Everton 1-2 Real Madrid KO 0100 4th August

[chicoazul]

Thought we played well.

 

[Tubey]

Thought we played well.

I agree with this, good effort from the lads in the second half, good occasion, well done to all involved and we move into the season with a good idea of our strengths and weaknesses.

Really decent pre-season overall.

 

[Brennan]

Thought we played well.

Kopite.

 

[chicoazul]

I agree with this, good effort from the lads in the second half, good occasion, well done to all involved and we move into the season with a good idea of our strengths and weaknesses.

Really decent pre-season overall.

Who was your stand out player for us Tubes?

 

[chicoazul]

Kopite.

Your barnet looks like the Kop lad.

 

[blueblue]

I watched all of the game last night but looking at some of the reviews on here I think I must have been watching a different game to some of you..
First,we were playing a full strength Real Madrid ,one of the very best teams in World football,their team cost in the hundreds of millions and they are a fine team with great players.....so that is what we were up against.

We scored what I considered a good goal at a crucial time only for it to be disallowed,we hit the post and had a clearcut penalty disallowed.As well as scoring a very good goal.

When you play Real Madrid and teams of that calibre you are forced to modify your game ,for instance Baines can not go careering up and down the field as it suits him ,he has to put more emphasis on defending and attack when you get the chance.

We didn't look lost or out of place against one of the worlds best team and were probably unlucky not to get the draw.

I thought.
Howard did well,looked save and made one great acrobatic save from Di Maria I think...he looked ready for the season.
I thought the two wing backs did well,both were forced to defend a little more than usual,attack a little less than usual,but both did well,defended well and attacked with prpose when possible.
I thought Distin and Jagielka held their own against forwards of the highest calibre.We were caught out a little too high in the first half but I am not sure if that was their fault or the fault of Heitinga.

I thought Heitinga was poor, too sloppy,too casual gave the ball away cheaply allowing Madrid to break at pace from midfield,he loves the long raking pass and sometimes it works,but he wouldn't be in any team I would pick.

Unlike many it seems I thought Osman did well,competitive in midfield, quick feet,neat and tidy.I thought he provided an edge in midfield. I think he will be in the team most Saturdays under RM.
I thought Fellaini did quite qell,but long term I am not sure that he fits easily into the quick movment,quick passing style that RM seems to favour.
Naismith did well,he looked lively sharp and was involved a lot,he created the goal for Jelavic...he looks to be a totally different player to the one that struggled last season.
Mirallas..class act.
Kone tried hard but struggled really,Jelavic came in after Madrid changed half their team but did well and looked sharp.
Jelavic is a goal poacher,he is not very fast,he is not very strong,he doesn't hold up play very well(all the things Kone can do) but when Jelavic is in form he is a very good goal poacher and a real threat.

The subs generally did fine,Gibson looked composed,Barkley looks comfortable at this level and will continue to improve with experience,Delofeu in a brief cameo looked threating.

 

[flowboy]

For the past decade, our manager has treated the strikers as hold-up men and defence stretchers, with goals coming from midfielders joining the attack. Any goals the strikers managed to get were in spite of this system.

None of us know how any of our strikers will fair playing consistently in a system designed to allow them to act as the primary goal scorers.

Granted, this is a little premature to say, but early indications are that Jelavic is going to benefit from the change in style.

I agree entirely. It's early days but I have the feeling that Martinez is actually intending to use strikers to score goals and I think that Jelavic could come into form again in that role. Some people praise Anichebe for his hold up play but, quite frankly, that defeats the object of having pace on the flanks (Baines and Pienaar on the left and Coleman and Mirallas on the right). We need to be able to break at speed and get the ball into the box early to a striker who has a bit of pace and is in there to score rather than to hold it up and take all the pace out of our attacks.

Same. Looking forwards to a more expansive style era. Speed where necessary, but different tempos too, including patient spell to work openings, and sometimes going backwards to create the opening to go forwards, with possession. "They can't score if they don't have the ball" as my Dad used to say.

Anyway, enjoyable experimentation so far under Martinez. Think Martinez still needs to make some more additions to the squad to properly ignite into the styles he wants to play. Exciting times ahead though.

 

[IRO1977]

Can''t be arsed any more, you're all miles out if you the SC is the better player after one good season. Have a bit of ****ing perspective.

Ok mate x

 

[toffeejack]

Who was your stand out player for us Tubes?

i thought naismith was class. have to be honest. he's not a winger but made some lovely moves and tricks that left their full back for dead, didn't put a foot wrong.

Mirallas probably edged him as our best player because he was more dangerous. Good to see howard show some form in pre-season, still not totally convinced he should be first choice for a top 6 team but there we go.

 

[TheRailwayman]

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[bluemangroup]

To be fair mate, I'll keep a much closer eye on him this season. I'm a right back myself, so it's a position I constantly watch anyway. His positioning in general is ****, but his pace has always made up for it. I said initially that SC is better going back but technical ability and going forwards (that's shooting and general approach play around the box, not just crosses and assists) is better.

I really don't see how that is such an absurd thing to say mate, I really don't.

I'm not saying its absurd mate tbh. On the dribbling front I think they arent all that different right now, in terms of end product, Johnson has a better dig on him, but his crossing can leave a bit to be desired. I think all in all, they are of a similar standard, with Coleman starting to creep ahead as he gets a bit older.

 

[Gwladys St. Glory]

You smell that...

 

[KevMirallas]

Pretty sure our Johnson fan was ****ging off Belg Kev during the game too. And we all know how boss he is.

 

[IRO1977]

Johnson is the worst RB i've ever seen at actually defending

 

[ToxtethBlue]

Heitinga can give us composure as a third centre back but he was playing higher up the pitch against Real, almost as a deep lying passer and he doesn't adjust his feet quickly enough for the role when he's closed down. Him dropping back and making it a three when we didn't have the ball didn't seemed to cause confusion as well. That being said, Real's movement and speed of passing is insane, we aren't going to come up against and team like that in the Prem.