Match Thread Everton V Southampton 3pm Monday 2nd January

[johnjoeefc]

me and the missus were made up with the result yesterday

 

[upthetoffees]

2nd half performances have been pretty decent overall especially toward the end of the year. First half in this game was pretty underwhelming. Hope we can push for a full 90 minutes and not just the last 45. Southampton might not score on us in the first half but teams like City and West Brom most definitely will.

 

[catcherintherye]

As with any game you can write lots on it. The 4 things that stand out for me;

1) Late goals. It's hard to judge against last season, as the performance level for the first half and second half were vastly different. However in general the performances aren't much better. I think we are more "smart" than we were under Martinez. One big improvement is late goals though, in the last 20/10/5 minutes of games we are scoring. It shows to me we are getting fitter which is a big and important plus.

2) Substitute options. For much of the latter period of Martinez and early this season you looked at the bench and just thought that nobody could come on and make a difference. I felt it most against Burnley. It takes a very particular type of player and personality to be able to be an effective substitute. To be able to get the flow of the game quickly and make a difference. Valencia fits this category, but I also think Calvert-Lewin and Davies all do as well. That's not for me to say they shouldn't be starting but it just gives us options to bring on.

3) Headed goals. We are beginning to resemble a Koeman side. We put a lot of balls into the box and score a fair bit from it. Lukaku seems to have improved a lot in the air, he got up very well for our first goal. Likewise Barkley did too. Under Martinez those two big lads were allowed to shy away from getting their headed quota.
Whether that's how we want to play long term is up for debate. But in the short term it suits us to keep it simple. Baines and Coleman get wide and throw the ball into the box. We don't need to score the perfect goal that way.

4) Less reliance on Rom- More people are scoring. Fairly self explanatory. Of the last 7 goals Lukaku only scored 2. He assisted 1 in that run. It's a big turnaround. It will also help Rom if more attention was taken off him from defending teams. Barkley and Valencia finding their scoring boots is important. Coleman and Baines have chipped in too. I'd like a little more from Mori and Williams.

Anyway it was a good win. Without playing well to get a 3-0 is a good sign. It does feel a corner has been turned a bit post Watford.

 

[johnjoeefc]

As with any game you can write lots on it. The 4 things that stand out for me;

1) Late goals. It's hard to judge against last season, as the performance level for the first half and second half were vastly different. However in general the performances aren't much better. I think we are more "smart" than we were under Martinez. One big improvement is late goals though, in the last 20/10/5 minutes of games we are scoring. It shows to me we are getting fitter which is a big and important plus.

2) Substitute options. For much of the latter period of Martinez and early this season you looked at the bench and just thought that nobody could come on and make a difference. I felt it most against Burnley. It takes a very particular type of player and personality to be able to be an effective substitute. To be able to get the flow of the game quickly and make a difference. Valencia fits this category, but I also think Calvert-Lewin and Davies all do as well. That's not for me to say they shouldn't be starting but it just gives us options to bring on.

3) Headed goals. We are beginning to resemble a Koeman side. We put a lot of balls into the box and score a fair bit from it. Lukaku seems to have improved a lot in the air, he got up very well for our first goal. Likewise Barkley did too. Under Martinez those two big lads were allowed to shy away from getting their headed quota.
Whether that's how we want to play long term is up for debate. But in the short term it suits us to keep it simple. Baines and Coleman get wide and throw the ball into the box. We don't need to score the perfect goal that way.

4) Less reliance on Rom- More people are scoring. Fairly self explanatory. Of the last 7 goals Lukaku only scored 2. He assisted 1 in that run. It's a big turnaround. It will also help Rom if more attention was taken off him from defending teams. Barkley and Valencia finding their scoring boots is important. Coleman and Baines have chipped in too. I'd like a little more from Mori and Williams.

Anyway it was a good win. Without playing well to get a 3-0 is a good sign. It does feel a corner has been turned a bit post Watford.

Im very excited for our future but I wouldn't read too much into yesterdays result. Southampton were out on their feet towards the end which is why the result was so comprehensive in the end.

I actually thought overall it was a fairly poor performance where for 60 minutes they looked the better team and more likely to take the lead. However as a consequence of them playing 3 in 6 days they just couldnt keep it up in the end.

Make no mistake about it, transfers are needed and a fair few of them too.

 

[catcherintherye]

Im very excited for our future but I wouldn't read too much into yesterdays result. Southampton were out on their feet towards the end which is why the result was so comprehensive in the end.

I actually thought overall it was a fairly poor performance where for 60 minutes they looked the better team and more likely to take the lead. However as a consequence of them playing 3 in 6 days they just couldnt keep it up in the end.

Make no mistake about it, transfers are needed and a fair few of them too.

Great post John. I agree that we were quite poor yesterday. We are a long way from where we'd like to be performance wise. However scoring late goals is a big plus for me.

 

[andy4efc]

I thought first half we showed brief signs of intelligence going forward, but generally poor.

Second half, around 15mins in we started to step it up a gear, I thought we played with urgency and intent throughout. Still lacking a decent playmaker to compliment Lukaku, but for what we had, I thought we did quite well.

My girlfriend came with me this time, consider she doesn't know much about football. She said that this time compared to last (last season), the players looked like they gave a [Poor language removed] this time.

Says it all really, you dont need to know football to be able to spot someone who cares and someone who doesn't.

 

[evo1878]

Hadn't seen that so thanks. But still don't understand why he had to change the formation could have stuck kev up there? As i said anyway, 3 points. That all that matters

You're welcome. I'm no football manager and I can't speak for Koeman but I'd suggest the tactics were to keep possssion and keep everything contained for 30 mins and then knowing they would / should be more tired than us unleash wide players and another striker with more pace to try and win the game. Pretty much how it turned out.

 

[liamefc91]

You're welcome. I'm no football manager and I can't speak for Koeman but I'd suggest the tactics were to keep possssion and keep everything contained for 30 mins and then knowing they would / should be more tired than us unleash wide players and another striker with more pace to try and win the game. Pretty much how it turned out.

Thought that myself, but you'd set up 4-2-3-1 from the start not 10min into game.

 

[BlueToff]

We're a 4-4-2 team IMO.

Always have been. Always will be.