Everton v Spuds

We should have won that

hairy cataract wrote:We should have won that

Yup. We played pretty well, especially second half, we moved the ball in midfield better than we have done in months. The second goal was a thing of beauty. Just couldn't take enough of our chances, and did some weird shit at the back.

I know he has his fair share of critics, but lads, Tom Davies is turning into quite a tidy little player. I myself used to think he was a Championship player at best. Then he had that three or four game stretch earlier this season when he suddenly looked like Nedved. I suspect where he is now is what he will be from here on in - a good link man in the middle who is now finding space to receive the ball, and who distributes it pretty well. His tackling, which used to be terrible/non-existant, is improving. He needs to stop being so casual in possession in front of his own box. But he's one of our better players right now.

Centre back has been a relative strength for us all season so it's typical that they fall apart in that game, of all games, against Kane. Seriously though, any Blues who still insist that Keane is a better player than Mina are watching a different game to me. Keane is consistently pretty good but when he's bad, he's terrible. Mina's ceiling and floor are higher.

I've slowly been turning into a whingeing Bullens Road arl arse in recent months. But Top 4 is now gone, so I'm looking for the positives from here on in. This season has been a cruel bastard, giving the illusion of being something special only for it to go tits up several times. But I think we do have a decent base to build from. We need two good transfer windows to put things right, so even next season might not see the job finished. We have no choice but to hope that Carlo and Brands can work some magic this summer, keep our better players, fill in the gaps, get some pace into the team, and try to somehow get the high-salary dead wood like Iwobi and Delph off the payroll.

Pickford (the non-mad version), Digne, Mina, Godfrey Allan, Doucoure, Davies, the frustratingly inconsistent Richarlison, and DCL, is a decent base to start from. James is class when he plays, hope he sticks around but he must sometimes look at Josh King stood 10 yards away from him, and think WTF? Sig and Coleman still have a role to play. It's not an 11-a-side game anymore though, and we're seriously short of decent squaddies. Holgate, Nkounkou, Gomes, anyone else? It could be a significant summer in our recent history, because where do we go from Ancelotti if he doesn't work out?

Rotterdam 1985 wrote:

hairy cataract wrote:We should have won that

Yup. We played pretty well, especially second half, we moved the ball in midfield better than we have done in months. The second goal was a thing of beauty. Just couldn't take enough of our chances, and did some weird shit at the back.

I know he has his fair share of critics, but lads, Tom Davies is turning into quite a tidy little player. I myself used to think he was a Championship player at best. Then he had that three or four game stretch earlier this season when he suddenly looked like Nedved. I suspect where he is now is what he will be from here on in - a good link man in the middle who is now finding space to receive the ball, and who distributes it pretty well. His tackling, which used to be terrible/non-existant, is improving. He needs to stop being so casual in possession in front of his own box. But he's one of our better players right now.

Centre back has been a relative strength for us all season so it's typical that they fall apart in that game, of all games, against Kane. Seriously though, any Blues who still insist that Keane is a better player than Mina are watching a different game to me. Keane is consistently pretty good but when he's bad, he's terrible. Mina's ceiling and floor are higher.

I've slowly been turning into a whingeing Bullens Road arl arse in recent months. But Top 4 is now gone, so I'm looking for the positives from here on in. This season has been a cruel bastard, giving the illusion of being something special only for it to go tits up several times. But I think we do have a decent base to build from. We need two good transfer windows to put things right, so even next season might not see the job finished. We have no choice but to hope that Carlo and Brands can work some magic this summer, keep our better players, fill in the gaps, get some pace into the team, and try to somehow get the high-salary dead wood like Iwobi and Delph off the payroll.

Pickford (the non-mad version), Digne, Mina, Godfrey Allan, Doucoure, Davies, the frustratingly inconsistent Richarlison, and DCL, is a decent base to start from. James is class when he plays, hope he sticks around but he must sometimes look at Josh King stood 10 yards away from him, and think WTF? Sig and Coleman still have a role to play. It's not an 11-a-side game anymore though, and we're seriously short of decent squaddies. Holgate, Nkounkou, Gomes, anyone else? It could be a significant summer in our recent history, because where do we go from Ancelotti if he doesn't work out?

I agree. I thought Tom Davies looked a class above when he first broke through, then seemed to get bogged down - perhaps because he was asked to play in so many positions, so never kicked on in one role - but he's looking pretty decent now, in a fairly pedestrian Everton midfield. I also thought having Allan back gave us a bit more urgency. So, yeah, we have about half a decent squad, but not a fantastic first choice XI. My problem with Keane is that, with him in the side, we are forced to play a very deep defensive line, which must be a big part of why we are so fucking turgid and sluggish in transition most of the time. If we want to play further up the pitch, he has to go. I'd keep him on the bench to throw on if we're defending a 1-0 lead away to Real Madrid or something, otherwise he needs replacing. Godfrey and Mina should be the first choice central defence, with Digne to the left and Coleman's replacement on the right. Davies or Allan plus two new signings in midfield, with Siggi as first choice back-up. DCL, Richie and James as the attackers. Personally, I don't rate Doucoure, he's not the player I thought he was going to be.

Oh, and the answer to where do we go if Ancelotti doesn't work out is pretty obvious. Surely we still have Sam's phone number?

Watched the highlight last night and, as mentioned above, we should have won that game. The difference between a decent/good striker and a great one is that the latter would have scored on King's effort AND Richie's follow-up miss (if the second chance was available that is). For instance, Ronaldo, Messi, Ibra, Rooney, etc. would have scored on at least one of those two chances there.

And I agree about Davies - he's made great strides the second half of the season. One can go back to the early games this season and can read the negative things about him, but those comments have really decreased (a lot even) as of late. He needs to be positive and move the ball up the pitch. In short, if you lose possession going forward it generally isn't as detrimental as losing the ball some 25-30 yards from your own goal.

If we’re all putting are true opinions up, mine is that Michael Kean is a very poor defender to slow with far to many mistakes in his armoury. Holgate is another always giving stupid free kicks away,Mina- Sigurdsson and Holgate all responsible for the stupid pull backs of attacking players giving away far too many free kicks which lead to goals.

I don’t rate either Richarlison or Deucoure always felt we got ripped off by Watford. Richarlison has the makings of a world beater bur one goal in 5 isn’t good enough.

Just think it’s poor management to play with just one good striker in DCL. Any wonder we don’t score enough goals.