2018/19 Andre Gomes

[bring the ghost on]

I've just had a look at BFS results from last season and they don't look consistent to me. Apart from the little run we went on to start with it is very much like this season. We had a lot of easy games and we won the ones expected but away from home we had issues.

Given we signed several very good players in the summer, I would expect our level of consistency to be a bit better this season.

I appreciate it is a transitional season (albeit we say this every year) but it’s frustrating to see the clear dips in performances, going from inspired to spineless within the space of a game.

I was originally responding to a poster who said we’ll easily qualify for EL this year on the basis that we had Big Sam last year and I maintain that EL qualification isn’t a given because we’re far too inconsistent.

 

[CRIMHEAD]

What is absurd about it?

Silvas team has demonstrated that it can from awesome performances like Anfield away to absolute car crashes like Spurs at home.

Big Sams football was horrific and I wouldn’t go back to it in a million years, but you knew what you were getting and I don’t expect us to hugely improve on the points tally this year.

It had nothing to do with style, it had to do with us creating almost no chances last year, getting very lucky in those few chances, getting dominated by Watford and West Ham, and our opponents being unlucky in not scoring more.

We've had one car crash. One. We've been competitive every game and unlucky in others. Its night and day.

 

[CRIMHEAD]

Completely 100% objective he's a handsome handsome man

Football wise he's fantastic with the ball, a bit slow without it. His positioning is good tho which helps out with his lack of pace. I Will freely admit I never watched him before here but I recall people mentioning he often shot and scored from outside the box. You rarely see him line up a shot, I'm going to guess because he's more deep than he was in Spain?

He's been played a but deeper, but think that has as much to do with our poor ball control and lack of any sustained pressure in the final third.

 

[CRIMHEAD]

I've just had a look at BFS results from last season and they don't look consistent to me. Apart from the little run we went on to start with it is very much like this season. We had a lot of easy games and we won the ones expected but away from home we had issues.

We got dominated by West Ham, Watford, Burnley, Liverpool, etc. Dominated.

 

[bring the ghost on]

It had nothing to do with style, it had to do with us creating almost no chances last year, getting very lucky in those few chances, getting dominated by Watford and West Ham, and our opponents being unlucky in not scoring more.

We've had one car crash. One. We've been competitive every game and unlucky in others. Its night and day.

So you put Big Sams 7th place down to luck?

The league table doesn’t lie mate.

It has everything to do with his system and style. We ranked extemely poorly in terms of chances created, shots, possession, etc - however he kept clean sheets and prioritised defence above all. That’s what the guy does.

Silvas team create far more chances and concede more goals, and I would rather watch this Everton team over last seasons any day, but it’s niave to assume that we’re going to be far better off points wise.

 

[LouReedwalkonthewildside]

What is absurd about it?

Silvas team has demonstrated that it can from awesome performances like Anfield away to absolute car crashes like Spurs at home.

Big Sams football was horrific and I wouldn’t go back to it in a million years, but you knew what you were getting and I don’t expect us to hugely improve on the points tally this year.

I wouldn't go that far mate, we played really well, but awesome performance, nah.

 

[bring the ghost on]

I wouldn't go that far mate, we played really well, but awesome performance, nah.

True. Best I’ve seen us play at Anfield for many years, but that isn’t really saying much.

 

[mkrudden]

So you put Big Sams 7th place down to luck?

The league table doesn’t lie mate.

It has everything to do with his system and style. We ranked extemely poorly in terms of chances created, shots, possession, etc - however he kept clean sheets and prioritised defence above all. That’s what the guy does.

Silvas team create far more chances and concede more goals, and I would rather watch this Everton team over last seasons any day, but it’s niave to assume that we’re going to be far better off points wise.

We finished 8th didn't we?
Even so, the reason there are so few Allardyce-type managers left proves that in order to accumulate more points you need to be progressive in your game.

Look at the top 6 now. There isn't a defensive coach in there.

So whilst this season it may not yield more points (personally I think it will but we will see), the future of the club needs to be dependent on possession based football. That's the difference between a top 6/7 team and a bottom 6 team.

 

[The binman chronicles]

Given we signed several very good players in the summer, I would expect our level of consistency to be a bit better this season.

I appreciate it is a transitional season (albeit we say this every year) but it’s frustrating to see the clear dips in performances, going from inspired to spineless within the space of a game.

I was originally responding to a poster who said we’ll easily qualify for EL this year on the basis that we had Big Sam last year and I maintain that EL qualification isn’t a given because we’re far too inconsistent.

We're just a frustrating team that has a hex on it. No need to look into it any further...

 

[mkrudden]

We finished 8th didn't we?
Even so, the reason there are so few Allardyce-type managers left proves that in order to accumulate more points you need to be progressive in your game.

Look at the top 6 now. There isn't a defensive coach in there.

So whilst this season it may not yield more points (personally I think it will but we will see), the future of the club needs to be dependent on possession based football. That's the difference between a top 6/7 team and a bottom 6 team.

Apologies just realised this was the Gomes thread.

He's fit and our joint best player with Sig.

Oh and he was awful vs Brighton. Nothing to do with movement around him etc. He was loose in his passing and passive off the ball.

One of those days, we all have them.

 

[The binman chronicles]

We got dominated by West Ham, Watford, Burnley, Liverpool, etc. Dominated.

I agree I'm far happier now than I was last season. The consistently inconsistent was the only point I was getting at between this and the last one.

Having players like Gomes gives us hope, but at some point we have to convert that into something useful, hopefully sooner rather than later. If not he is going to walk in the Summer and you couldn't really blame him for it.

 

[LocalNative]

He badly needs a rest. First festive round of fixtures and looks really lethargic of late. Would be tempted to stick him on the bench v Leicester so he's fit for Lincoln - which is far more important IMO.

 

[bring the ghost on]

We finished 8th didn't we?
Even so, the reason there are so few Allardyce-type managers left proves that in order to accumulate more points you need to be progressive in your game.

Look at the top 6 now. There isn't a defensive coach in there.

So whilst this season it may not yield more points (personally I think it will but we will see), the future of the club needs to be dependent on possession based football. That's the difference between a top 6/7 team and a bottom 6 team.

Yep totally agree, I was never arguing his brand of football is in any way progressive, just that I doubt we’ll see an immediate drastic improvement points wise.

 

[Lowste]

You mean the approach that's seen him find his best form in two years, get back into the Portugal side and has him thriving in the Premier League?

He's been a bit off in the past two games. He's here until the end of the season and I'm pretty sure he'll want to be here past that - we have to make sure of that. But part of us making sure we're in a position to keep him will be him playing at his best and helping us finish where we want to (at the least), which realistically this season is seventh.

I see a extremely talented footballer who is looking around the pitch to move the ball. In the main he just has to clip it wide, as simply that is the way we approach games. If Gomes is to stay he will want people around him who can pass and move the ball about, and break teams down.

I would love him to stay, sadly 7th place will not be enough as for me there will be CL teams looking at him...

 

[LouReedwalkonthewildside]

He badly needs a rest. First festive round of fixtures and looks really lethargic of late. Would be tempted to stick him on the bench v Leicester so he's fit for Lincoln - which is far more important IMO.

Would normally be a good idea mate, but it's who replaces him, Davies or Scneiderlin!

Lincoln would be the game too rest him.