Match Thread Everton v Chelsea - Preview, Match Report and MotM Poll

Everton Man of the Match

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mccole said:
Chelsea last season was the jumpboard for a kick-starting our post Silva hangover thanks to Dunc but away from Goodison it was the game Carlo finally realised how big of a job he has on his hands with us.

I think our current 3-4-3 has backfired so far without Coleman and Digne but to be fair Iwobi has done well.

I'd like us to at least be balanced with James in the middle of midfield to pull the strings and keep our wing backs and wingers free to attack.

Chelsea likely to have Mount, Havertz and Kante in the middle so our midfield of Doucoure, James and Allan will be a good match.

Defensively we need height and a good shape so I can see Mina coming in to help with Giroud. Keane and Pickford are starters for sure and Keane will be needed to pick up Werner who is due to smash 4 or 5 in.

We have to put Nkounkou in at left back but I hoped he would've played against Burnley to help him settle better and Chelsea with their right side of Reese James, Havertz and Pulisic has to be one of the best in Europe nevermind the league. Luckily Nkounkou will have Richarlison to help out down that side.

Right back unless Coleman is fit and Kenny isn't been used as an option, has to be Holgate. He has more experience in that position than Godfrey plus he has good pace to compete with Chilwell overlapping and given how well he has done in the last 3 games, Iwobi will be supporting well.

Pickford
Holgate - Keane - Mina - Nkounkou
Doucoure - James - Allan
Iwobi - DCL - Richarlison

I hope Gordon gets a spot on the bench because he could impact games better than Tosun.

2-1 to Everton
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I like your ideas but Ancelotti will not select Nkounkou or Gordon, they are to young for him.
 
TheBigIguana said:
Why would we concentrate on the thing we aren't good at and possibly can't even do? I also think you and blue toffee are both underestimating the likelihood that Godfrey is a terrible defender at LB too.

Nkounkou isn't Digne going forward but he's left footed, reasonably athletic to cover the ground and can at least attempt to cross from wide so he's the best chance we've got at keeping the team balanced. That's been the case for 3 weeks now.
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Well we need to concentrate on defending. We can’t go all season saying we won’t bother because we’re crap at it. I’m not underestimating anything about Godfrey, I’ve said it’s not ideal. But he’s got prem experience both last season and this and seems to be both progressing and trusted. That’s compared to Nkounkou who’s not played 90 minutes in prem or France once. But that’s ok he’s obviously ready to start against Chelsea. The bizarre thing is I actually really want him to be.
 
Just had Seamus on BBC local TV. He said he's looking forward to the fans back at Goodison and the BBC said he's back in training. So he may be back for Chelski
 
Blue toffee said:
Well we need to concentrate on defending. We can’t go all season saying we won’t bother because we’re crap at it. I’m not underestimating anything about Godfrey, I’ve said it’s not ideal. But he’s got prem experience both last season and this and seems to be both progressing and trusted. That’s compared to Nkounkou who’s not played 90 minutes in prem or France once. But that’s ok he’s obviously ready to start against Chelsea. The bizarre thing is I actually really want him to be.
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I'm not saying don't try to defend better. I just want us to acknowledge the realities of our current squad. And I think at present we are more likely to win a game 3-2 than 1-0, so I'd sacrifice defensively to make sure we have an actual attacking threat wide left which imo was the biggest reason we didn't beat Leeds or Burnley.

And again I think Godfrey being better defensively than Nkounkou at LB is still more of a question than you are making it out to be.
 
TheBigIguana said:
Why would we concentrate on the thing we aren't good at and possibly can't even do? I also think you and blue toffee are both underestimating the likelihood that Godfrey is a terrible defender at LB too.

