Everton - Post match thread.

[Easy]

I walk up Joe Mercer Way every match these days thinking "Whose turn will it be today to gift a goal, after the midfield and the strikers have spent half an hour running off their bollocks trying to get through, round or over a packed defence?"

We do have the mental strength to take these 'moments' and continue, it's just the lapses of concentration that within a twinkle see us concede. Game after game last season, my general thought was that at 0-0 we're gonna let in a soft 'un!

Game after game my thoughts were: we need at least 2-3 goals to win, otherwise we drop points.

We do have the mental strength like you said but these sloppy mistakes need to be cut out.

 

[himalayan_blues]

We have too many new signings and still need a left back, centre back, centre midfield and a 20 plus goal strikers. That shows the default of our signings in past 3 4 years( pep should have bought 1 or 2 full back last season. If pellegrini was still here he would have done so. Even a novice city fan would have seen that we needed full back last season. That decision has affected us this season. Too much money on full backs so we couldnt go after mbappe and even neymar.
More players means more time to gel. So real fruit of this transfer window will come next season.

 

[HarrytheBlue]

New season, same deficiencies.

The primary objective of the striker is to put the ball in the back of the net. I've criticised Aguero countless times already, so I'll not bother to repeat the same arguments ad infinitum. Jesus was poor today also.

What I will say is that we desperately need a top forward player if we are to have any chance of competing for titles this year. This game, like the previous game, like the Girona friendly, like all the preseason games, like all of last season have only reinforced this need.

Appalling officiating and wasteful finishing aside, we could and should have won this game with the right starting lineup and the right formation. I'm always hesitant to criticise Guardiola for obvious reasons, but it was clear as day that he got it badly wrong today. At least his substitutions were effective and we actually started to play better with 10 men.

At this point I'm just extremely disappointed that we seem no better than last season. The only positive from the game today was that Bernardo looked extremely dangerous for the few minutes that he was on the pitch. We need to play him and Sterling much more over the next few games. The Aguero Jesus partnership is completely ineffective.

We are better than last season - upgrades in the full back positions (other than Zaba's peak years) and GK. When Mendy gets fit, combined with Walker we'll have two exceptionally quick attacking full backs - both great on the ball. Danilo looks a top utility player who will play a lot of games because of his versatility. I agree that Jesus was disappointing, as was Sane. I trust in Pep to get those two back on track swiftly. Maureen's lot had played two or three friendlies before they played us, and if I'm honest it shows, but I'd rather the team grows into the season than fades mid-Autumn, as was the case last year. No excuses about systems this year.

 

[City_Sean]

It sounds baffling but we lack a killer edge in front of goal. The amount of chances we squander is a joke, and we can't defend that we'll at the other end. It's a balancing act that Pep needs to get right else we'll be challenging for a Champions League spot rather than the title.

 

[HarrytheBlue]

We have too many new signings and still need a left back, centre back, centre midfield and a 20 plus goal strikers. That shows the default of our signings in past 3 4 years( pep should have bought 1 or 2 full back last season. If pellegrini was still here he would have done so. Even a novice city fan would have seen that we needed full back last season. That decision has affected us this season. Too much money on full backs so we couldnt go after mbappe and even neymar.
More players means more time to gel. So real fruit of this transfer window will come next season.

Need a left back ? We've just signed Mendy, and the cover is Danilo who can play left and right back (as well as midfield). I think Pep's thinking is that Dinho can cover at right back and Sane at left wing back (albeit he's clearly struggling). Pep's teams are quite fluid - not quite the English 'You're the left back and you're the centre mid'. Look at what he did with Lahm - converted the world's best full back into a world class holding midfielder. It's a unique and refreshing approach - a world away from Maureen's "You stand there and wait for the diagonal long ball".

 

[tony adcock]

The only concern I have is that we have 1 overall style of play ( yes we can tinker with formations etc) and when we need a Plan B in circumstances such as: Going down to 10 men...


I look at what aerial attacking options we have- yes we can throw a defender or 2 up top for free kicks and corners - but in open play we miss that option of changing to the 'big lad / little lad' pairing for something different ( a la Quinn and Walsh etc )...

