hktoffee
Birds of a feather flock together
I don’t see the logic why do we have to struggle in the league in order to win a cup?
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TheBigIguana
Player Valuation: £100m
Well my hope for the club is fluking a cup isn't the limit of where we want to go
Why can we not just do it?
We are just four wins away from winning the F.A. Cup.
I am sure you want that as much as I do.
You are right about “going backward in the last 2 months” though.
In fact I would make it three months.
Since we fluked a draw against a shell shocked RS we have had mostly awful performances, albeit some good wins amongst them.
Sassy Colombian
Member: Team PoP
Interesting article. Posting it here for those that don't have a subscription.
In a literal sense, Carlo Ancelotti may well have been right when he said Everton were not “desperate” to add signings before today’s deadline.
“Desperate” is not a word that immediately springs to mind when describing a side that has enjoyed such a promising start to the season, accumulating 33 points from 19 games to put them in the race for Europe.
But if Everton are to kick on, turning early-season promise into something more tangible, Saturday’s torrid 2-0 home defeat to Newcastle United should at least offer cause for thought.
There is a symbolism attached to Everton naming one fewer substitute than the nine permitted under Premier League rules.
The progress made in transfer discussions over the previous 24 hours meant that Cenk Tosun and Bernard were unavailable, otherwise engaged in talks with Besiktas and UAE side Al Nasr, respectively, over January moves. Goalkeeper Jonas Lossl, poised to join Danish title challengers Midtjylland on a free transfer in the coming day, was not available either.
Without Tosun and Bernard in particular, Everton were down to the relative bare bones, compounding the struggles seen on the pitch during a frustrating afternoon in which little went right.
Just over 60 minutes are on the clock on Saturday when Ancelotti turns to his bench.
Things up to that point have not gone well. Not only have Everton failed to create meaningful chances at home to a team who have won two points in 27, but the visitors are growing in confidence.
The Italian takes stock of his options: two goalkeepers, three defenders, two midfielders and young forward Anthony Gordon, who has five Premier League starts to his name.
It is not enough. Nowhere near enough. But Ancelotti makes a change: Andre Gomes replacing the largely anonymous Alex Iwobi.
On 73 minutes, Newcastle take the lead. Again Ancelotti looks to his bench.
Gordon is the only attacker and the Italian thinks better of another change. By the end, Newcastle have doubled their advantage and Everton have made one substitution — a damning indictment on the lack of game-changing options at Ancelotti’s disposal.
This was meant to be the game where Everton stepped up to show their European credentials; the one where they took off the shackles and imposed themselves against lesser opponents.
Against Leicester in midweek, they had settled into the role of disruptor, surrendering 65 per cent of the possession and fighting their way to a point. It is a blueprint that has largely served them well and would have been enough to see them to victory again against Brendan Rodgers’ side save for a Jordan Pickford error.
Newcastle, though, presented a different challenge; the type they have struggled to overcome this season.
Everton knew that they would need to be the aggressor against Steve Bruce’s side. As the pitch map shows below, Gylfi Sigurdsson (10) was selected in a deeper central midfield role to help dictate attacks, replacing Tom Davies (26), while full-backs Seamus Coleman (23) and Lucas Digne (12) started considerably higher up the pitch than Mason Holgate (4) and Ben Godfrey (22) had done on Wednesday.
By the end of Saturday’s game, Everton had almost emulated Leicester’s midweek possession totals (61 vs 65 per cent). They had flipped their most recent blueprint on its head and lost 2-0.
It speaks volumes about this Everton team, and their relative strengths and weaknesses, that they can lose twice in one season to lowly Newcastle but take four points from games against high-flying Leicester, beat Arsenal and Chelsea at home and triumph away to Tottenham Hotspur.
Some would see that as a contradiction. But for Newcastle, read West Ham or Burnley, two other largely unambitious sides that have thwarted them.
Ancelotti’s team are not yet suited to the role of aggressor. James Rodriguez aside, they lack regular quality on the ball from midfield, while the forward options on the bench are practically non-existent.
Sigurdsson was selected in a deeper role to control attacks, but Everton rarely gained a physical foothold or penetrated into the final third. Dominic Calvert-Lewin was starved of service.
After the game, captain Coleman complained to broadcasters that Newcastle had wanted it more and that Everton had been outfought. His manager shared a similar opinion, bemoaning “laziness”, and told the players the same thing after the match.
“Newcastle won the game because they showed more fighting spirit on the pitch,” said the Italian. “They showed more concentration, more motivation. They were the weapons we had when we won games — spirit, motivation, concentration and ambition.
“We forgot all this today. I don’t know why. But that was the reason, it was not a tactical or physical reason, it was a mental reason. Of course, we have good quality in the squad, but without spirit, there is no quality.”