Nkounkou isn't Digne going forward but he's left footed, reasonably athletic to cover the ground and can at least attempt to cross from wide so he's the best chance we've got at keeping the team balanced. That's been the case for 3 weeks now.
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Try get better mate at defending and keeping clean sheets. So do we not try improve?? Mad statement that!
2 things. Godrey was probably our best defender last week out of position.
Neils wont be in the squad so your points about balance naybe true but he wont play.
Love to see him as an option but its a while off and carlo sees him everyday.
Fact you dont think we need to concentrate on improving at the back is laughable so my last comment here
 

granter79 said:
Try get better mate at defending and keeping clean sheets. So do we not try improve?? Mad statement that!
2 things. Godrey was probably our best defender last week out of position.
Neils wont be in the squad so your points about balance naybe true but he wont play.
Love to see him as an option but its a while off and carlo sees him everyday.
Fact you dont think we need to concentrate on improving at the back is laughable so my last comment here
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I'm not saying don't try and improve. I am saying that playing a right footed CB who has never played extensively at fullback at LB might not actually be the way to do it. And if it isn't the case that we suddenly are defensively solid because of that switch I can all but guarantee we will be less threatening going forward which means we come out worse overall.

When I say don't concentrate on it what I mean is don't do things that sacrifice the attacking play in a major way since that is our strength. I'm not saying we should just resign ourselves to conceding. Although I do think every time he picks Pickford he is sort of doing that.
 
We'd better win this one, as it would a right red neck for Ancelotti to lose against his old club. Especially when they are managed by a novice!
 
TheBigIguana said:
I'm not saying don't try to defend better. I just want us to acknowledge the realities of our current squad. And I think at present we are more likely to win a game 3-2 than 1-0, so I'd sacrifice defensively to make sure we have an actual attacking threat wide left which imo was the biggest reason we didn't beat Leeds or Burnley.

And again I think Godfrey being better defensively than Nkounkou at LB is still more of a question than you are making it out to be.
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I long for the days of a 1-0 win. Sacrifice defensively? We’ve been doing that all season. We didn’t loose against Leeds because we had no WL threat.
The opinion between the 2 players is simply based on which of the 2 has performed the better, or at all. We don’t know why Nkounkou hasn’t been picked, both here and France, may not agree if we did. But there will be a reason. I’m happy so far to trust the manager/ coach's with that.
 
Blue toffee said:
I long for the days of a 1-0 win. Sacrifice defensively? We’ve been doing that all season. We didn’t loose against Leeds because we had no WL threat.
The opinion between the 2 players is simply based on which of the 2 has performed the better, or at all. We don’t know why Nkounkou hasn’t been picked, both here and France, may not agree if we did. But there will be a reason. I’m happy so far to trust the manager/ coach's with that.
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That's the thing though he's been making defensive decisions that have hurt our ability to score goals while we still concede.

Honestly there is one simple way to turn our defense around at least to a decent point. Drop Pickford. Until we do that the team should be going out to score 3 every week.
 
Fatty Ashley (Williams) I believe fomented player agitation for providing the all-day full English breakfast option on the FF cafeteria menu. So, for the many on here who are pointing the finger at the squad's poor diet habits adversely impacting performance, Fatty Ashley sits fairly and squarely at ground zero. Of course Fatty Koeman did not help matters with all the fattening Dutch grub he insisted be served alongside the 'full English'.
Coincidence that both these blights on the club's history are nicknamed 'Fatty"?....I think not!!
 

deipnosophist said:
Fatty Ashley (Williams) I believe fomented player agitation for providing the all-day full English breakfast option on the FF cafeteria menu. So, for the many on here who are pointing the finger at the squad's poor diet habits adversely impacting performance, Fatty Ashley sits fairly and squarely at ground zero. Of course Fatty Koeman did not help matters with all the fattening Dutch grub he insisted be served alongside the 'full English'.
Coincidence that both these blights on the club's history are nicknamed 'Fatty"?....I think not!!
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Of course Fat Sam came in and sorted all that out by adding Yorkshire pud and gravy to the full english.
 

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