Re: Everton v Southampton .

SEFTON August 14th 2021, 16:51

3 points that’s what matters. UTFT’s cheers

Made 4 Gwladys August 14th 2021, 16:52

crikey

coyb cheers

Armchair August 14th 2021, 16:53

I'll take that! Decent performance. Apart from the goal, Saints didn't really have a sniff. We weren't brilliant going forward but this win should boost the lads' confidence.

Goodison_Gringo August 14th 2021, 20:57

I had my second Pfizer jab this morning so was listening to the match on my phone on the (3.5 hour) queue. Battery ran out on the stroke of half-time, so it was a nice little surprise when I got home. Fully vaccinated to boot, so good day all round!

Looking forward to MOTD later.

callmebubbles August 14th 2021, 23:46

We'd have lost that last season. Crowd immense and sucked in the 3rd from DCL. Awful defending from Keano for theirs but all in all a bit more fight out there today. Soton are shit but we got the 3pts. And Gray looks half decent

Knight of Thorgothshire August 15th 2021, 03:06

Watched the 10 minute highlights of the game. We were the better team and deserved the win.

The 0-1 goal clearly shows why back-passes would be outlawed if I was the manager. If you don't know what to do with the ball, just hoof it up the pitch!

Great to start the season with a win.

Blue gazza August 15th 2021, 10:51

Knight of Thorgothshire wrote:Watched the 10 minute highlights of the game. We were the better team and deserved the win.

The 0-1 goal clearly shows why back-passes would be outlawed if I was the manager. If you don't know what to do with the ball, just hoof it up the pitch!

Great to start the season with a win.

thor for next manager cheers

Made 4 Gwladys August 15th 2021, 12:07

Blue gazza wrote:
Knight of Thorgothshire wrote:Watched the 10 minute highlights of the game. We were the better team and deserved the win.

The 0-1 goal clearly shows why back-passes would be outlawed if I was the manager. If you don't know what to do with the ball, just hoof it up the pitch!

Great to start the season with a win.

thor for next manager

Big Sam of Thorgothshire Smile

Yankthattoffee August 15th 2021, 13:41

Surprising game.
The friends of mine who said RB would be more defensive than most, seemed way off the mark. That was as close to 4-2-4 as you can get.
"Rafa's law is that there are 3 players up front and all others are instructed not to run past those 3." said one of my pundit friends. Well that seemed off by a mile.
One commentator said "After last season's contractual obligation style of play, here we have a team with purpose and heart."
Looking back, it already feels that Carlo was not a good fit.
AS long as we can keep DCL and Richie, we should be OK. Any progress on last year would be appreciated RB.
I didn't go to the game, but it sounds like it was one of those "we are Everton days" when the crowd show their colours, like Moyes's last game at GP.

Knight of Thorgothshire August 15th 2021, 15:08

Made 4 Gwladys wrote:
Blue gazza wrote:
Knight of Thorgothshire wrote:Watched the 10 minute highlights of the game. We were the better team and deserved the win.

The 0-1 goal clearly shows why back-passes would be outlawed if I was the manager. If you don't know what to do with the ball, just hoof it up the pitch!

Great to start the season with a win.

thor for next manager
Big Sam of Thorgothshire

If under pressure, hoof it up the pitch instead of trying some stupid backpass. I should have been clearer. Very Happy

hairy cataract August 15th 2021, 16:45

Yankthattoffee wrote:Surprising game.
The friends of mine who said RB would be more defensive than most, seemed way off the mark. That was as close to 4-2-4 as you can get.
"Rafa's law is that there are 3 players up front and all others are instructed not to run past those 3." said one of my pundit friends. Well that seemed off by a mile.
One commentator said "After last season's contractual obligation style of play, here we have a team with purpose and heart."
Looking back, it already feels that Carlo was not a good fit.
AS long as we can keep DCL and Richie, we should be OK. Any progress on last year would be appreciated RB.
I didn't go to the game, but it sounds like it was one of those "we are Everton days" when the crowd show their colours, like Moyes's last game at GP.

Exactly. I was watching the second half from the Upper Bullens and thinking "this is 4-2-4 isn't it? But it can't be, can it?". It was there, right in front of me, but I couldn't quite believe it. I guess it was actually more fluid than that, and I suppose it was 4-4-2 at times, but there were definitely periods when there was a front 4 in pretty much a straight line across the pitch.

Crowd, like the team, was lukewarm first half but absolutely on it second half. A great day.

Just a quick heads-up though Yank, if you're concerned about the covid situation - not only did nobody seem to be checked for proof of double vax, only about one person in 100 was wearing a mask inside the stadium, and nobody at all was wearing a mask in their seat. In fact, in general, I saw loads fewer mask wearers in Liverpool than in London. I reckon, within a few weeks, very few people will still be wearing a mask anywhere.

Rotterdam 1985 August 15th 2021, 23:21

I was out on Saturday, on a river cruise down the Thames. An anniversary present bought for us over a year ago, delayed repeatedly because of Covid, and the sort of thing I'm generally not really into. But it was great actually. Some relatives had bought us a premium package so we had great seats, good food and excellent wine. Above all else it was nice to spend a day in London observing the progression to (hopefully) more of a post-Covid normality. Just being amongst crowds of people is a pleasure these days, I find.

It just meant that I couldn't pay full attention to the game. We were off the boat and swilling beers in a pub near Waterloo Bridge by the time the game started. I followed it via Bet365. The missus tried her best to get some conversation going, bless her, but I was a bit distracted, especially while we were 1-0 down.

