Match Thread Everton V Manchester City - Preview, Match Report and MotM Poll

[Nymzee]

 

[Alanbileysfeathercut]

Slippy.
Our players left him after that tackle and he knew every derby would be a piece of pish.
Untouchable.
Absolute joke.

 

[Bluestar]

I'm kind of sick of reading about how we played "well".

We didn't, we are a top flight football team, have been for 70 odd years on the run, we are not some plucky I-Zingari League team full of amateurs and semi pros.

It's not just us who do it either. This isn't an Everton moan, more a moan about football in general. Yeah City are obviously a very good side but its 11 vs 11.

Having 3 shots and keeping the score down to a mere 3 goals at home is not playing well.

They were leagues ahead of us, and W e were relegation fodder last year. Ancelotti has only had one summer transfer window. City are a settled squad we’re still dealing with the legacy of the Koeman / Walsh / Allerdice / Silva eras. There are still even some hangovers from Martinez.

Like it or not, that’s the reality.

Ancelotti is the right manager, but it will take him another seasons off red two to mould his squad.

 

[JAYMULL]

I agreed with most of your point, however I personally think this is a bit hyperbole. Liverpool could be the catalyst we need, but if we do lose it's only one game.

fair play Phil, I was thinking from a confidence point of view really it would give us a big boost

 

[PhilM]

fair play Phil, I was thinking from a confidence point of view really it would give us a big boost

Oh, I agree entirely.

A victory against that shower, especially at their shed, could be the catalyst we need to push on for the rest of the season, especially after the past two results.

On the flip side however, it's one game and knowing Everton we can jump from great to garbage quite quickly. If we lose, it's not the end of the world.*

*Until I come out of hibernation in a few days and the memory is stored away.

 

[wandyr79]

I had a go at the tactics against Leicester at home, I said that we should have pushed up 5/10 yards up the pitch and I got slammed by a couple of posters saying that we played well and limited their chances, etc.

Last night I thought we actually played a bit higher up the pitch than the Leicester game but City were just too good in a couple of individual moments. I am struggling to think of one poor individual performance.

We may have been able to make it stick up top more with DCL and get a couple of chances but the players that were on the pitch were not awful or maybe even bad.

For me, the next step in the 'project', is to come more consistent, not get to City's current level, that is further down the line. I mean those stats in the last 17 games are simply out of this world

 

[Papa Shango]

They were leagues ahead of us, and W e were relegation fodder last year. Ancelotti has only had one summer transfer window. City are a settled squad we’re still dealing with the legacy of the Koeman / Walsh / Allerdice / Silva eras. There are still even some hangovers from Martinez.

Like it or not, that’s the reality.

Ancelotti is the right manager, but it will take him another seasons off red two to mould his squad.

Of course he is, it's more of a general thing. They are not leagues ahead of us, they are in the same league, it just feels a bit wrong that teams in the same league as another act like they are happy to have not been battered. It's grim but its modern football.

 

[johnjoeefc]

We are a very very average team and dare I say I think we are not much better than previous seasons. I do have faith in ancelotti but at the same time with ffp in place I fear we could be on a never ending cycle or mediocreness.

I don't understand how its fair to put something like ffp in place when a team like city or Chelsea have already reaped the rewards of their spending power when it wasn't in place and a team like us have the money but as soon as we do we can't use it.

 

[UltraVires]

I think/hope that Carlo will be pointing out that we held pace with City until late in that game and for Everton at this point, that is an achievement against Man City who are going to walk the league.

I was surprised to see Davies going off as I thought he did well but Carlo might be saving him for Saturday so we start with a Allan, Duke and Davies combination which has legs and tenacity to really get to their midfield which is struggling at the minute for various reasons.

 

[Sharpattack]

He’s had like 30 total minutes

Shouldn’t even be at the club. Worse than Tosun. Looks exactly what he is, a Championship player.

 

[Toffeelover]

What can one say, not a lot. Another 3 points down the drain.

MOM for me is Siggy, has anyone managed to do so little in 90 minutes on a football pitch, such an achievement.

 

[trebilcock66]

I take heart from last night's performance. We're a work in progress. Although we didn't have the ball much, I felt that we kept our shape and largely restricted them. Their first goal was a fluke deflection. Pickford was saving that on its original trajectory. (Owen doesn't know what he's talking about)

Their second goal was unstoppable - no argument there. But we were still in the game even after their third.

Pep has had a lot longer with his squad than Carlo. We're looking good for the future. I love the way we play now - keeping our shape when we don't have the ball. Doucoure making interceptions to set us on our way.

I'm optimistic. And I'm not even bothered if we bottle the derby at the weekend. There's a more important project underway here.

 

[brian labone]

Come back Dunc, at lease under your command we showed at least some attacking moves as well as plenty of passion.

 

[Jimmyjoe]

Last night wasn't too bad. Yes, in theory, you should accept a defeat, its a 11 v 11, we are Everton, playing at home etc etc... But in reality, City are a class apart, and we were in it for a large quantity of that game. Their first goal was lucky and until the 2nd goal, didn't really have many chances at all. Subs were a bit of a strange one - can understand bringing King and James on but surely it had to be for Gylfi, and possibly Holgate (reasoning that you cannot really sub a sub i.e. coleman) as we needed to keep energetic players on the pitch. But if you put DCL and Allan back in I reckon we will run them close in the Cup.

Feeling quietly optimistic about Saturday as well now. Get DCL back up top, use pace either side and we could hit them nicely on the counter

 

[brian labone]

Last night wasn't too bad. Yes, in theory, you should accept a defeat, its a 11 v 11, we are Everton, playing at home etc etc... But in reality, City are a class apart, and we were in it for a large quantity of that game. Their first goal was lucky and until the 2nd goal, didn't really have many chances at all. Subs were a bit of a strange one - can understand bringing King and James on but surely it had to be for Gylfi, and possibly Holgate (reasoning that you cannot really sub a sub i.e. coleman) as we needed to keep energetic players on the pitch. But if you put DCL and Allan back in I reckon we will run them close in the Cup.

Feeling quietly optimistic about Saturday as well now. Get DCL back up top, use pace either side and we could hit them nicely on the counter

Yes I understand what you are saying but what about the Fulham game, should we also accept that defeat so easily as well.