Saints v The Mighty Toffees

Saints have done well with these short triangular passes that make our players chase their own shadows.

DCL booked for trying to block a pass. OK.....

DCl late

Not DCL's fault that Vestergaard took so long to make the pass and hit DCL on the follow thru.

Just blow the whistle ref and put us out of our misery.

still top of the league so

It's strange, apart from the two goals, Picky really hasn't had that much to do, yet Saints have clearly been the better team.

And it's all over.

Boooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

FT 2-0

really poor performance today

I think I could have been the Saints keep today. James freekick is all he really had to deal with and that was straight down the middle at him.

I thought we'd have challenges with no RB, but for whatever other reasons we can think of, it was sad and uninspiring throughout.
Now we go without both first choice FB.

We looked as poor as the end of last season today. Hopefully, just an off day, but everyone looked knackered.

None of the replacements took their chance to impress.

I'm going to put all the blame on Richarlison for this one.

Well that was a bit depressing, wasn't it?

While we looked shit, I'd say we're not as bad a team as we looked last season, nor as good a team as we looked this season before today. Top 6 is possible, but we will probably drift into the middle of the pack before long. Will need a really good run at some point this season to get top 6. Maybe one of the cups?

We were very disjointed to day ,players carrying knocks and some still looked jaded from the Derby,not comfortable with the defence every time Mina gets the ball he just passed it backwards, we are without a right band and a left back for are next game ,hopefully Knounkou will fill in for Digne ,Iwobie covered for Richarlison but for me he didn’t take the opportunity,god help us if. dCL gets injured.

Think the honeymoon is over for Anchelotti,this team today we’re very poor,hardly a chance on goal and we never looked like challenging them,very disappointed.

Oh well, was good while it lasted. One thing we have learned is that Iwobi is totally shit. (We knew that anyway)

I have nothing to say. I only came back to the board for the glory-hunting.

Siggy, Iwobi and Bernard aren’t good enough. The rest weren’t much better.

Rotterdam 1985 wrote:I have nothing to say. I only came back to the board for the glory-hunting.

We're still top.
You could be an Arsenal fan after all.

Yankthattoffee wrote:

Rotterdam 1985 wrote:I have nothing to say. I only came back to the board for the glory-hunting.

We're still top.
You could be an Arsenal fan after all.

Yup.

I agree with Hairy, we know what we are at the moment. We've got a chance of top 6 if we're lucky with injuries. Anything better than that will probably require us to be spectacularly lucky with injuries, or a mad season similar to when Leicester won it, where most of the top teams have disastrous seasons. That's highly unlikely.

We've got a really good starting 11 but most of the squad depth consists of players who've shown in the last year or two that they're not good enough. But we knew all this anyway, before this defeat. We may have the capacity to sustain a challenge in the near future but it won't be this season.

But we're still top. Since 2005 when we finished 4th, I reckon we've had a week and a half of genuine excitement as far as potential league achievement is concerned. That was towards the end of Martinez's first season after we beat Arsenal 3-0, and we thought we genuinely had a chance of 4th. We beat Sunderland the following week, then lost at home to Palace 3-2 and it all went up in a puff of smoke. If I'm missing another fleeting moment during that period when it appeared that we might go beyond simply being a distant best of the rest then please remind me.

A week and a half of excitement in 15 years. My eldest is 21 and is blue to the core, but apart from recalling that he once named his pet hamster Big Dunc, he remembers nothing of 2005, all he's ever known is mediocrity. So I'm not going to get too down over today's performance/reminder. It's only two months ago that I was writing the season off before it had even started, when we were 3-0 down to Blackpool after 12 minutes in a friendly. Being top is fucking great and we have another week of it at least. Enjoy it.

...however... if we can stay around about the top then I think Carlo will be allowed to bring one or two more players in at the January window..

He has proven what calibre he will attract with James, Doucoure & Allan... so a top striker & a cracking winger  maybe.

Iwobi et al are getting game time & showing they are not at the level Carlo requires... I have no doubt that he will cut them away & show them the door, but he needs replacements first

I so much wanted to see Iwobie take his chance, wasn't a great pairing of Iwobie and Digne on the left wing ,Iwobie kept losing the ball,
we left gaps on both wings resulting in Southampton domination, Godfrey played out of position at left back, I think James Rodriguez was carrying a knock,
We seriously missed Coleman Right back position and Richarlisons energy to come back defend.

I hope Knounkou gets chance to step-in cover left back position as Digne suspended (Don't see an appeal being overturned for Digne) if JJ Kenny is fit at least we would be more balanced, I would push Godfrey into Centre back with Keane, Drop Mina who for me is a liability,bring back Gomes instead of Sigurdsson who offers nothing ,I would bring in young Elli Simms for the bench because if DCL gets Injured we have no strikers.

Winter transfer window: I can see Anchelotti Bring in a Striker and right-back.

SEFTON wrote:I so much wanted to see Iwobie take his chance, wasn't a great pairing of Iwobie and Digne on the left wing ,Iwobie kept losing the ball,
we left gaps on both wings resulting in Southampton domination, Godfrey played out of position at left back, I think James Rodriguez was carrying a knock,
We seriously missed Coleman Right back position and Richarlisons energy to come back defend.

I hope Knounkou gets chance to step-in cover left back position as Digne suspended (Don't see an appeal being overturned for Digne) if JJ Kenny is fit at least we would be more balanced, I would push Godfrey into Centre back with Keane, Drop Mina who for me is a liability,bring back Gomes instead of Sigurdsson who offers nothing ,I would bring in young Elli Simms for the bench because if DCL gets Injured we have no strikers.

