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Post by rosscrombie on Nov 6, 2016 17:09:34 GMT
When you wake up in the morning and read that Koeman is unbeaten at Chelsea, and that Everton will stay 6th if defeated unless there’s an unlikely 6 goal swing, you just know things aren’t going to go well. But whilst expectations of a victory were very far from my thoughts, the manner of defeat was something I just couldn’t have expected. Who could? It was a perfect storm, with Chelsea turning on what John Motson described as the best performance he has ever seen in the 25 years of the Premier League, and Everton clearly still on the train down to London, wondering if the 7th can of Special Brew was in fact a bad idea. We weren’t awful, we were terribly awful. Atrocious. Terribly atrocious. Gormless. Terribly gormless. You get the idea… It is hard to focus on the defeated when the defeated were so completely outplayed. And it would be more gracious to say marvellous things about Chelsea. But I don’t write for a Chelsea blog. All I’ll say is that Hazard was unplayable, and he is one of the best players in the World on that form. Surely Barca, Real or Bayern would want to buy him in January (and there are 4 or 5 others they can buy from the Bridge whilst they’re at it)? What of Everton? Indeed. What? As in, what on earth was that? Did the train journey down starve us of all our energy? Were we distracted by someone losing their Oyster Card? We were outclassed at every level, every dimension, and that is very hard to take. One can argue that any team would have suffered at Chelsea’s hands yesterday, but in my view, if they don’t have the ball, they can’t outplay as easily. Never have I seen so many misplaced passes, Barry setting the tone in the very first minute, and Bolasie treating the ball like a ticking bomb for his not-very-cameo hour on the pitch. But I can’t single out two players, it has to be everyone. If you’re told you had 40% possession, but managed just one shot, and that wasn’t on target, it’s wasn’t just possession that we lacked, it was a lack of a clue what to do with it. AND WHERE WAS THE EFFORT? In a way, 5-0 is better than 1-0. Nowhere to hide lads, nowhere to hide. And that goes for the management and coaching team as well, who seem to have acknowledged as much after the game. There was a little too much “I told you we were rubbish” from certain supporters after the game, even though the prompt to that sentiment would seem to support that view. Yesterday we were rubbish, terribly rubbish, to return to a theme. But we aren’t ‘rubbish’ in general. We are ok, and going places, and every now and then we’ll stumble. But the challenge is to accept your failings, and apologise (especially to anyone who spent >£100 going to the Bridge yesterday), and then do something about it. Don’t for a minute believe that we’re going to have a massive splurge on players in January, even though we certainly need fresh new and more talented players. January is not a good time to buy, inflated transfer fees, and never a great time to try and gel a new squad anyway. And which team in their right mind is going to let anyone decent move? A few token buys at best, ideally a proper No1, another striker alongside Rom, and some more pzazz in midfield. But don’t hold your breath. This is the time the players, and in particular the coaching team, need to earn their corn. Ross Crombie
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Post by Avinalaff on Nov 6, 2016 20:02:02 GMT
I sympathise Ross, but where to start about our team, not only yesterday, but all season.
I think the obvious point I want to make first, before anything else, is that Chelsea played well, but they were allowed to play well, and because Everton were so bad, it gave them the confidence to beat us in style, and the platform for a splendid performance.
If you get in a fight and don't hit back, you're going to receive a bad beating, and that applies to any sporting contest, and our team reminded me of the team that saw Roberto Martinez eventually get the sack.
The manager is only as good as his players, and how he employs those players, but when you watch the same players not showing fight, time and again, it's time to get shut.
Our entire starting eleven is so overrated, and hyped, that it hurts.
There's just too many problems, and I don't believe 'any' manager will get them playing consistently well, as they are just so ordinary.
David Moyes spent a decade building a squad, and it took a huge amount of ins and outs to get it working well, but Martinez tinkered too much, and the players had been used to one manager for 11 years, and eventually switched off, just like, funnily enough, the Man Utd players did with Moyes.
If Ronald Koeman is picking players based on reputation, or worse still, based on how they are in training, then he has a huge problem, as those players aren't as good as their hype, and it's not how you hold it together in training that matters, but how you hold it together in a match.
If Everton were a Fantasy Prem team, I'd now play my Wild Card, and get rid of the majority of them.
Even Lukaku, goals aside, is a luxury we can't afford, as he just doesn't offer enough as a footballer. Jagielka, Coleman, Oviedo, Mori, Barkley, Cleverley, Mirallas, Deulofeu, Stekelenburg; I'm sorry but who's kidding who?
Individually they may all be decent, and may all find a happy home if they joined a team seperately that already had their game together, but we can't build a team around these players, as together, they're rubbish.
Bottom line is a hard pill to swallow, but Everton truly have fallen to mid table mediocrity once more, be it because we constantly buy bargains, or because we have struggled since losing a long term manager, and because of this, our expectancy levels are far higher than they should be.
Get used to it - Everton are *****.
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Post by evertonfan1968 on Nov 7, 2016 0:14:35 GMT
From front to back we look like a mess. It's one thing Ronald Koeman appearing to be honest and upfront about a defeat but he has to start recognising who the problems are, and instead of talking to them, and giving them another go, he should remove them until they become hungry again. The transfer window went by and every fan worth their salt knew we hadn't strengthened. You can look at our keeper and after 11 games ask if he's any better than Tim Howard or Joel Robles and the easy answer is no, unless you are a stupid ***** who only watches match of the day every 3 weeks. Gueye started well, and has won the fans over, but he was basically an upgrade on James Mccarthy, so he's not going to score or create many, and buying Bolasie has resulted in Geri and Smiley getting dropped, so what was the point? We all knew we needed a forward, but don't even mention them at Goodison because Koeman only uses Lukaku and we're stuck with Barkley or Tom Cleverley who aren't capable. If we lose to Swansea there will be pressure on Koeman.
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Post by dorf on Nov 7, 2016 11:23:25 GMT
The team are crap. No doubt about it, the only player who'd get into a top 4 side is Lukaku just on his goalscoring record rather than his overall game. Barkley is never going to be the player we'd like him to be and he may well look back on his career and wonder what might have been, which is quite sad. We have to get in 6 to 7 players in the summer and be ruthless with the ones that aren't pulling their weight. Unfortunately, I can see Jags, Coleman, Barkley and Mirallas back in the starting 11 against Swansea.
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Post by rugbytoffee on Nov 7, 2016 11:50:50 GMT
Major overhaul needed.
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