Match Thread Everton v Watford. 8th Aug at 15.00.

[kithnou]

Two quality goals. Great finish from Barkley.
Still giving away goals due to defensive errors though which is disappointing.

 

[uknightbreed]

I don't think the problem lies with the players, maybe not even with the manager. There appears to be an alarming malaise of players either not taking responsibility or trying to do too much and not spotting better options. There just seems to be a lack of professionalism somehow, in our approach. It is very hard to pinpoint exactly who or what is to blame. I would have liked to have seen 3 or 4 players come in to freshen things up. We have some superb talent, but they look a bit flat tbh. Farcical when you think of what they earn and how privileged they are to represent Everton FC. But that is the modern day curse of financially driven football.

to me its clear what the problem is ...

the board are safe regardless of what they do.
the fact they still remain after the long list of disasters over the past 10 years shows that.

the manager and his staff are safe , regardless of what they do.
the football quality last year were as bad as ive seen for everton , and the season was a complete let down. the delusional positivity in the face of completely inexcusably bad performances and the total lack of any acknowledgment of failures , or total lack of signs of improvement or change , show that.

the players are safe , regardless of what they do.
if they are substandard they get praised , there is little competition for places , the manager picks his favourites

there is no fear factor for anyone to perform , from the chairman down to the players.

 

[ijjysmith]

to me its clear what the problem is ...

the board are safe regardless of what they do.
the fact they still remain after the long list of disasters over the past 10 years shows that.

the manager and his staff are safe , regardless of what they do.
the football quality last year were as bad as ive seen for everton , and the season was a complete let down. the delusional positivity in the face of completely inexcusably bad performances and the total lack of any acknowledgment of failures , or total lack of signs of improvement or change , show that.

the players are safe , regardless of what they do.
if they are substandard they get praised , there is little competition for places , the manager picks his favourites

there is no fear factor for anyone to perform , from the chairman down to the players.

Hard to disagree really.

 

[GwladysBlue]

to me its clear what the problem is ...

the board are safe regardless of what they do.
the fact they still remain after the long list of disasters over the past 10 years shows that.

the manager and his staff are safe , regardless of what they do.
the football quality last year were as bad as ive seen for everton , and the season was a complete let down. the delusional positivity in the face of completely inexcusably bad performances and the total lack of any acknowledgment of failures , or total lack of signs of improvement or change , show that.

the players are safe , regardless of what they do.
if they are substandard they get praised , there is little competition for places , the manager picks his favourites

there is no fear factor for anyone to perform , from the chairman down to the players.

And to top it off, they all know that our 'fans' will give them a big clap off the pitch at the end of it.

That was the worst thing about yesterday, people actually apllauded a draw to newly promoted Watford at home. How can we have any aspirations for better when we have fans like that?

 

[Igrok]

Cashing in now with this coach as some suggested will be total disaster...

 

[Groucho]

to me its clear what the problem is ...

the board are safe regardless of what they do.
the fact they still remain after the long list of disasters over the past 10 years shows that.

the manager and his staff are safe , regardless of what they do.
the football quality last year were as bad as ive seen for everton , and the season was a complete let down. the delusional positivity in the face of completely inexcusably bad performances and the total lack of any acknowledgment of failures , or total lack of signs of improvement or change , show that.

the players are safe , regardless of what they do.
if they are substandard they get praised , there is little competition for places , the manager picks his favourites

there is no fear factor for anyone to perform , from the chairman down to the players.

And to top it off, they all know that our 'fans' will give them a big clap off the pitch at the end of it.

That was the worst thing about yesterday, people actually apllauded a draw to newly promoted Watford at home. How can we have any aspirations for better when we have fans like that?

Along these lines, there's another discussion on here about booing, and this sort of demonstrates what I'm on about in there - rather than booing individual players (and counter-productively destroying the players' confidence) as the match takes place, I feel that if folk feel they must boo, then booing the entire team as a whole would send out a more appropriate message.

I'm not getting into a debate about the board in this thread, and I suggest others don't either.

 

[TheFinnFan]

Ball moved too slowly especially at first half.
We also looked soft. This will change after we shrug this preseason mode off and get new players in.

It's time to wake up Everton.

 

[zirc]

at least it wasn't that horror show v Arsenal in the 1st game of the season, silver lining and all that.

yeah cos dropping 2 points against Arsenal is much worse than dropping 2 points against Watford.

 

[atrottel]

he (McCarthy) doesn't break his neck at making himself available to receive a pass

That was the problem with a few of our players yesterday. Coleman didn't have his best game but our fullbacks push on and then have few options, shrug and are forced to play back or sideways. It didn't help Galloway one bit and Coleman was just getting frustrated.

 

[Stutheblue]

Still feeling sick about this result. Biggest thing for me yesterday was at half time me and the group around me (7/8 people) were talking and all agreed that if we equalised, they would score again. And it happened!! Ok, we got back to 2-2 but it just ain't good enough. All so predictable. We need a commanding centre half. I like Stones and I like Jags but we need a big horrible centre half too. Do we need both McCarthy and Barry in a home game against Watford? I don't think so. Away from home maybe, at home to Man Utd yes, not at home to Watford though! Gutted given our next few fixtures, and sick of playing newly promoted sides on the first day and of all the injuries already! Apart from that I'm alright.

 

[Groucho]

That was the problem with a few of our players yesterday. Coleman didn't have his best game but our fullbacks push on and then have few options, shrug and are forced to play back or sideways. It didn't help Galloway one bit and Coleman was just getting frustrated.

This was extremely evident against Villareal.

 

[LAToffee]

yeah cos dropping 2 points against Arsenal is much worse than dropping 2 points against Watford.

We dropped 3 points against Arsenal, took a major hit with goal difference, and got totally humiliated on our home ground on the opening day of the season. In comparison, today was a non-event. Perspective.

 

[zirc]

We dropped 3 points against Arsenal, took a major hit with goal difference, and got totally humiliated on our home ground on the opening day of the season. In comparison, today was a non-event. Perspective.

I thought we were talking about the 2-2 at the beginning of last season where we battered them for 80 minutes and conceded to cheap goals at the end.

 

[arbok]

Wrote a match report on the Watford game on my new blog -
http://toffeetriangle.wordpress.com

tl;dr - Everton played one half and only threatened after changing formation and Kone came on.

 

[Scolari]

My Observations:
1.)I 100% do NOT blame the tactics for this result, Watford is going to surprise alot of people this season(How can they fiel a team BTW(I only saw 2 english players in their 18)
2.) I believe cleverley is actual what we needed
3.)Stones is still just 20, that 2nd goal was just a great play from a wiley vet. Stones along with the rest of the team will get better as the season progresses
4.)Ross had a GREAT game, made his usual mistakes but more than made up for them.
5.)That was a great finish by Kone, he completely changed the game when he came on. His best performance in a blue shirt by far.
6.)We definitely need our guys to get healthy and 3+ more signings are needed for sure.

Nice to see some positivity after yesterday, but that is a game we should be winning at home and you have to look at the tactics as the reason why we didn't. Yes Watford look a decent side, but lining up with 4 centre mids and 3 centre backs we never really stretched them. I think if you played that game again with Oviedo and McAleney in for Barry and Galloway we would be looking at 3points, not because they are better players but because they would have given the team the balance and width they were lacking.