Everton vs West Brom

[mistermagic]

Not overly bothered by this but I want to be the first to post a matchday thread in the Prem matchday forum.

#sadfrog

 

[Arkan]

I'm not overly bothered either. Expecting a draw or a loss, we have been rejuvenated in the past few games but Tony Pulis got the better of us last season and I wouldn't be surprised if he did it again.

 

[Skinner]

I'm not overly bothered either. Expecting a draw or a loss, we have been rejuvenated in the past few games but Tony Pulis got the better of us last season and I wouldn't be surprised if he did it again.

It's just a Palace thing, not Pulis! Scousers must think Bolasie should have been in the running for Balon D'or

 

[Alty]

Europa League winners get CL football from this season don't they? I'd love to see Everton make it despite the ropey league form.

 

[Ebeneezer Goode]

Europa League winners get CL football from this season don't they? I'd love to see Everton make it despite the ropey league form.

Could theoretically see a Championship side in the Champions League.

 

[Shotsfan1993]

Why didn't Baines take the penalty? I needed points for my fantasy team!

 

[Stevencc]

That penalty.

 

[Aberstone]

Everton aren't poor, they're just so slow when in possession it plays into West Brom's hands allowing them to sit back in two banks of four. Also considering they have Leighton Baines, Seaman Coleman and Romelu Lukaku why they continue to play everything through the middle makes no sense at all.

 

[BCFC Jordan]

Miralles, what a plank.

 

[Nath]

Dragged off at half-time.

That's Mirallas gone.

 

[Alf Stewart]

I'd just like to say to all those West Brom fans who used to be all holier than thou when we beat them season after season under Pulis, I'm glad I don't have to watch this shite every week Enjoy your binary football lads.......

 

[This Charming Mike]

Everton fans going mad at the manager for taking a holding midfielder off and bringing a striker on with 10 minutes to go at 0-0?

 

[Alf Stewart]

Gets an easy ride from the press does old Roberto. Down to the flash suit, foreign accent and the fact that you'd happily let your daughter bring him home for dinner I suppose.

 

[BCFC Jordan]

I do hope they don't sack him. Going through a torrid patch at the moment, but think they'll come out of it better eventually. A bit like Big Sam last season.

 

[Sleighty]

Not often I get to watch Monday night football, typical that it was such a drab game! Lukaku is frustrating, there is a beast in there but his movement off the ball needs to be a lot better.

 

[TomWolvesFC]

What a boring game this was! Surprised that Gary and Jamie have anything to talk about except the penalty! West Brom with no shots on target too!

 

[BigDaveCUFC]

They can never call the premiership the 'greatest league in the world' when it delivers sh*te like that.

an inept sluggish everton side vs West Brom playing tactics you watch down in L2/Conf in an atmosphere so quiet you could at times here the players shouting.

not good at all, wish that Pen had gone in, although for all West Brom will class that a gutsy point,it could backfire as Everton were terrible, it was hardly Chelsea to go in playing 10 at the back at time.

 

[Arkan]

Everton fans going mad at the manager for taking a holding midfielder off and bringing a striker on with 10 minutes to go at 0-0?

I booed as well. He took our best player off. He might have been on a yellow but so was Barry. Besic has been the brightest spark during this awful run we've been on.

As for the game, that has been the story of our season. The only times we have won is because the opposition has been even worse than us. Slow in possession, awful at corners and no urgency whatsoever. Can't remember Ben Foster having a testing save to make except a few comfortable ones in the first half. Martinez's refusal to change his system and obsession with sticking Naismith or Barkley on the wing has cost us again. And why Mirallas took the penalty, I'll never know, Baines is our taker for a reason.

23 points from 22 games is embarrassing and I keep reading online that Everton are too good to go down but with the way we are playing and the games we have coming up, I wouldn't agree with that.

The best thing that happened was when they were filming the new Rocky film at half time and they were involving the crowd. Sad times when that's the only entertainment.

 

[Abertawe]

Martinez out?

 

[Arkan]

It's getting harder and harder to defend him but who would we bring in anyway?

 

[Sleighty]

Moyes?

 

[Smudge]

Everton fans going mad at the manager for taking a holding midfielder off and bringing a striker on with 10 minutes to go at 0-0?

Barkley had a shocking game, Besic was one of our only bright sparks and was doing his own job, as well as Barkley's. I dont think anybody in the ground had an issue with Kone coming on. It was the fact it was our best player (and ironically, only one attacking from midfield) who was withdrawn. Besic seems to be Martinez' favourite to always take off, as he seems incapable of dropping or subbing Barkley or Barry, no matter what the situation.

Just one more thing that pissed me off...Victor Anichebe getting a standing ovation? The llaziest player Ive ever seen in an Everton shirt, dreadful football ability and an all round stinking attitude. Deserved absolutely nothing but abuse for conning the club out of millions impersonating a footballer for all those years. This is a player who once stormed out and went home the day of the FA Cup replay with Liverpool because we didnt let him sign for Hull...

