Why are we such lousy starters ??

[daza_1973]

Another opening day defeat under our belts - I was just looking back at the past decade and was shocked at our record :-

2001 - Charlton 1 - Everton 2
2002 - Everton 2 - Spurs 2
2003 - Arsenal 2 - Everton 1
2004 - Everton 1 - Arsenal 4
2005 - Everton 0 - Man utd 2
2006 - Everton 2 - Watford 1
2007 - Everton 2 - Wigan 1
2008 - Everton 2 - Blackburn 3
2009 - Everton 1 - Arsenal 6
2010 - Blackburn 1 - Everton 0

Won 3 Lost 6 Drawn 1 (seven home games!!!)

Why do we consistently start the season like a MK3 Escort with a cracked dizzy head in the middle of january ???

 

[Goat]

Just 1 of those things I suppose.

 

[chicoazul]

It would help if Arsenal stopped tonking us on opening days like. Give us Swindon or someone more reasonable FFS.

 

[RFUS]

Very interesting. Even the 3 wins were slender 2-1s against very poor teams.

 

[Ara]

my guess would be, based on moyes years in charge, Maybe were not quite ready for the start

 

[daza_1973]

I reckon we must have the poorest record for first game results of the premiership ever-presents.

 

[little curly alan ball]

Not tryna say , I TOLD YOUS , when it was all , " It's ON !!! ,.... The 24 year rule , ... "

Me , the Oracle , I said , " DO NOT SAY IT OUT LOUD !!! Have yous got no fukn memories ??? We are Everton , NOTHING , repeat NOTHING , is EVER that simple . ",.. but , no . Yous couldn't help yourselves ,.....

Shines up , Oracle Sheriff's Badge ,....

 

[Goat]

Not tryna say , I TOLD YOUS , when it was all , " It's ON !!! ,.... The 24 year rule , ... "

Me , the Oracle , I said , " DO NOT SAY IT OUT LOUD !!! Have yous got no fukn memories ??? We are Everton , NOTHING , repeat NOTHING , is EVER that simple . ",.. but , no . Yous couldn't help yourselves ,.....

Shines up , Oracle Sheriff's Badge ,....

Anybody who thought it would be 38 games unbeaten 5-6 every game is clearly supporting the wrong team.

 

[daza_1973]

So basically we'll draw with wolves next week, go out of the league cup on pens, get beat by utd and villa - then sometime in autumn we will play a top 4 team and win/draw - this will be cited as a turning point and we will gradually improve as the season goes on.
Then we will say in spring - if only we had beat Blackburn in the first game Blah,blah - Well theres always next year !!!

 

[little curly alan ball]

Anybody who thought it would be 38 games unbeaten 5-6 every game is clearly supporting the wrong team.

The Goddamn 24 year rule , if you don't fukn mind .

Never , EVER say it out loud UNTIL IT'S ACTUALLY DONE !!! ( FFS !!! )

Vero , btw .

 

[little curly alan ball]

So basically we'll draw with wolves next week, go out of the league cup on pens, get beat by utd and villa - then sometime in autumn we will play a top 4 team and win/draw - this will be cited as a turning point and we will gradually improve as the season goes on.
Then we will say in spring - if only we had beat Blackburn in the first game Blah,blah - Well theres always next year !!!

" Everton , dah , dah , dah , dah . Everton . We're forever , Everton , ...."

 

[daza_1973]

" Everton , dah , dah , dah , dah . Everton . We're forever , Everton , ...."

Dah Dah Dah - Trio off topic like ,but isn't that another 80's tune you don't hear much???

 

[Dutch Toffee]

This weekend has been a huge dissapointment for me uptil now. Can't believe we again managed to screw up our start to a season. Personally I was extremely confident beforehand, of getting a result at Ewood Park. Just didn't seem to click at all today. The last twenty minutes were a bit uplifting though. As soon as we started to pass it around, Blackburn were pinned in their own half. Desperately need a win against Wolves now and kick on from there. Can't allow to throw away the season (again) in these opening stages. Still confident we'll bounce back from today's bitterly disspointing result though.

 

[billycopper]

So basically we'll draw with wolves next week, go out of the league cup on pens, get beat by utd and villa - then sometime in autumn we will play a top 4 team and win/draw - this will be cited as a turning point and we will gradually improve as the season goes on.
Then we will say in spring - if only we had beat Blackburn in the first game Blah,blah - Well theres always next year !!!

Not far off! I think it is in our preparation. We've had an easy pre-season. The only decent side we've played is Wolfsburg. Most other sides have been playing friendlies against decent European opposition. Rovers, for example, have played Celtic, Hearts, Rangers, AEK Athens and Sturm Graz. They're no Barcelona, I admit, but they would have pushed them harder than the likes of Melbourne Heart and Everton Chile pushed us.

I think a lot of it is psychological too. For whatever reason, it takes us about a month of the season to become 'switched on'. That could be because our defensive game plan requires 100% concentration and the players don't reach the required state of mental alertness until they become physically reconditioned to the pace of the game.

Perhaps we're overconfident? Moyes sent out a team that has played together countless times before. They know that they're good players. Maybe they thought that they'd slip into the old groove to beat a workman-like Blackburn side?

Another part of it is that we have a side that thrives on adversity. From the radio commentary it sounds like we had trouble getting out of first gear. It's possible that the players unintentionally give themselves a mountain to climb in order to motivate themselves. We need to be the underdog. Being ahead of the game brings a fear of success.

 

[Matt Damon]

Another opening day defeat under our belts - I was just looking back at the past decade and was shocked at our record :-

2001 - Charlton 1 - Everton 2
2002 - Everton 2 - Spurs 2
2003 - Arsenal 2 - Everton 1
2004 - Everton 1 - Arsenal 4
2005 - Everton 0 - Man utd 2
2006 - Everton 2 - Watford 1
2007 - Everton 2 - Wigan 1
2008 - Everton 2 - Blackburn 3
2009 - Everton 1 - Arsenal 6
2010 - Blackburn 1 - Everton 0

Won 3 Lost 6 Drawn 1 (seven home games!!!)

Why do we consistently start the season like a MK3 Escort with a cracked dizzy head in the middle of january ???

Apparently we've not kept a clean sheet on first day - for 26 years.