The temptation would be to see it as more than that. Newcastle did what Everton had done to Leicester, Chelsea, Arsenal and others, exploiting the space that appeared as Everton pushed.
Match-winner Callum Wilson was played on the right of the forward line to, according to Steve Bruce, exploit the space down the left side of Everton’s defence. This was tactical and it was also about personnel.
Rarely have Newcastle been as dangerous. It was only the second time this season that they have accumulated an expected goals (xG) total of two for a single match. The other? Everton at home.
The pattern is that Everton do not yet have all the ingredients needed to cash in against the division’s weaker teams. Not enough pace, guile on the ball or options in reserve to change momentum. Still they look more suited to reactive play.
It would be a surprise if that pattern did not continue in the second half of the season.
For Everton to push on to the next level, they will need to find remedies before the deadline or in the summer.
The hope is that Everton will have shifted a number of squad players, including Bernard, Tosun and Lossl by the end of this transfer window. Yannick Bolasie has already joined Middlesbrough on loan, while Jonjoe Kenny is in talks to join Celtic on loan until the end of the season after initially attracting interest from Burnley. Trimming the squad in such a way has become a necessity as Everton seek more sustainability.
Still counting the cost of failures of the past — players on the periphery signed on large contracts predominately by previous regimes but who rarely feature — more will undoubtedly remain after the window closes as clearing deadwood is a problem shared across the game.
It is a context that sheds some light on the club’s policy over incomings this window. For a while, the talk has been that they will look to do business in the summer instead. For all the short-term need, summer is when the bulk of the restructuring should take place in the forward line. What happens with Moise Kean, courted by Paris Saint-Germain where he is enjoying a successful loan, will be important given his value in the transfer market. Everton will not totally rule out selling the Italian and that, in turn, should create wiggle room in the budget.
For now, the squad looks threadbare and overly reliant on a small number of star players. When Everton drift or are found wanting, too often they do not find an answer.
They have until Monday evening to make additions. “Desperate” may be a stretch but Everton do need something if they are to become more.
In a literal sense, Carlo Ancelotti may well have been right when he said Everton were not “desperate” to add signings before today’s deadline.
“Desperate” is not a word that immediately springs to mind when describing a side that has enjoyed such a promising start to the season, accumulating 33 points from 19 games to put them in the race for Europe.
But if Everton are to kick on, turning early-season promise into something more tangible, Saturday’s torrid 2-0 home defeat to Newcastle United should at least offer cause for thought.
There is a symbolism attached to Everton naming one fewer substitute than the nine permitted under Premier League rules.
The progress made in transfer discussions over the previous 24 hours meant that Cenk Tosun and Bernard were unavailable, otherwise engaged in talks with Besiktas and UAE side Al Nasr, respectively, over January moves. Goalkeeper Jonas Lossl, poised to join Danish title challengers Midtjylland on a free transfer in the coming day, was not available either.
Without Tosun and Bernard in particular, Everton were down to the relative bare bones, compounding the struggles seen on the pitch during a frustrating afternoon in which little went right.
Just over 60 minutes are on the clock on Saturday when Ancelotti turns to his bench.
Things up to that point have not gone well. Not only have Everton failed to create meaningful chances at home to a team who have won two points in 27, but the visitors are growing in confidence.
The Italian takes stock of his options: two goalkeepers, three defenders, two midfielders and young forward Anthony Gordon, who has five Premier League starts to his name.
It is not enough. Nowhere near enough. But Ancelotti makes a change: Andre Gomes replacing the largely anonymous Alex Iwobi.
On 73 minutes, Newcastle take the lead. Again Ancelotti looks to his bench.
Gordon is the only attacker and the Italian thinks better of another change. By the end, Newcastle have doubled their advantage and Everton have made one substitution — a damning indictment on the lack of game-changing options at Ancelotti’s disposal.
This was meant to be the game where Everton stepped up to show their European credentials; the one where they took off the shackles and imposed themselves against lesser opponents.
Against Leicester in midweek, they had settled into the role of disruptor, surrendering 65 per cent of the possession and fighting their way to a point. It is a blueprint that has largely served them well and would have been enough to see them to victory again against Brendan Rodgers’ side save for a Jordan Pickford error.
Newcastle, though, presented a different challenge; the type they have struggled to overcome this season.
Everton knew that they would need to be the aggressor against Steve Bruce’s side. As the pitch map shows below, Gylfi Sigurdsson (10) was selected in a deeper central midfield role to help dictate attacks, replacing Tom Davies (26), while full-backs Seamus Coleman (23) and Lucas Digne (12) started considerably higher up the pitch than Mason Holgate (4) and Ben Godfrey (22) had done on Wednesday.
