Match Thread Everton v Leeds United - Preview, Match Report and MotM Poll

[Ring master]

players playing were they did, when you didnt expect them to, makes me think hes going to try this again soon, v Leeds was not the team to make a strange starting 11, i am not sure we actually deserved to lose myself, thought a draw was maybe a fair result, listening to experts make's me think we were battered from start to finish , 2nd half not as good from us, not even sure now lol

 

[Jim Hopper]

Absolutely fair play to Leeds. They play some lovely fast paced one touch football. As opposed to our dire, turgid, clueless, backwards, sideways, hoofing hopeless football today.

 

[LouReedwalkonthewildside]

You get what you deserve in life. However the Var call 1st half looks badly off for me. That would make it 1-1.

We are not playing well curently, but if we were in any way clinical we would have scored a hatful. You miss loads of chances though, and generally speaking you lose.

Which one was that catcher?

 

[TheBigIguana]

Two against three in most games leaves you light. Again the riddle of Everton right now is how do we accommodate James our best creator and still be solid when he will never offer defensive responsibility.

Yes it will and I do think we need to get back to a 4-3-3 but that doesn't mean Doucoure is doing enough or is capable of doing enough. I mean he has to take that chance early on as that is exactly how he adds value to the team. When he misses it you kind of know he isn't going to give you enough later to make up for it.

I think solving that problem is not so hard but involves having a proper #6 and two proper #8s. Doucoure and Allan is probably fine in the #8 camp but the only person who has a prayer of being the deeper player is Gbamin. Otherwise we have to play Allan there which weakens us with whoever fills in further forward and Allan isn't great at that spot because he pushes out a lot. If we do that you can defend 4-4-2ish with Richarlison (although he didn't help us going back today at all) having to drop but being able to slide Doucoure out to cover James.

 

[milto]

From what I`ve seen Liverpool, City, Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs, Leicester, Southampton, Villa and Leeds will all finish above us by the end of the season. We are playing for the 8th/9th place trophy........

villa?

 

[BlueStevie35]

And you mean to tell me Delph, Sigs Bernard, Mina can ...

impress?

I got a cactus in the living room here that would be more effective than them on the field

Carlo is heading for the sack if he continues to ignore the likes of Niels and Anthony Gordon

Gordon has had chances, so has Nkounkou. He’s not ignoring them deliberately for gods sake

 

[JobForTheMoyes]

That was utterly abysmal.

I thought Allan was the only player to have a good game.

For all the stick, Pickford made some important saves.

 

[Dean1919]

No bot bad. A bit of a smash and grab, and very fortunate with a bizarre decision to rule out 2 goals for us, 1 of which looked like it was from your man. We missed 10+ clear chances and in the end were punished as a result with a pot shot. It happens.

As I said the other day, your workmanlike, put opponents under pressure, and some sides (particularly ones lackinf their first choice 3/4 best fullbacks) will succomb. We did today.

Still a bit miffed how VARintervenes to rule out a goal off a defender for offside, which like many other decisions went against us today and turn the game. But ultimately only ourselves to blame, we cut you open time and again and weren't clinical.

Mate you need to take those Everton specs off. It was the other way round we cut you you to bits. He was offside & and you can’t stand in front of the keeper and make an attempt to head the ball when you’re offside.

Your “Quality players” were outplayed.

 

[hktoffee]

players playing were they did, when you didnt expect them to, makes me think hes going to try this again soon, v Leeds was not the team to make a strange starting 11, i am not sure we actually deserved to lose myself, thought a draw was maybe a fair result, listening to experts make's me think we were battered from start to finish , 2nd half not as good from us, not even sure now lol

We have chances just not taken them.

Godfrey took our goal away and gave them a goal. That’s the difference.

 

[ForeverEverton]

I'm already use to such disillusionments with Colombia but I guess I now have to get accustomed to Everton too

You obviously didnt know what you were getting yourself in to... a whole new world of pain. Imagine having this for the last 30 years!!!! Nothing ever changes, EVER!

 

[Sassy Colombian]

The only bonus is that you get to come on here and chat with all us lovely people Sassy. lol

Best bonus ever, because of this forum I'm willing to continue going through this misery lol

 

[toffeepie1878]

Gordon has had chances, so has Nkounkou. He’s not ignoring them deliberately for gods sake

when did Gordon last have a friggin chance? are we talking about Everton here or someone else

 

[catcherintherye]

@catcherintherye what's your verdict ?

I think it was a good game for the "neutral" had a good tempo. We looked all over the shop defensively, and seem to really miss having fullbacks fit. Davies and Iwobi had a go but got exposed.

Going the other our chance creation was fine, but we just didn't finish anything. Leeds goalkeeper was brilliant. We squandered so many chances and eventually got hit with a great long range pot shot.

We've got lots of problems which we know about, and as I thionk we all said, you can see where Leeds are a more fluent team, having had longer together. When we strung 5 or 6 chances together we invariably got a chance on goal, but it didn't happen enough.

Leeds will be great value. I do worry that you are wide open though. Not every game your goalkeeper is going to play a blinder.

As a final aside, no idea what VAR was doing again, ruling out a goal that had been given, for something that was off a Leeds player?

 

[billyblue80]

....I think the word ‘trust’ is particularly appropriate to Ancelotti. He clearly didn’t ‘trust’ Kean and I have to now assume the same with Gordon and Nkounkou.

He plays it safe trying to get the best out of the ones he trusts. Problem is, tinkering with positions means square pegs in round holes.

The club decided to keep Kenny but the manager prefers other options when Coleman is injured. Digne is a massive blow because he forms such a partnership with Rodriguez, but we don’t play an alternative attacking LB in Nkounkou.

Trust is becoming Ancelotti’s undoing.

Yes I agree I am also a bit surprised he didn't try a change of formation when he came in he changed quite often now he seems to persist. Is that because he doesn't trust what he has in reserve? Seems so to me. I think its a riddle with James how do we accommodate him 352 last week seemed to be an option but losing Digne, which is a massive blow, appears to have thrown that off again as you say he doesn't seem to trust either back up which is a worry. So he goes with Iwobi and Davies who are midfielders as wing backs but we were played through over and over again. I think he needs to get back to a 433 personally get another body in midfield the issue is still James as he will never track back and the full backs. We could be in for a very bumpy Christmas unless he solves this riddle.

 

[LEONARD]

I'm off to descale the kettle.

See you all at Burnley next week.