What We Learned: Everton 1

For the second weeks running, Hackney comes on in the wrong position — not Hayden’s fault but welcome to Moyes world.

Alcaraz must be saying, “Dewsbury-Hall is player below his standards from last season and I can’t get 15 minutess against 10 men at home… whats the point???”

Well, Moyes will say, “3 points — what more do we want, because Everton are not expected to do any good.”

Cheers, Davey.

Perhaps he is turning the opinion of some.

He is only 23 – he is a late developer as well.

Drogba only really got going at Chelsea when he was 26.

I have noticed that he has an all round game and each bit has been inconsistent — but each one he excels at every now and then.

We all have noticed he has improved. He has got over his shoulder injury and looks ot have settled. The best years are ahead of him and hopefully in a trophy-winning blue shirt.

His heading has been powerful in terms of positioning, leap and connection with the ball this season. He just either has hit the goalie’s face, arm or body — then he scores a great header and it gets kocked off with an interfering VAR — for something that is not clear and obvious and was not in line with the goalkeeper’s line of vision and trajectory of the ball.

Overall, I believe we have another burgeoning talent. Tick in the box for everyone involved, including the lad himself.

One more point: he is probably one of the best value-for-money strikers in the Premier League at £55k per week.

He wondered if it’s policy to employ kopites in the away end? 😀

We have a decent defence, I’d rest Tarkowski at every opportunity, not playing midweek probably helped him, he’s getting no younger. Keep him fresher than last season where he showed he was tiring.

The break for internationals should give us an opportunity to work on bits. Even with a few not at their best this season, we are unbeaten; yes, we can do better, and some can play a lot better… that is a plus in my book.

Some young talent in this side who will all play good chunks of the season. I’m looking forward to them improving through the season.

We will be in tough in many games because of the lack of scoring prowess but Barry is working hard and we have nobody else.

We have many options in the middle of the park with Rohl and Norgaard to add extra options after the break but yesterday, sloppy passing could have cost us, and that needs to be worked on by the coaching staff.

But more likely it’s just marketing, giving the away fans a friendly experience.

Dibling looked different class every time he touched the ball when he came on. Armstrong has a way to go before he’s a Premier League player on that performance.

Barry can’t play 90 minutes of every game — he will burn out; the service to him was poor most of the game. We don’t have enough craft in the middle, Garner is over-rated for me. Grealish needs to be more direct.

George will become a very top player, the lad’s always looking forward, he’s quick, can beat a man and can shoot, what more do you want???

Branthwaite didn’t have his best game; Tarkowski and Mykolenko had their usual steady games. Johnson missed his first chance but it took skill to make it, he’s getting in the right places to score, he had another half chance which he missed also.

We need a real class act in the middle still, there’s too much going backwards. We are still a 10th to 12th position side on that showing and that’s before any injuries happen.

Or why can’t he look up at the huge replay screens that the fans can and see what they see?

My point is that, with the way things are set up, it’s easy for the referee to think that VAR can see more clearly than he can on his screen and bow to their judgement.

Firstly, the game. I agree with most of the author’s comments about the match. Dibling looked lively and not afraid to try and create something, he needs a lot of love I think but he could and probably should take that spot from Johnson now.

As for our Brennan, he looks completely devoid of confidence, I hope we as a fan base get behind him but based on what I have seen so far, he is way off it.

I don’t agree with Raymond’s comment about Armstrong not being Premier League ready, he’s so young, he needs to be handled carefully. That said, I would personally give Hackney some game time over him next match but ensure he knows he didn’t lose his spot etc.

Maitland-Niles looked decent, I was impressed; I still want us to sign another right-back but so far he looks like a steal.

Jarrad Branthwaite made quite a few errors, I thought, whilst Tarkowski was immense. Happy for Barry, who is getting better, we may have a proper striker on our hands by next season.

Last player to comment on is Jack Grealish, I thought he looked off it and very slow… more than usual, I mean.

