Everton (H) | PL | Post Match Thread

[Dribble]

And the fact that sides that know how to defend would not have allowed the ball to get to the player in the first instance.

Along with pedestrian build up the main reason we have won one game in our last thirteen is that we don't know how to defend well anymore.

I think this is more down to teams finally finding a simple solution to our inverted FB, back three formation. They hit the ball into the channels to their wide-men, & send two attackers to charge at us centrally.

Straight away there's a 4 v 3 situation, with our defensive 3 back pedalling. It's happening game after game, but yet we persist trying to rediscover the magic of the inverted FB's, which only ever worked for us with Rodri playing. I honestly think it's that obvious.

Our defenders (when fit), are as good, if not better than anyone else's. We're currently hanging them out to dry, through persisting with a formation that no longer works for us, or plays to our strengths. If anything, it's helping to amplify our weaknesses.

 

[cleavers]

They did manage to lose 4-0 to the mouse-catchers.

We lost 4-0 to spurs but beat forest 3-0 who beat spurs 1-0, we lost at villa, who got hammered by newcastle.

Results are generally all over the place at the moment, it's not just us.

 

[Prophet of Doom]

Doku wafted his boot at the ball like Martin Petrov used to, pretending like he was seriously giving a challenge. It's not Doku's game, but with the inverted FB's, he's essentially a wingback which doesn't work.

During that first 20 minutes, Jeremie's lack of defensive prowess didn't really matter, because we played a flat back 4. After the goal, both Rico & Gvardiol inverted which played into Everton's hands, because we're kidding ourselves if we think we can rely on Doku defensively.

It's not fair on the kid, because we bought him for his attacking skill-set, not because he could motor up & down the pitch like Paul Dickov.

The trouble is Doku is not good enough going forward for us to tolerate how shit he is he going back. Fed up of watching him running back like a headless chicken.

He drives me to despair with any element of defensive actions - he looks like a player that literally has no clue about the bread and butter basics of football.

Going forward he’s a one trick pony - he has pace over 2 x yards when starting in a standing position - but over 10 yards he is slower than most defenders.

Scores 1 in 10 and our other forwards don’t have a clue what his intentions are when he goes past a full back.

I know he is young but he’s simply not good enough.

 

[AndyP68]

We lost 4-0 to spurs but beat forest 3-0 who beat spurs 1-0, we lost at villa, who got hammered by newcastle.

Results are generally all over the place at the moment, it's not just us.

This. The table doesn’t lie…

 

[AndyP68]

The crowd didn't turn on the team today.

Everyone was hoping for a winner and there was a little excitement when 6 minutes stoppage time was added but we did nothing with it.

Some may have booed after the final whistle but I don't know because we headed for the stairs straight away.

I was pleased with our performance until they scored from nothing apart from our catalogue of errors.

The decline started from there but we were thrown a lifeline with the penalty and fucked it up.

Our fragile confidence drained in that moment and theirs grew.

Our wingers were completely anonymous from that point and it took far too long to change it.

Keep saying it but these are shit teams playing poorly who are getting results against us.

Fuck knows what will happen if a good side on form plays us.

Our next game is now fucking huge when it should be a run of the mill encounter against a team in relegation trouble.

2 fucking months this has been going on.

Something isn't right and fans are entitled to question the performances of players and management.

Like Liverpool? Who beat us 2-0 at Anfield?

The fact that most games have one goal in them is quite important.

 

[The Future’s Blue!]

I think that's a bit harsh on Lewis tbh. The ball flashed across the area & had a deflection from Akanji. However the control & shot by their scorer was instant & unstoppable. There's no chance Rico could've humanly reacted quickly enough to do anything about it. Sometimes we've just got to acknowledge a brilliant finish.

Very true. I was watching with a United fan who just said that was unstoppable.

 

[Prophet of Doom]

I think this is more down to teams finally finding a simple solution to our inverted FB, back three formation. They hit the ball into the channels to their wide-men, & send two attackers to charge at us centrally.

Straight away there's a 4 v 3 situation, with our defensive 3 back pedalling. It's happening game after game, but yet we persist trying to rediscover the magic of the inverted FB's, which only ever worked for us with Rodri playing. I honestly think it's that obvious.

Our defenders (when fit), are as good, if not better than anyone else's. We're currently hanging them out to dry, through persisting with a formation that no longer works for us, or plays to our strengths. If anything, it's helping to amplify our weaknesses.

Good explanation. Add to it that ALL the attackers from the opposition are faster than the 3 x players we have defending and it really is a joke.

Only ridiculous bad decisions by Everton players stopped them scoring 2 or 3 with this simple tactic late on today.

 

[Dribble]

The trouble is Doku is not good enough going forward for us to tolerate how shit he is he going back. Fed up of watching him running back like a headless chicken.

He drives me to despair with any element of defensive actions - he looks like a player that literally has no clue about the bread and butter basics of football.

Going forward he’s a one trick pony - he has pace over 2 x yards when starting in a standing position - but over 10 yards he is slower than most defenders.

Scores 1 in 10 and our other forwards don’t have a clue what his intentions are when he goes past a full back.

I know he is young but he’s simply not good enough.

In fairness to Doku, once we changed from a 4-3-3 to a back 3 using inverted FB's, Jeremie was up against it because the Toffees trebled up on him. If you look how congested the area around Everton's final third became, it explains why Haaland barely had a sniff & why our approach play slowed down so much trying to find a way through.

It's become so predictable how teams will setup to play against us. We're essentially using Doku & Savinho as wingbacks, but this shouldn't be their primary jobs. Well certainly not if we used a flat back 4.

Tactically, we're our own worst enemy at the moment. We seriously need to go back to the drawing board & get back to basics starting with a solid 4-3-3 formation.

 

[Dribble]

Good explanation. Add to it that ALL the attackers from the opposition are faster than the 3 x players we have defending and it really is a joke.

Only ridiculous bad decisions by Everton players stopped them scoring 2 or 3 with this simple tactic late on today.

Many of us can see this, which begs the question, why can't Pep & our coaching staff? The loss of Rodri has rendered our inverted FB tactic useless. Rodri's out until next August at the earliest, so how long does Pep intend to persist with this inverted FB formation which clearly isn't working without Rodders?

 

[HarrytheBlue]

Yes, the page is turning on some stellar careers and we'll rebuild. But we have the first proper run of bad form for over eight years and the blue moaners are out in force. We have some twitchy bottler fans - each blue moaner claims to have the answers. Everyone's entitled to an opinion, but the blue moaners going into meltdown don't have the answers - JUST MY OPINION - before the blue moaners come back at me. One bad run of form with a fully fit squad in eight years is incredible - let alone our squad and the injuries. No finishing positions decided in December. JUST MY OPINION - fans need to get behind our team after what they've given us for over eight years and stop the blue moaning.