Winter transfer window: I can see Anchelotti Bring in a Striker and right-back.

There's an art to the FB spot. Playing tight to the touchline, but making sure you don't get boxed.
Godfrey just hasn't had that training. 20/20 hindsight, but I would have been tempted to play Digne at RB. Knounkou would do a decent job at LB, as it was inevitable that Saints would attack our right flank.
We didn't even take advantage of our aerial prowess with 3 CBs and DCL. Corners were not the usual calibre.
Psychologically we looked like we suffered against the Shyte.
Now it doesn't look like we're everybody's second favourite team.
St Maximin next week.

Yankthattoffee wrote:

SEFTON wrote:I so much wanted to see Iwobie take his chance, wasn't a great pairing of Iwobie and Digne on the left wing ,Iwobie kept losing the ball,
we left gaps on both wings resulting in Southampton domination, Godfrey played out of position at left back, I think James Rodriguez was carrying a knock,
We seriously missed Coleman Right back position and Richarlisons energy to come back defend.

I hope Knounkou gets chance to step-in cover left back position as Digne suspended (Don't see an appeal being overturned for Digne) if JJ Kenny is fit at least we would be more balanced, I would push Godfrey into Centre back with Keane, Drop Mina who for me is a liability,bring back Gomes instead of Sigurdsson who offers nothing ,I would bring in young Elli Simms for the bench because if DCL gets Injured we have no strikers.

Winter transfer window: I can see Anchelotti Bring in a Striker and right-back.

There's an art to the FB spot. Playing tight to the touchline, but making sure you don't get boxed.
Godfrey just hasn't had that training. 20/20 hindsight, but I would have been tempted to play Digne at RB. Knounkou would do a decent job at LB, as it was inevitable that Saints would attack our right flank.
Psychologically we looked like we suffered against the Shyte.
Now it doesn't look like we're everybody's second favourite team.
St Maximin next week.

I think mentally after the derby effected the whole team, Carlo Anchelotti was correct, the referee Kevin Friend was always going to make an Everton player the scape goat for all the media attention leading up to this game.

SEFTON wrote:

Yankthattoffee wrote:

SEFTON wrote:I so much wanted to see Iwobie take his chance, wasn't a great pairing of Iwobie and Digne on the left wing ,Iwobie kept losing the ball,
we left gaps on both wings resulting in Southampton domination, Godfrey played out of position at left back, I think James Rodriguez was carrying a knock,
We seriously missed Coleman Right back position and Richarlisons energy to come back defend.

I hope Knounkou gets chance to step-in cover left back position as Digne suspended (Don't see an appeal being overturned for Digne) if JJ Kenny is fit at least we would be more balanced, I would push Godfrey into Centre back with Keane, Drop Mina who for me is a liability,bring back Gomes instead of Sigurdsson who offers nothing ,I would bring in young Elli Simms for the bench because if DCL gets Injured we have no strikers.

Winter transfer window: I can see Anchelotti Bring in a Striker and right-back.

There's an art to the FB spot. Playing tight to the touchline, but making sure you don't get boxed.
Godfrey just hasn't had that training. 20/20 hindsight, but I would have been tempted to play Digne at RB. Knounkou would do a decent job at LB, as it was inevitable that Saints would attack our right flank.
Psychologically we looked like we suffered against the Shyte.
Now it doesn't look like we're everybody's second favourite team.
St Maximin next week.

I think mentally after the derby effected the whole team, Carlo Anchelotti was correct, the referee Kevin Friend was always going to make an Everton player the scape goat for all the media attention leading up to this game.

I was thinking about the players from the outset. Looked tired and leaden footed. An apologetic performance.

Yankthattoffee wrote:

SEFTON wrote:

Yankthattoffee wrote:

SEFTON wrote:I so much wanted to see Iwobie take his chance, wasn't a great pairing of Iwobie and Digne on the left wing ,Iwobie kept losing the ball,
we left gaps on both wings resulting in Southampton domination, Godfrey played out of position at left back, I think James Rodriguez was carrying a knock,
We seriously missed Coleman Right back position and Richarlisons energy to come back defend.

I hope Knounkou gets chance to step-in cover left back position as Digne suspended (Don't see an appeal being overturned for Digne) if JJ Kenny is fit at least we would be more balanced, I would push Godfrey into Centre back with Keane, Drop Mina who for me is a liability,bring back Gomes instead of Sigurdsson who offers nothing ,I would bring in young Elli Simms for the bench because if DCL gets Injured we have no strikers.

Winter transfer window: I can see Anchelotti Bring in a Striker and right-back.

There's an art to the FB spot. Playing tight to the touchline, but making sure you don't get boxed.
Godfrey just hasn't had that training. 20/20 hindsight, but I would have been tempted to play Digne at RB. Knounkou would do a decent job at LB, as it was inevitable that Saints would attack our right flank.
Psychologically we looked like we suffered against the Shyte.
Now it doesn't look like we're everybody's second favourite team.
St Maximin next week.

I think mentally after the derby effected the whole team, Carlo Anchelotti was correct, the referee Kevin Friend was always going to make an Everton player the scape goat for all the media attention leading up to this game.

I was thinking about the players from the outset. Looked tired and leaden footed. An apologetic performance.

Yes, we looked out of sorts and couldn't get going, we were second best to every challenge, don't know if International break had an effect on the players or if the derby had drained them, either way they were poor.one player with no excuses was Iwobie, he was given an opportunity by Carlo and he just didn't take it, it was a very lethargic performance all round.