lennon)
Holgate
Davies (Besic)
Gueye
Baines
Rooney
Sigurdsson
Ramírez (DCL)


Broadly speaking that lineup has most of what you would say are the 'better' Everton players in it (minus the injured Klaassen, Bolasie, Coleman etc and the suspended Schneiderlin). You can see where the injured players would naturally sub in here (apart from Bolasie).

What is the intended style of play here? What plan have the signings been brought into to implement or improve upon?

You're not going to see pacey full back play from Baines / Holgate, who in theory are released more from their defensive duties because of the three centre backs.

Perhaps you've got more control in the final third than when we had Lukaku, but you've also got a very congested area for these players to work in (usually not a positive) and on current evidence unlikely to have a player who will score you 1 goal every 2 games, sometimes out of very little.

Unlike nearly every successful top tier club in the world this season (or in recent seasons) you've got no change of pace, very little explosive movement, and not much in the way of 10+ goals from midfield type players.

With the possible exception of Pickford and Keane, you've got little quality distribution from the back, (not 'the goalkeeper', just Pickford, as if Robles or Stek subs in you lose possibility this instantly). I include the full backs here.

My general argument here is that there doesn't seem to be much joined up thinking at the moment, no identifiable style of play, nor the recruitment to actualise it. Both Koeman and Walsh came from sides where they had implemented a playing style; Koeman a hold-up striker with pacy support [Pelle / Mane], Walsh had a deep-lying midfielder (Drinkwater) spraying long passes to pacy wingers (Mahrez) and a pacy, in-form striker (Vardy) who would be assisted in the dirty work by an industrious support striker (often Okazaki). Currently, I can't see what we are trying to achieve.

Worth putting on the home page this @GrandOldTeam.

 

[Blue Magic]

For sure. As a fanbase we write players off too easily.

Sandro would've joined Atletico if it wasn't for their ban - he's a great player and maybe we'll be better off playing to his strengths than this slow style we use.



If only we had Giroud up top

I also think Klassen has been written off too quickly. The first games he played it looked like his skill is in quick, one touch passes. He will come to link up well with Rooney and, in time, Siggurdsen as well in my opinion.

 

[Carlito]

It would have been easier if they'd just admitted from that start that Rooney is Lukaku's replacement.

 

[PITA]

I also think Klassen has been written off too quickly. The first games he played it looked like his skill is in quick, one touch passes. He will come to link up well with Rooney and, in time, Siggurdsen as well in my opinion.

We'll have to wait and see. A lot of new players who need time to get used to each other find a way to play.

 

[VaguelyBrown]

Everyone's clearly jealous that they can't understand Mr Koeman's master plan.

It's OK to not understand, Mr Koeman works in mysterous ways.

 

[Blue Magic]

We'll have to wait and see. A lot of new players who need time to get used to each other find a way to play.

I agree we'll need to wait and see. I could easily be wrong and the new players won't gel and will struggle. Just trying desperately to take some positives out of the last week.

 

[The binman chronicles]

They just need time to gel, anytime you throw in a load of new arrivals it will take time. (See how poor spurs were after Bale left)

The lack of plan regarding width/pace and no plan B of playing direct to a target man are worries though. We will have to play through teams and it might make it easy for them to work us out and put in measures to stop us. (Much like the Martinez sophomore season)

However we will get better for sure.