Leeds United v Everton

Leeds United v Everton at Elland road. K/o 15.00pm

Everton travel to Leeds for the first away game of the season, will New manager Benitez keep an unchanged team
or will he drop the likes Michael Keane who was responsible for Southampton's goal.

Leeds struggled against a strong Man United team ,which has left a few Leeds players needing treatment.

A few players will return from Isolation, Rodriguez-Godfrey plus a few others, its Not hard to see were Benitez will find replacements for both Keane and Holgate ,
both Players played well below par, Mina and Godfrey could be available to give Benitez the perfect headache . hopefully another 3 points for the toffees,

Going 0-2 UTFT's Richarlison/Calvert Lewin.

I may regret saying this, but just as Leeds are a perfect opponent for Man U (wide open spaces in midfield that United were able to exploit) so I think they may be a decent opponent for us to take on right now as well.

When we won at their place last season we matched them for workrate in the first half (then sat back Ancelotti-style in the second.) But that first half was one of the more enjoyable 45 minutes of the season. If you can match Leeds for effort then they will leave spaces for us to exploit if we're good enough.

Not sure we'll win but I feel confident that we'll get a result, so I'll plump for a 1-1 draw, Richarlison with the goal from a Dave Thomas assist.

i hope they don't have the bounce back and 1st home game effect, a tough game with a very nervy 1-2 scoreline

According to Rafa's press conference this morning, only Moise Kean is available of the players who weren't available last Saturday. So no Godfrey again which is a shame.

Meanwhile, James didn't even know who we were playing, which I guess underlines his total lack of commitment to Everton. Mind you, my missus often doesn't know where we're going when we set out on holidays. It's really fucking annoying when I've spent months organising it. I mean, fucking hell, she should be able to tell from the smell that we're heading for Wolverhampton again.

As soon as we come up against anyone half decent I always assume we will lose. A skill honed up over many many years and perfected recently. Certainly a game we could get some points in, but we usually find a way of ballsing things up so am going for a 2-1 defeat, Pickford howler in the last minute.

clear penno. let's see if we get it

penno for us,
DCL ...1 nil

1-1 keane at fault again

Clear penalty for DCL which he took very well. Not sure what the Leeds player was complaining about.

And the Leeds goal clearly (again) showed why Keane will never get another England cap. Rafa (it still feels a bit weird to say that) might be looking at another CB before the transfer window closes.

If it wasn't for the error, I would have said we'd win this. As it is, it could go either way. If we can get at their defence down the wings, we should score again. But our midfield is getting a bit over-run by a decent Leeds team.

2-2 perhaps? Gray has looked like an excellent buy, he maybe just need to add a bit of Richarlison's arrogance to his game. But the two of them definitely worry Leeds. Perhaps bring on Townsend for Iwobi and try to get crosses in from both sides.

Pissing down rain now as the second half is about to start.

hairy cataract wrote:If it wasn't for the error, I would have said we'd win this.  As it is, it could go either way.  If we can get at their defence down the wings, we should score again.  But our midfield is getting a bit over-run by a decent Leeds team.

2-2 perhaps?  Gray has looked like an excellent buy, he maybe just need to add a bit of Richarlison's arrogance to his game.  But the two of them definitely worry Leeds.  Perhaps bring on Townsend for Iwobi and try to get crosses in from both sides.

Townsend for Iwobi - I'm all for that. Iwobi has also been pretty quiet.

top goal gray

Fair result in the end I think.

Rafa must have told the players to limit the number of back passes (KoT approves) and shoot on sight. Don't think I recall another Everton team shooting this much when attacking the goal when there are other options available, e.g. passing a team mate in the box.

hairy cataract wrote:If it wasn't for the error, I would have said we'd win this.  As it is, it could go either way.  If we can get at their defence down the wings, we should score again.  But our midfield is getting a bit over-run by a decent Leeds team.