By the end of Saturday’s game, Everton had almost emulated Leicester’s midweek possession totals (61 vs 65 per cent). They had flipped their most recent blueprint on its head and lost 2-0.
It speaks volumes about this Everton team, and their relative strengths and weaknesses, that they can lose twice in one season to lowly Newcastle but take four points from games against high-flying Leicester, beat Arsenal and Chelsea at home and triumph away to Tottenham Hotspur.
Some would see that as a contradiction. But for Newcastle, read West Ham or Burnley, two other largely unambitious sides that have thwarted them.
Ancelotti’s team are not yet suited to the role of aggressor. James Rodriguez aside, they lack regular quality on the ball from midfield, while the forward options on the bench are practically non-existent.
Sigurdsson was selected in a deeper role to control attacks, but Everton rarely gained a physical foothold or penetrated into the final third. Dominic Calvert-Lewin was starved of service.
After the game, captain Coleman complained to broadcasters that Newcastle had wanted it more and that Everton had been outfought. His manager shared a similar opinion, bemoaning “laziness”, and told the players the same thing after the match.
“Newcastle won the game because they showed more fighting spirit on the pitch,” said the Italian. “They showed more concentration, more motivation. They were the weapons we had when we won games — spirit, motivation, concentration and ambition.
“We forgot all this today. I don’t know why. But that was the reason, it was not a tactical or physical reason, it was a mental reason. Of course, we have good quality in the squad, but without spirit, there is no quality.”
The temptation would be to see it as more than that. Newcastle did what Everton had done to Leicester, Chelsea, Arsenal and others, exploiting the space that appeared as Everton pushed.
Match-winner Callum Wilson was played on the right of the forward line to, according to Steve Bruce, exploit the space down the left side of Everton’s defence. This was tactical and it was also about personnel.
Rarely have Newcastle been as dangerous. It was only the second time this season that they have accumulated an expected goals (xG) total of two for a single match. The other? Everton at home.
The pattern is that Everton do not yet have all the ingredients needed to cash in against the division’s weaker teams. Not enough pace, guile on the ball or options in reserve to change momentum. Still they look more suited to reactive play.
It would be a surprise if that pattern did not continue in the second half of the season.
For Everton to push on to the next level, they will need to find remedies before the deadline or in the summer.
The hope is that Everton will have shifted a number of squad players, including Bernard, Tosun and Lossl by the end of this transfer window. Yannick Bolasie has already joined Middlesbrough on loan, while Jonjoe Kenny is in talks to join Celtic on loan until the end of the season after initially attracting interest from Burnley. Trimming the squad in such a way has become a necessity as Everton seek more sustainability.
Still counting the cost of failures of the past — players on the periphery signed on large contracts predominately by previous regimes but who rarely feature — more will undoubtedly remain after the window closes as clearing deadwood is a problem shared across the game.
It is a context that sheds some light on the club’s policy over incomings this window. For a while, the talk has been that they will look to do business in the summer instead. For all the short-term need, summer is when the bulk of the restructuring should take place in the forward line. What happens with Moise Kean, courted by Paris Saint-Germain where he is enjoying a successful loan, will be important given his value in the transfer market. Everton will not totally rule out selling the Italian and that, in turn, should create wiggle room in the budget.
For now, the squad looks threadbare and overly reliant on a small number of star players. When Everton drift or are found wanting, too often they do not find an answer.
They have until Monday evening to make additions. “Desperate” may be a stretch but Everton do need something if they are to become more.
Sharpattack
Player Valuation: £35m
Fair for the most part
Sassy Colombian
Member: Team PoP
I thought so too!
Saint Domingo
Player Valuation: £90m
What are people going to moan about ow he can’t throw on Gordon and Simms? ‘WTF did he loan out Gordon and Simms?!!’
"Why did we let Walcott go"
Ring master
Player Valuation: £90m
It's an early one tomorrow it seems,11.30am if no error
The difference between 5th and 17th is about 25millions poundsI cannot understand the logic behind that thinking.
Of course finishing 5th....or even 10th....is very different to finishing 17th and it really matters.
If for no better reason than we have to actually win more games in a season.
And speaking as someone whose general demeanour and outlook on life is very much coloured by what happens to Everton on matchdays that is very important to me.
Plus winning is better for my blood pressure....which must have been off the scale in the hours following that fiasco on Saturday
To win the Thursday Cup you need, due the number of games, a CL sized squad in quality and quantity.
The top teams who have struggled 1 season and are in Europa or the ones that start in the CL then drop down have this and more often than not get to the final and even win it.
Drumblue
Player Valuation: £8m
I think with the squad we have it's remarkable were we are at this point in time.In Carlo we trust.
this. Clearly we’re shifting out the benchwarmers squad joggers for a big summer of ins
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