Echo chats to Peter Mcpartland over Sunderland game

A view from Gwladys Street: An Everton FC fan's view of the draw with Sunderland and the international break

This week the ECHO chats to Peter Mcpartland, of Toffee TV and the Followtonians podcast



Every week, the ECHO gets the views of an Everton fan to gauge the feeling among supporters of the week that's been and the week ahead.

Today we speak to Peter McPartland of The Everton Podcast about the Blues' draw with Sunderland at the Stadium of Light, as well as the international break and the fortunes of Romelu Lukaku.

Everton 1-1 Sunderland - a point gained or two dropped?
Two massively dropped, Sunderland are very average and we dominated the game but we seem to have an inability to put teams to the sword when teams sit back. The lack of pace in our game hasn't changed in an year and that's really frustrating. We are good enough to go out and beat teams in the first 30 minutes but we never do.

Did the referee cost the Blues three points?
For me the ref bottled it for the second week in a row, knowing if he gave a decision he'd have to send a player off and that's totally wrong. Refs need to stick to the rules and not worry how it'll effect the game, they are quick enough to book players for over celebrating and kicking the ball away.

The decision not to send Wickham off was again a joke and seem these decisions are happening more and more but unless a ref is involved with Ed Sheeran they don't get punished!

Six games unbeaten in all competitions, has this international break come at a bad time?
Not really simply cause the injuries are toting up and it's nice to get a break before the Christmas period, also we never really got any momentum during the last few weeks performance wise, we just knuckled down at the back especially Jags, who has been in fantastic form.

Are you confident that Darron Gibson and Muhamed Besic can make up for Gareth Barry's absence?
I think Darron Gibson is an outstanding footballer and just needs some match sharpness, his range of passing is excellent and his natural game is to get the ball off the centre backs, so I think he'll fit in as long as he doesn't get injured!

Besic can also go in, although I think his lack of experience means he has to play a little further forward which doesn't suit us.

Romelu Lukaku continues to struggle in front of goal, are you confident he can start scoring goals on a regular basis?
Yes if we get the players around him, Rom is a player that craves the ball facing goal but also needs players around him to create space for him to run in.

Ross Barkley playing alongside him would really help him and the team.

Any other business?
Hopefully once the Europa League group stages are over we will see a more consistent side with less week to week changes as the consistent tinkering isn't helping things in my opinion.