2-2 perhaps?  Gray has looked like an excellent buy, he maybe just need to add a bit of Richarlison's arrogance to his game.  But the two of them definitely worry Leeds.  Perhaps bring on Townsend for Iwobi and try to get crosses in from both sides.

Should have put a few quid on that

I'll take that point... would have been happy with a draw at Elland road before the start... not a lot of teams will come away from there with any points.

I'll still defer my support of the waiter... we need to beat the shite home and away for him to turn me around... fat bastard.

Happy with that. I reckon Leeds, like us, will be hovering around 10th place come the end of the season so to get a point at their place is a positive result.

We could have won but, yeah, it's a decent point. Neither us nor Leeds is likely to finish top 6, but we'll both probably have a few okay runs. Leeds are quite open at the back, so it was no surprise that we made a load of chances, but I just hope we can do it against better defences.

Harry Kane would have had a hat-trick, but then Harry Kane is a £150m striker. DCL will still get a good haul of goals this season.

hairy cataract wrote:We could have won but, yeah, it's a decent point.  Neither us nor Leeds is likely to finish top 6, but we'll both probably have a few okay runs.  Leeds are quite open at the back, so it was no surprise that we made a load of chances, but I just hope we can do it against better defences.

Harry Kane would have had a hat-trick, but then Harry Kane is a £150m striker.  DCL will still get a good haul of goals this season.

DCL had two great opportunities to bag a couple of more goals for sure. Hopefully he'll score them against the Shite or Man Utd/City instead to get us the win.

After the glut of number 10s a couple of years ago, we now lack one.
I assume Benitez needs to unload Jimmy because of his wages, but a few of his deft passes were needed yesterday.
If the 2 defensive MFs can do the dirty work, He has a role?
Then again, he just ain't interested any more huh?

Yankthattoffee wrote:After the glut of number 10s a couple of years ago, we now lack one.
I assume Benitez needs to unload Jimmy because of his wages, but a few of his deft passes were needed yesterday.
If the 2 defensive MFs can do the dirty work, He has a role?
Then again, he just ain't interested any more huh?

I think that ship has sailed. He's not interested in Everton but, sadly for him, it doesn't look like anyone else is particularly interested in him. Worse case scenario is we can't offload him and he stays here with no intention of playing unless it's a nice day and he's got nothing better to do.

I think Rafa has a very clear Plan A, and you don't necessarily need a brilliant number 10 to play it. Early balls into the channels, or down the wings, and get a cross in for DCL or Richie to score. Rafa wants to load the squad with wingers and, if needs be, Gray or Iwobi can drop into the no 10.

I reckon we'll be looking for cover at RB, an experienced striker to cover for DCL, and that's it. Gbamin still to come back, we've got four centre backs, we've got Nils to cover for Lucas, Rafa will be okay with what he's got and maybe pick up a loanee in January if we have injury problems.

For the second week in a row I didn't see the game live. This could easily turn into one of those superstitious runs whereby I refuse to watch a game live until we lose for fear of jinxing things. Shame we don't have City or Chelsea next week, I'd happily give those a miss.

From the highlights I've seen, however, a draw looked like both a fair and a decent result. Yeah we could have won it. Could also have lost it. Elland Road was bouncing and it showed a bit of resilience (can't believe I'm using that word in an Everton context) to not only come away with some sort of result, but to have matched Leeds in every area except possession in their own half.

As Hairy said, it looks like Rafa has a very simple plan, to get the ball wide and to feed DCL. Keep Richarlison down the middle playing off DCL, he's basically a striker anyway and this is obviously his best position. Outside of that, have runners everywhere and work hard. It might seem a bit rustic, that plan, but it never did United any harm during the Fergie years.

Also in relation to James, I kind of think the number 10 position is (temporarily at least) dead. Modern football, with the emphasis on workrate and pressing, deems it to be an unnecessary luxury. It will make a comeback eventually - football evolves all the time, and often retreats back towards ideas that were recently considered to be old-fashioned. Happens with positions and with formations. It doesn't help that James is the ultimate luxury number 10 - I'm surprised he doesn't have a batman on the field to do his running for him - and that he doesn't appear to give too much of a stuff whether he plays or not, as long as he's earning his money and boosting his Instagram follower count.