Basically what I said in the Villa thread sums up my feelings about Martinez:
Im sticking up for him as much as I can, but he's making it hard at the moment. The majority of our problems this season stemmed from aging players suddenly getting over the hill very quickly (mainly Distin and Howard) and as a result, our defence starting the season horribly in a way we've struggled to recover from, and on top of that, injuries. James McCarthy is a bad miss, Barkley missed the start of the season, Mirallas has had two bad injuries, Osman and Pienaar are possibly finished, a nasty injury to Stones, Oviedo and Kone still coming back from long term injuries, Gibson injured as usual, and Coleman had a spell in and out too. That was the start of our problem, and for a long time, I couldnt really attribute any blame to Martinez at all, as with the squad so stretched, he couldnt really change anything.

Bad luck factored in next, we had a shocking run of games with some diabolical decisions going against us, the defeats at City and Spurs, Cisse escaping a red card for an elbow then scoring a crucial equaliser at Newcastle, a dodgy pen at home to Stoke etc. that then put us into a poor run, and since the QPR win, Im more concerned that for the most part, it is the players who are letting us down this season, as so many of them have hugely underperformed. Barry (though he has improved the last 3-4 games so Ill let him off) Barkley has been absolutely dreadful and strolling around like hard work is something superstars like him dont have to bother with, Howard and Distin as mentioned have been absolutely awful etc.

But...there have been some very odd tactical choices. Playing three number 10s and no wingers in our midfield in the surrender at Southampton. Picking McGeady...like ever. Resting players at home to Palace when we had a cup tie midweek to rest everybody. That tonight, taking off Besic and constantly sticking up for Barkley when his ego is out of control and he needs a kick up the arse more than having it stroked any further. That and refusing to criticise Mirallas after the penalty debacle tonight and going on saying he was injured and thats why he was subbed. I like him, I do, and I know there are other factors to blame in us being so bad this season, and Martinez can only really take a portion of the blame. And at the moment, Im glad for once that Kenwright is our chairman because he doesnt do sackings. But I am getting more and more concerned with every game.

 

[Shank]

There's a few mumbling's that he's lost the dressing room. Fell out with Distin earlier on, he's obviously hauled Mirallas off at h/t. Eto'o is off - possibly told some young players to leave to 'further their careers'. Also when Lukaku asked to play more direct (which worked well for him when you did it for a week - but you've gone back to the slow passing/build up). They're big characters in the team.

Agree with Smudge in that you've had bad luck with injuries too though. Have to say I'm enjoying it at the moment.

 

[Smudge]

The thing is, Im again inclined to blame the players for a lot of these things. The Distin fallout, allegedly after those first 3 games against Leicester, Arsenal and Chelsea where we shipped 10 goals, he was dropped in favour of Stones deservedly. We won our next 2, but then Distin got his place back against Palace thanks to an injury to Coleman, and we fell apart at the back again. Both he and Howard then got a run out in the Cup game at Swansea 2 days later to effectively redeem themselves and have a chance of playing their way back into form, and both were awful again. Its apparently after this game that Martinez has had to have a word with him about his performances and told him he needed a complete break from the side to clear his head, and Distin threw his toys out of the pram and went AWOL. Which nobody would have cared about had John Stones not done his ligaments at Man United 3 games later, then his replacement Alcaraz got injured 3 games later. We had a poisonous character back in the fold who nobody wanted there, who had ultimately fell out with the manager because he couldnt take a bit of criticism about his terrible performances. Lets not forget that despite being a very good and professional player for us over the yars, Distin has previous for spitting his dummy out and trying to engineer a move when he doesnt want to be somewhere anymore. See his behaviour at Pompey when we signed him.

That to me is a fault with the player, likewise over the Mirallas thing. I havent heard anything about Eto'o. The 'direct' thing is a myth, we havent changed our style over the last few games at all, we just found gaps and better delivery. Teams just know that we play a certain way, and a good way to counter that is to defend deep and let us have the ball, and close off any gaps. The 3 games we played were against West Ham twice, with such leading lights as James Collins, James Tomkins and Carl Jenkinson, and we put 3 past them in 2 games in a period where we've struggled to score says as much about them as it does us, and Man City, who despite being Champions and having a decent defence, wont come and sit back against us the way the likes of Stoke and West Brom have in recent weeks. We had more chances against City than we have against anyone else probably since about November, and part of that is because it was always going to be a more open game against City. Stones' return late in the first West Ham game has been a big thing in that too, as he can play out from the back, whereas with Distin and Jagielka there, it was the likes of Besic and Barry who were having to come deep and take the ball off the keeper, and having nobody ahead of them. Stones takes the ball off Robles and carries it forward, allowing the midfield to get forward more.