All was well in the end. My lad saw the game on a stream and was very encouraged by the performance. His comments echoed Yank and Hairy's comments that it was 4-4-2/4-2-4 but more fluid and more tactically smart than some doom-and-gloom Toffeeweb types have suggested on Twitter. The one thing Rafa has going for him, in my eyes, is his tactical nous and his ability to change things during the game to good effect. My lad reckons that all he did at half time was to switch Richarlison into the middle with Gray going out wide, and he reckons it worked a treat.

The thing my lad was banging on about was tempo. We played at a certain pace. Not sure if that's down to Rafa, or the fans being back in the ground, or the introduction of the likes of Gray and Townsend, direct players who go for the jugular. Doesn't matter, we were too slow as a team last season and we need to play with more pace and drive when in possession. It sounds enouraging overall, even though I didn't see the game so will reserve early-season judgement until after Leeds and Brighton.

It's one win, against a team that will surely be bottom 4/5 this season, no need to get carried away. But every 3 points is priceless, especially when confidence is low. My only ambition for the team this season is to stay out of trouble and cross another season off towards us getting into the new stadium. And I remain enough of an optimist to hope that Rafa and this team might surprise us and exceed expectations. I ain't banking on it though. For now, a win on the opening day will do nicely, thanks.

One thing that struck me from watching the MoTD highlights - if you're going to get an edgy Goodison on your side, there aren't many better ways to do it than to go in 1-0 down at half time and then score early in the second half. Been there so many times. Goodison can be horrible when things aren't going our way but the timing on Saturday seemed to be perfect. Even routine 2-0 wins aren't the same. We need some drama, some potential disaster, followed by a purposeful recovery, for Goodison to be at its atmospheric best. Bayern Munich 1985, basically. Saturday was a low-budget remake. Very Happy

hairy cataract August 16th 2021, 13:04

Rotterdam 1985 wrote:I was out on Saturday, on a river cruise down the Thames. An anniversary present bought for us over a year ago, delayed repeatedly because of Covid, and the sort of thing I'm generally not really into. But it was great actually. Some relatives had bought us a premium package so we had great seats, good food and excellent wine. Above all else it was nice to spend a day in London observing the progression to (hopefully) more of a post-Covid normality. Just being amongst crowds of people is a pleasure these days, I find.

It just meant that I couldn't pay full attention to the game. We were off the boat and swilling beers in a pub near Waterloo Bridge by the time the game started. I followed it via Bet365. The missus tried her best to get some conversation going, bless her, but I was a bit distracted, especially while we were 1-0 down.

All was well in the end. My lad saw the game on a stream and was very encouraged by the performance. His comments echoed Yank and Hairy's comments that it was 4-4-2/4-2-4 but more fluid and more tactically smart than some doom-and-gloom Toffeeweb types have suggested on Twitter. The one thing Rafa has going for him, in my eyes, is his tactical nous and his ability to change things during the game to good effect. My lad reckons that all he did at half time was to switch Richarlison into the middle with Gray going out wide, and he reckons it worked a treat.

The thing my lad was banging on about was tempo. We played at a certain pace. Not sure if that's down to Rafa, or the fans being back in the ground, or the introduction of the likes of Gray and Townsend, direct players who go for the jugular. Doesn't matter, we were too slow as a team last season and we need to play with more pace and drive when in possession. It sounds enouraging overall, even though I didn't see the game so will reserve early-season judgement until after Leeds and Brighton.

It's one win, against a team that will surely be bottom 4/5 this season, no need to get carried away. But every 3 points is priceless, especially when confidence is low. My only ambition for the team this season is to stay out of trouble and cross another season off towards us getting into the new stadium. And I remain enough of an optimist to hope that Rafa and this team might surprise us and exceed expectations. I ain't banking on it though. For now, a win on the opening day will do nicely, thanks.

One thing that struck me from watching the MoTD highlights - if you're going to get an edgy Goodison on your side, there aren't many better ways to do it than to go in 1-0 down at half time and then score early in the second half. Been there so many times. Goodison can be horrible when things aren't going our way but the timing on Saturday seemed to be perfect. Even routine 2-0 wins aren't the same. We need some drama, some potential disaster, followed by a purposeful recovery, for Goodison to be at its atmospheric best. Bayern Munich 1985, basically. Saturday was a low-budget remake.

Ha, yes, I was about to make a ridiculous reference to Bayern after I started reading your post, but you beat me to it! But you're absolutely right, drama following disaster does make for the most exciting games at Goodison, and you can't beat a second half comeback, especially when you end up winning by two clear goals.

Rafa's tweaks were simple, but incredibly effective. Pushing Gray out wide left and Richie coming inside definitely worked, and - though I didn't notice it at the time - he swapped Holgate and Keane around too. Anyway, there was loads of intensity compared to recent seasons, and a very clear (and obvious plan) which other teams will suss out at once, but will nevertheless maybe find difficult to counter. Rafa is pretty clear-eyed, and has clocked that we have very little going for us except a good old fashioned centre forward, and a pretty good Brazilian. He may have bought bargain basement wingers, but they can still do a job, so for the rest of the season it's going to be about getting the ball forward quickly, getting a cross in, and trying to keep it tight at the back and in midfield. I would like to see a replacement for Allan, because his passing was fucking dreadful, but the balance of the team looked good second half.

Time will tell, and we're unlikely to finish top six, but I think we might have some decent games to watch at Goodison, and to be honest that's all I want.

The second half was about as fun as it's been under any of our recent managers - possibly the early days of Martinez were as enjoyable - so carry on Rafa! Oh, and Iwobi looked a half-decent player for a change.

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