As for the stadium, wow! I was totally blown away and so proud of our club, it’s hard to believe it’s ours.

This might be controversial but I was shocked by the lack of atmosphere, though, was it a particularly quiet game? I know it lacked quality but the most noise made all afternoon was when Barry’s perfectly good goal was disallowed.

I was in the South Stand with two Ipswich fans (who sat sheepishly with me), he’s my old best mate from school as I was born in Ipswich. We chatted with some other Town fans at a service station later and they all said the same thing: no atmosphere, the ground was beautiful but it felt like a sanitised experience, too family friendly etc.

They didn’t feel it generated a sense of combativeness between the fans as it was so integrated and welcoming! You can’t please everyone, I guess, but I thought I’d share their views (my mate said the same) and I have to agree with it to a certain extent. I’d really built it up to my mate, loudest fans etc, he said he’d never known a ground to be so quiet?! I am curious what others make of those comments.

So, overall, delighted with the 3 points from a game which lacked any real quality. I am glad to now have been to the stadium too. COYB.

We will need to improve, that’s obvious, we need to start learning to kill sides off and our finishing as a whole must improve but for now, we are sailing along relatively well.

Hopefully this break gives Dewsbury-Hall the opportunity to reset a little too and see if he can start tightening up his play, we know he’s so much better than the player we have seen in the last 4 weeks.

Being behind the goal, it was obvious the keeper was going in the opposite direction. Dewsbury-Hall was again off and Alcaraz should have come on. Our finishing was poor, we should have had 5 with better finishing.

What annoyed me was our game management at the end. We should be controlling the ball in the opposition half and taking the fouls to control the game.

Howard Webb coming out and apologising, or hiding behind another woeful performance, is sadly too common of an event.

Only a matter of time before overseas refs are added to the game. The game is packed with overseas players, owners, managers and coaches, but yet we still rely on homegrown refs that aren’t up to it.

I agree completely, but how Webb can defend two refs doing VAR can’t make the right decision, and they are too stubborn to follow how Rugby Union do things.

An apology isn’t much good to a manager who could be sacked because of their mistakes.

I do.

Believe me, English refs are the best of the bunch.

I do.

Believe me, English refs are the best of the bunch.

Webb unfortunately has turned out to be a crap leader of the refs, constantly reactive to controversy instead of setting out a concrete standard of procedure and insisting they stick to it.

I expected him to be an improvement on the disgusting Mike Riley, but… not much.

Let’s hope the 3 week break might allow interested parties to push on with the sale. Can’t have owners who show no interest in the club and, 2 weeks before the window closes, withdraw money they were going to spend on players.

Not sure they will give us the same backing but hopefully, one day, we can do a Roma.

I think Grealish needs to play more centrally and that will allow George to be on the wing, if that would work I’m not sure, but we need George involved more.

Him and Dibling could give us a leg up to being a serious team in the short and long term — they look top quality players.

We all know Roma fans went through a period of dismay with TFG.
Not sure they are demonstrating anymore !

Brian 26.
Well if Elton Welsby says it, it’s surely come straight from Dan himself !

What do you expect when the fare served up is so dull. I’m ready to fall asleep every game after about 2 minutes. Might bring a pillow with me next match.

When Niasse scored, does that mean he should start the next game?
When Bernie Wright scored, does that mean he should be in the team each week? (he was because we had nobody better).
When a batsman takes a wicket – does the captain continue to bowl him rather than bring back his front line bowler.

This is Premier League, not a kick around in the playground.

It’s becoming a sore point for some people but something that I hope becomes a genuine one, is what Brian@26, has said about The Very Silent Friedkin’s, looking to sell our club.

Have you ever been to Everton, Dan? No but I did happen to own the club for a while and I made a small fortune before deciding to move it on🤞

I think instinctually he likes to get the ball at his feet with space and the ability to square up and face the defender so he can survey his options. At #10 you have to make instant decisions with the ball, and obviously that’s not Jack’s natural predilection.