Chelsea (a) Money for Nothing
Today’s the first time since the Anfield cup derby that I’ve been angry at the majority of the team. After a week of really positive news too!!..
I was fairly happy with the line up, with one or two obvious exceptions, we’d gone to win, why wouldn’t we?, Chelsea are as unpredictable as we are. But this is Everton away at Chelsea and ever since that glorious cross from the outside of Anders Limpar’s boot which was met by Paul Rideout’s head in 1994, everything about Everton away at Chelsea is predictable.
Mount served notice early on by forcing a great save from Pickford, however that was soon bettered when he span on the edge of the box and beat Pickford at his near post. I can’t attach any blame to the goalkeeper, if he wasn’t on his game today it could have been 7 or 8, easily. Mount pirouette’d into the box and passed the dreadful Tom Davies. 1-0.
Cast your minds back to the game at Goodison and you’d have seen how good Mason Mount is at finding space and it was a common theme all game. A player without a defined position who is able to get up and down the pitch with a genuine goal threat. Hard work beats talent if talent doesn’t work hard, and Mason Mount provides EVERYTHING Tom Davies doesn’t.
A few minutes later Pedro ghost’s in between Sidibe & Keane. He’s on the cusp of being offside but the deeper positioning of both Keane and Sidibe means he’s ok, and he’s clean through and beating Pickford for 2-0. One simple pass dissecting the backline and it was game over.
DCL had a chance to make it 2-1, set free by Richarlison, running at an angle his clipped shot off his left foot just drifted wide. Both DCL and Richarlison had been uncharacteristically quiet, the returning Digne and Bernard also showing signs of ring rust. HT 2-0
I’ve not really gone all in on Gylfi Sigurdsson this season, he’s been a player I’ve always liked, however he’s been beyond abject this season, an expensive passenger that hampers and stifles this team. Surely, surely this game ends any hope of him playing again from the start for the remainder of the season. Zero successful tackles, Zero interceptions, Zero chances created.
Walcott on for the second half replacing Bernard for tactical reasons. Apparently to add more pace and width, Sigurdsson had done such a good job of being anonymous that Carlo had completely lost sight of him and made the change that he did.
It was soon 3-0 when the midfield again seemed to forget it defensive responsibility and allowed Willian an uncontested shot from the D, I say uncontested because Lucas Digne actually stepped aside to allow Willian a clear sight at goal. Pickford beaten by the pace of the shot.
Andre Gomes understandably is getting his fitness and sharpness back and he struggled today, but he had nothing next to him to work with, and nothing either side of him to provide space to create. He’s not completely exonerated from blame, but if anyone today had a case to explain their performance, he’d be the first that I’d hear out. Better days ahead for him.
The final goal came from a corner, swung in and Giroud bullied Holgate and stepped through Sigurdsson to tap in whilst almost falling over. 4-0 FT.
Carlo Ancelotti would have been fully aware of what he was taking on when he came to Everton, he’d have known and had full disclosure of what sort of players he was inheriting, but I’d imagine even in his long and illustrious career he’d have struggled to see such a disparity in levels of ability in his squad. We’ve got very good players and very poor players, nothing in the middle and that’s where the struggle lays. All the teams above us have a good supporting cast to their ‘star players’, we haven’t and we haven’t since the days of Pienaar, Cahill, Arteta and Fellaini. They all added goals and ingenuity to whoever was running the hard yards ahead of them and also added cover for those behind them.
Mr Brands’s summer to do list has just grown rapidly!!! It’s not about coaching what we’ve got, it’s about replacing the dross and providing help to those who deserve it, those who we have such an over reliance on.
The neighbours next then, oh joy!!! I’d normally advocate keeping the faith, but like the majority of our playing staff today, you can take the day off!
