Everton (a) pre-match thread

[vmsuhail]

I've been surprised how bad Everton have been, at times. Thought Koeman would be up and running pretty quickly.
He doesn't seem to know what his best side is. A few of their players are well under performing. Coleman for one.
Seems 2 yards slower. Baines has seen better days and Jagielka is an accident waiting to happen. Funny all defenders.
If you think ours is bad (I don't btw) theirs is iffy at best. Plus Lukaku is very hit and miss and only Mirallas seems able
to bale them out, from time to time. Saying this, it's at Goodison and they are always fired up for our visit.
But play with some urgency and these should crack quite easily. Think we'll win this one.

Wait until the players have the game of their lives against us ala Leicester.

PS. Hoping this jinx works...

 

[CrownPointBlue]

That's the whole point. For the last 2 years all he's done is walk around the 18 yard box waiting for someone to give him the ball, now Pep has him working his bollocks off and contributing to more of the game.

As a result, he was the person who put Sagna in down the wing to cross for the 2nd goal, and he was the person who put Sterling through on goal for the 3rd.

That's exactly what we want him doing, he was contributing to build up play, and still had enough time in dangerous areas to grab himself a goal as well, and could have got a couple more.

100% correcto Dom but somehow he still doesn't quite look 'fully engaged' & comfortable. I still want him in the box more.....he's our best finisher by a mile.

All the best.

 

[St.Pauli support]

Kun... ... was sharp when he came on agin Burnley......we need that type of performance over 90 minutes game,after game,after game.

Nope mate.
Top players are overplayed, too many games per year. Everybody knows that, I thought.
That's why we have rotation. Or why should we not always play the strongest team?
We don't talk about machines, players are humans. They need the perfect mix of high activity and recovery.
More imortant than physical recovery after matches is mental recovery. Top players need to be top concentrated.

Coaching teams need to know the individual status of any player when picking the starting XI, also to avoid injuries.
And players have to learn managing their physical and mental resources during a match, and between matches.

Why should Kun run like a madman being up 4-0 at West Ham who have already given up?
He has made a perfect match.
Kun is on brilliant form. He scored vs Burnley and vs Hammers. And was shining with superb passes as @domalino pointed out.
Pep knows about that and Kun will start on Sunday. No reason for the bench at all.

 

[CrownPointBlue]

1) Kun has had more downtime in the first half of this season than at any time since he joined us. He should be in elite condition & razor sharp.
2) Who said he should run around like a madman at WHU when we were 4-0 up ?
3) I'm certainly not suggesting he's benched agin Neverton.
4) if he starts I think he'll score....they're not particularly strong at the back.
5) I think he needs a big dirty bird !!

 

[rnblade]

Willy in goal, the toffees will be banging the high ball into the box and Bravo isn't exactly the greatest in the air.

 

[mosssideblue]

Willy in goal, the toffees will be banging the high ball into the box and Bravo isn't exactly the greatest in the air.

Care to share examples. I don't think he is as bad as you are making out

 

[TBooksbluearmy]

I hope that Pep will play his strongest team available. With no mid week game this week the players will have plenty of time to recover form the WHU game. With Everton being knocked out of the cup, they may well be deflated. If we can start this game on the front foot, like at West Ham then maybe another good win will come our away.

 

[prof-taf]

I think Kelchi might get a start. Aguero apears to be having the mid season blues at the moment. He seemed like he wasn't arsed at times during the WHU game despite his goal. He slowed down massively in the last 15-20 minutes.

No chance, we have very little room for failure, strongest team rest of season

 

[Dax777]

......................Bravo................
Kompany... Otamendi.....Stones
Sterling....Yaya......Silva...... .Sane
...... DeBryune........... Gabriel.......
.....................Kun...........................


This is the team that will finish the season out.

Kolarov will sub for Kompany and Stones as needed

Dihno for Yaya or Silva when he returns

Sagna, Zab and Clichy for Sane and Sterling when we need to get more defensive.

And Kelechi for Kun, when he is off the boil.

But that 11 is the team.

 

[shemnel]

typically difficult away for City, and Everton seem to raise their game for us. I really can't 2nd guess this one, apart from Ya Ya is a dead cert starter, dropping deep to cover Otamendi + Stones/Kola

Clichy seems to have nailed down LB as of late, with Kola only appearing at CB. Sagna the same over at RB.

KDB, Silva and Aguero definites.

just leaves 2 players. Sterling? playing well. Nolito? hard working but a touch out of form. navas, zaba in the centre and two up top with Kelechi are all options.