Burnley (h) Blurred Lines
Tom Davies back in for Sigurdsson & Alex Iwobi into his preferred #10 position at the top of a midfield diamond. Mina & Coleman returning to the bench.
First 10 minutes it was Everton that dominated possession, Richarlison having a shot saved on 3 minutes. Then Davies lost the ball halfway in his own half, with most referees would have been a foul, but it was Jon Moss, so you’d not be surprised if he waved play on or give a goal kick. In this instance the decision was play on & McNeil’s cross deflected off of Michael Keane’s heel & Chris Wood curled the ball in from just inside the box. 0-1. Visually, it was against the run of play, but Burnley’s midfield 2 were beating the midfield diamond to everything.
10 minutes later the game got away from Everton, McNeil turned on the edge of the box & opened his body up, Allan couldn’t get out quick enough & the shot was placed as perfectly as possible in the top corner. No chance for Pickford, it’s a cliche, but no keeper in the world was saving that. It was a quality moment & you have to applaud the skill & execution for what it was. 0-2.
Ancelotti changed the formation back to a midfield 4 with Iwobi being taken out of his ‘preferred position’ & moved to the right, with Gomes playing off the left.
The game plan gone within the first 30 minutes.
A small footnote for Mr Iwobi, don’t call the manager out, you make yourself look very silly when you don’t deliver & probably will move you closer to the departure lounge. There’s a solid reason why Arsenal were more than happy to let him go with 2 hours left on a deadline day with no replacement lined up.
Within 8 minutes of the change Tom Davies broke into the box, did well to control the ball & crossed for DCL to bullet a header passed Nick Pope. 1-2 & some hope restored.
A decent Everton passing move had Richarlison playing a through ball to Dom when a shot was on for him, & then Dom headed over from a Digne free kick, in truth he should have did a lot better. These chances to equalise came after Burnley had already hit the post, saw a shot brilliantly blocked by Godfrey & had a penalty claim for a Holgate handball turned down. It was never a penalty in a million years, Ben Mee had Holgate in a half nelson, it was a foul if anything.
Pickford had aggravated the injury he had during the Southampton game & Joao Virginia was introduced for his Premier League debut. No Olsen on the bench for obvious reasons.
The look on the face of the manager as the whistle blew for halftime I imagine was reflected by all Evertonians & most neutrals watching. You just can’t work us out, you just don’t know what we are.
No further changes during the break, Burnley had something to hang on to & they comfortably did. Everton’s threat mainly came from the few set pieces that Mr Dross, I mean Moss gave. In open play the awful Iwobi was joined in running up blind alleys by Gomes, who’s tendency to drift so far wide that he’s standing on Lucas Digne’s toes was getting more & more infuriating, especially when Brownhill & Westwood were being made to look like peak Petit & Vieira. If you didn’t know Doucoure’s value to this team, now you do. He’s not the most gifted passer of the ball, but he has run 35km’s more than any other Everton midfielder. I used to be a betting man, until I realised how crap I was at it, but if I could get odds on no Everton midfielder overtaking that stat whilst Doucoure is out injured, I’d take the bet.
Gomes managed to move himself to the edge of the box to fire a shot that Pope pushed wide, & Dom had a chance to take the ball down about 8 yards out, but he mis-controlled. King came on for Davies & Coleman for Holgate for Carlo’s last throw of the dice.
A Burnley corner saw Virginia fumble the ball when he bumped into Godfrey, Vydra thankfully missing a near open goal. Michael Keane had now taken over playmaker duties & he put a brilliant ball in between Tarkowski & Pieters that found a charging Coleman with 5 men to pick out, no Everton player picked out.
As is customary with Everton losing, 3 minutes of injury was added, 6 substitutes & 2 Burnley players booked for time wasting. Congratulations Mr Dross, I mean Moss, at least your consistency shows little signs of fading. Obviously if Everton were winning it would be 5 minutes, extended to 7 minutes, just because they can & don’t have to explain why. No second goal for Everton. FT 1-2
The difference between ‘Home & Away’ Everton continues to defy logic for most, 2 things that were said in the post match interviews firstly by Keane “we need to get our attitude right” & secondly by Ancelotti “we don’t play well when we change the way we play at home” tells me that the obligation to change from a pragmatic counter attacking approach to a more expansive attacking team just isn’t possible, although with supposed ball carriers like Gomes & Iwobi, it should be. But, that then just underlines Keane’s point about attitude, it’s not a case of can they do it, it’s a case of why aren’t they doing it?
The stakes for this game were massive, Everton could capitalise on Chelsea & Villa dropping points, go above West Ham & pull clear of Liverpool in pursuit of a top 4 finish. Burnley would in all probability secure PL football for next season with a win. All Everton had to do was match Burnley, mirror their effort, fight & spirit. However, just like the 5 other home losses that have plagued this season, you are left to question the attitude of the players.
More for the manager to mull over & I’m sure the insistence on a new Right Back & Right Winger is being reiterated to the board. We have some very
good players & a lot of distinctly average players, with nothing in-between.
Not another league game for 3 weeks, just a cup game against probably the second best team in Europe, it wouldn’t be like us at all to win it after this game.
Enjoy your week, put this behind you as best you can,I know it’ll be hard. Let’s hope Man Utd, Arsenal & especially Wolves can do us a favour.
UTFT, COYB 💙