It's a shame because he's clearly one of the most talented players ever to put a blue shirt on, but talent isn't everything - commitment and availability are also quite important. But I've moved on, don't even consider James when thinking about what we might or might not do this season. If he is on 200K a week then clearing him from the wage bill would give us some FFP room for manoeuvre. No misty-eyed emotion from me here, that's just the way it is these days.

Other observations from the football weekend (although I missed the Everton game I watched a lot of others) - Chelsea look boss, not a weakness anywhere. I appreciate these teams are in a different stratosphere to us but it might actually be a half-decent 3 or even 4-way fight for the title this year. With Spurs and Leicester in their own little Europa League world, and the rest of us, as ever, fighting for 7th. I'm now optimistic that we can finish 7th or 8th, which is better than I thought pre-season, but even a good run from the upcoming batch of friendly-ish fixtures won't get me thinking any higher than that. The top 4, especially, are fucking miles ahead.

Also, Bissouma has been rumbled. I've been quietly hoping we'd sign him for a couple of years now but we're OK in the middle of the park, especially if Gbamin can stay fit, so never really considered it remotely likely. He's fucking brilliant and I cannot believe he's still at Brighton. Well he dominated a game live on telly at the weekend and the pundits are all over him now. Which leads me to...

...Arsenal. Dear God. They turned up at Brighton with £50m in used notes and walked away with Ben White instead of Bissouma? Arsenal are no better than us as a team. And as a club they're actually where we were two or three seasons ago - spunking a lot of money on shite. I knew very little about Ben White when they signed him because I'd never really paid him any attention. I suspected he might be another Lindelof - someone who knows how to defend, but will get bullied by bigger strikers. Actually he's worse than Lindelof because he doesn't know how to defend.

Talk about a vanity signing. Arsenal are tragically locked into their own perception of what they are, with no apparent escape, trapped by memories of the brilliant football they played under Wenger. Their first thought when spending £50m on a defender they badly need isn't "can he defend?" but "can he ping it 50 yards to Pepe?"

What Arsenal have that we don't is a production line of young players which may hold them up in future years. We know about Saka but Smith Rowe is also a cracking player. They're wasted at the moment, I don't think Arteta has a clue what he's doing, it's like our Mike Walker years. I don't think he gave the first thought to how Chelsea might play, didn't do anything whatsoever to deal with their areas of strength in attack. Combine a clueless manager with wasteful spending in the transfer market and you have, well, Moshiri-era Everton!  They're absolutely no better than us.

Finally, fun and games in the Nice v Marseille game last night, did anyone see it? Payet got hit by a bottle lobbed from the crowd, he lobbed it back, the Nice fans invaded the pitch, fisticuffs among the coaches on the sidelines, the game got abandoned. It's great to have crowds back at football games but last season, when the Americans started letting fans back into NFL and NBA games, there was a spate of things being thrown onto the pitch/court, beer being thrown at players etc. As though a year of not being allowed out had turned some people feral. Maybe the same is happening in football.

Rotts - agree with everything you say about Arsenal. Absolute shambles, and we dodged a bullet not bringing in Arteta as our manager. He looks clueless at the moment. I'm getting happier by the day with Rafa, he seems to be exactly what we needed when we needed it. Still, I might not be saying that in six months....

Also, re fans back and causing trouble - I saw three incidents in the PL this weekend: A lighter thrown at Digne (he does look like he should have a fag behind his ear to be fair, so maybe the Leeds fan was just being helpful), a full bottle lobbed at Reece James after he scored for Chelsea in front of the Arsenal fans, and a massive turd on the pitch at Anfield. Oh sorry, I've been told that the last one of those was just Jurgen Klopp. So yeah, I think you're right, there are going to be a few incidents early in the season due to over-excited fans who've forgotten how to behave at the match. We saw that in the Euro 2020 final too.