 

[Alf Stewart]

The thing is, Im again inclined to blame the players for a lot of these things. The Distin fallout, allegedly after those first 3 games against Leicester, Arsenal and Chelsea where we shipped 10 goals, he was dropped in favour of Stones deservedly. We won our next 2, but then Distin got his place back against Palace thanks to an injury to Coleman, and we fell apart at the back again. Both he and Howard then got a run out in the Cup game at Swansea 2 days later to effectively redeem themselves and have a chance of playing their way back into form, and both were awful again. Its apparently after this game that Martinez has had to have a word with him about his performances and told him he needed a complete break from the side to clear his head, and Distin threw his toys out of the pram and went AWOL. Which nobody would have cared about had John Stones not done his ligaments at Man United 3 games later, then his replacement Alcaraz got injured 3 games later. We had a poisonous character back in the fold who nobody wanted there, who had ultimately fell out with the manager because he couldnt take a bit of criticism about his terrible performances. Lets not forget that despite being a very good and professional player for us over the yars, Distin has previous for spitting his dummy out and trying to engineer a move when he doesnt want to be somewhere anymore. See his behaviour at Pompey when we signed him.

That to me is a fault with the player, likewise over the Mirallas thing. I havent heard anything about Eto'o. The 'direct' thing is a myth, we havent changed our style over the last few games at all, we just found gaps and better delivery. Teams just know that we play a certain way, and a good way to counter that is to defend deep and let us have the ball, and close off any gaps. The 3 games we played were against West Ham twice, with such leading lights as James Collins, James Tomkins and Carl Jenkinson, and we put 3 past them in 2 games in a period where we've struggled to score says as much about them as it does us, and Man City, who despite being Champions and having a decent defence, wont come and sit back against us the way the likes of Stoke and West Brom have in recent weeks. We had more chances against City than we have against anyone else probably since about November, and part of that is because it was always going to be a more open game against City. Stones' return late in the first West Ham game has been a big thing in that too, as he can play out from the back, whereas with Distin and Jagielka there, it was the likes of Besic and Barry who were having to come deep and take the ball off the keeper, and having nobody ahead of them. Stones takes the ball off Robles and carries it forward, allowing the midfield to get forward more.

Teams should sit back if they have any sense as Everton are totally clueless at breaking teams down at the moment. We sat back in the 2nd half after going 1-0 up and won at a canter to be fair apart from a last minute scramble in the box. It's the way to play at Goodison in their current predicament....

 

[Smudge]

Teams should sit back if they have any sense as Everton are totally clueless at breaking teams down at the moment. We sat back in the 2nd half after going 1-0 up and won at a canter to be fair apart from a last minute scramble in the box. It's the way to play at Goodison in their current predicament....

Exactly. When we're fully fit and firing, we've got enough about us to break it down. You came to us playing a similar way last season for example and we won 4-0. Someone with Deulofeu's pace and unpredictability being the main difference that day. But this season, there is no spark. Mirallas is the only one of our 'star' players who has had anything like a top season. His pace and his ability has been the key behind most of our best attacking displays. Its no coincidence too that when he is firing, so is Lukaku, who has had some of the worst service Ive ever seen for an EFC striker this season. He was one of our better players during this poor run, but the majority of it he's having to make and do for himself because nobody else is getting the ball to him where he's best with it.

 

[Alf Stewart]

Exactly. When we're fully fit and firing, we've got enough about us to break it down. You came to us playing a similar way last season for example and we won 4-0. Someone with Deulofeu's pace and unpredictability being the main difference that day. But this season, there is no spark. Mirallas is the only one of our 'star' players who has had anything like a top season. His pace and his ability has been the key behind most of our best attacking displays. Its no coincidence too that when he is firing, so is Lukaku, who has had some of the worst service Ive ever seen for an EFC striker this season. He was one of our better players during this poor run, but the majority of it he's having to make and do for himself because nobody else is getting the ball to him where he's best with it.

We gave at least as good as we got on Boxing Day and were the better team 1st half. Second half 1-0 up we just sat deep and you were toothless. Don't think you can compare our performance with West Brom's to be fair.

The service to Lukaku has been poor you're right, but he doesn't half look clumsy at times for a £28m player

 

[Smudge]

No, you werent as defensive as they were, but once you had the lead, you knew exactly what to do to keep it. It was similar though in both games (and the West Ham first cup game, though they werent as good at it as you and WBA were) that once you had what you wanted, you were quite content to let us have the ball knowing full well we would only break you down with a bit of magic or luck.

Luck is in very short supply on top of everything else at the moment, and even when it does come our way, we dont take it! The pen the other night I dont think should have been given, but it was and we missed, and in that Stoke game, a bit of luck saw Mirallas get a one on one chance with the keeper right on half time at 1-0 down, and he doesnt even hit the target. Either of those go in, things are completely different.

Desperately need something at Palace.