Everton v Norwich City - EFL Cup - Tuesday 20 Sept, 19.45 KO

[Nil Satis Niasse Optimum]

Barkley needs dropping to the under 15s. Absolute shambles this season. You'd think a local lad would put in a bit of effort for his 70k a week, but nah, all seems to be too much for him. I'd play Kone over him atm in a 4-4-2 ffs.

 

[macdog]

Everton are fated to never succeed in this cup, Mystic Meg say so.

 

[The Esk]

Ultimately our fringe players failed to step up to the plate when offered the opportunity - perhaps that's why they're fringe players. Lessons from tonight - we need to strengthen the depth of our squad (we knew that already but tonight confirmed it) and sadly whatever the demons are that stop Ross from playing consistently to his potential, no-one including him have found the answer - yet.

 

[4737carlin]

Nice to see Naismith get a good reception, even when he scored!

 

[MartyMcFly]

What team would you have started?

Rom is injured and not being risked. Barry similarly.

Cleverley and Gueye both did fine.

We started with our first choice keeper, centre-back, right-back, playmaker and debatebly our best out and out winger.

Lennon actually created the most chances and looked much better second-half.

The only 'iffy' call for me was Funes at left-back

Mirallas
Bolasie Deulofeu Lennon
Gueye Barkley
Baines/Oviedo Funes Mori Williams Coleman
Stek​

Would have been my team. However even that still wouldn't have solved the striker problem.

 

[BlueToff]

It was soon clear the formation wasn't working. The team was unbalanced and uninspired.

Valencia was ineffective and Mori was out of position. Coleman attacked constantly down the right, but Lennon contributed very little. On the left, Deulofeu made space but failed to take his chances. Without Barry, Gana was doing the work of two, and ran himself to a standstill.

Koeman was very slow/reluctant to make a change. Kone, Mirallas or even Deulofeu could have taken over at centreforward. Oviedo could have come on as leftback, or we could have switched to three at the back. It was a tactical failure.

I think - had it been a league game - he'd have been a lot quicker to act.

 

[BlueToff]

There has to be someone. He's 27 so may be a bit old but I really like Rondon and he was bought recently by West Brom so there are options out there.

Frankly getting Valencia was a joke.

Yes - Rondon was bought as FIRST CHOICE

Not second

 

[MartyMcFly]

Yes - Rondon was bought as FIRST CHOICE

Not second

For West Brom. I think we could attract someone like him especially with our wages.

 

[BlueToff]

I take It you didn't see much of the game?

I saw flashes mate - I was covering another game and had them both running at the same time.

Clev looked (at first) to be doing just fine, and it's this ridiculous hatred for a player who is 'just fine' that stops people from seeing that.

Lennon was poor first half. He was involved in most of our chances second half before going off.

Weren't at the level overall, and we got punished.

 

[BlueToff]

For West Brom. I think we could attract someone like him especially with our wages.

Irrelevant. He was signed as first choice. Unless you've got Europe, very good back up strikers aren't easy to find.

It looks like we went for one who could have been very good for us in the form of Perez - and a European club nipped in for him.

 

[BlueToff]

Strange one. We'll see at the end of the season if being so casual about the LC was worth it.

There was nothing 'casual' from Koeman's POV.

He just didn't say 'yes it's devastating'... because it isn't

 

[MartyMcFly]

Irrelevant. He was signed as first choice. Unless you've got Europe, very good back up strikers aren't easy to find.

It looks like we went for one who could have been very good for us in the form of Perez - and a European club nipped in for him.

Of course it's relevant. Other teams around us have decent backup strikers. We took West Ham's fourth choice striker on loan.

Why did we go for Perez so late in the window. Wenger wasn't interested in him until he was desperate so if we had of wrapped up the deal early then Arsenal would never have had that chance. The fact that he would have signed for us, a striker with a very good scoring record in a top league just goes to show we can attract the players.

Has Kenwright's finger prints of dithering over wanting to get him for a bargain all over it. If we had the money then there shouldn't have been a problem and that was poor of the board/Kenwright/whoever was to blame.

 

[Woolverhampton_Blue]

There was nothing 'casual' from Koeman's POV.

He just didn't say 'yes it's devastating'... because it isn't

I think - had it been a league game - he'd have been a lot quicker to act.

So he wasn't more casual in his approach than he has been with league games?

 

[rbm]

First thing is the result is virtually irrelevant. The competition is barely even competitive.

Second thing is we need to strengthen our bench and need one or two starters to realise they are pros. We all know who I mean.

We often hear it said that 26 to 30 is peak. Nonsense. If a player hasn't really become the finished article by 22 it isn't going to happen.

 

[Walken]

Bye mate.

Enjoy your life of celibacy

I was more than halfway there anyway