So for me getting a striker with more aerial ability would give us a different attacking dimension :

Llorente ? As an example

 

[cookster]

It took 3 years to completely dismantle the best team & strongest squad in the league, so I fail to understand why it will take less than 12 months to repair the damage & reverse the regression even if we have spent £350m.

FFP was extremely damaging for us & meant we had to mend & make do with a rapidly ageing squad. What Guardiola has done is to correct these glaring deficiencies within our squad & the lack of a left wing back last night proved we still have a lot more squad building to do, but there's still another consideration many seem to forget...... Our competitors.

Whilst we stalled because of FFP restrictions & regressed because of the previous managerial incumbent, our competitors caught us up & in some cases they surpassed us. Since Pep has been here, he has halted our decline & started the process of reversing the damage caused.

HOWEVER, as we have tried to do all of this, have our competitors just stood still waiting for us to catch up? Hell no. They've also been busy changing managers, spending vast sums on their squads & increasing stadium capacities etc, to maintain the advantage they gained during our stasis.

So whilst we have narrowed the gap, we still have a way to go, not least because of the huge shift in playing staff & philosophy. Kompany said in pre-season that Pep's influence only became really clear when the on loan players returned & were clueless as to what was needed from Pep.

Apparently only Nasri adapted quickly and the rest struggled. Kompany said this solidified the belief in the squad that we were heading in the right direction & progressing at a rate of knotts. BUT having said all this, have ManUre, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool or Spurs just left us to get on with our transformation unchallenged?

The huge changes this summer should finally prove the damage that has been done to our club, and it should also show the size of the task facing our new manager who is also having to adapt to the toughest league in the world.

Pep has a plan & that is clear to see, & as such he deserves time to affect his plan & should be afforded time from us. This is why for last season & this, all I want to see is a reversal of our decline & the advancement of our progress. This is why I believe we won't see the green shoots of recovery until next season & I believe it won't be until the season after, before we start to challenge in the Champions League. We just have to be realistic here. It may not be what many fans want to hear, but unfortunately it's the reality if our situation...

Sorry mate, long essay and your opinion but disagree. Got to challenge this season, not for the CL but the PL.

If PEG can turn the Manure shambles around in a season, not that he has yet, why can't the best manager in the world?

 

[CityInWashingtonState]

Sorry mate, long essay and your opinion but disagree. Got to challenge this season, not for the CL but the PL.

If PEG can turn the Manure shambles around in a season, not that he has yet, why can't the best manager in the world?

I think we'll win the PL.

But the CL? No team in world football is anywhere near Real Madrid.

Yeah, we might beat them in a one-off or get lucky over 2 legs - but RM is far better than we are.

PSG are at least as good as we are as are Bayern - and Barca may come good as well.

Though we are favorite to win the PL, there's no way that we're favorite to win the CL - we may compete in the sense that we'll probably get through the knock out round and then depending on the draw advance a bit further, but baring luck, our side just doesn't match up to RM at all - but then again, no one else does either.

 

[OB1]

Sorry mate, long essay and your opinion but disagree. Got to challenge this season, not for the CL but the PL.

If PEG can turn the Manure shambles around in a season, not that he has yet, why can't the best manager in the world?

Mourinho's approach is different to Pep's in a number of ways. How Pep wants to play, and he was brought here to implement a style of play, is more difficult to implement. Mou and MU may have more success in the short-term but hopefully Pep will create something with long lasting benefits. That doesn't mean we can't or won't be more successful in short-term but it is a higher risk approach. What Pep needs to do is balance what he is trying to achieve in terms of positional play with getting the best out of his existing resources.

 

[OB1]

Didn't we have the best away form in the league last year? I believe we did.

Makes sense, because clearly we can play off the park any team that wants to have a go at us. Whereas at home, our opponents invariably park the bus and we often find it difficult to break them down.

So all we need to do is to continue our excellent away form (and I don't see why we cannot), and at the same time, come up with a way of breaking down well organised defences at home. I don't think that should be beyond the wit of man, given our expertise and resources. We are already dominating pretty much every game we play; we just need to turn more of these disappointing draws into wins and we'll be fine.

We make and miss (too many) good chances against virtually every bus parker.

We need to be clinical and ruthless and we aren't.

I think the team has too much tension in how it plays. Taking early chances more regularly would make a huge difference: I think it would help to calm our defending and improve us at both ends of the field.