Match Thread Everton vs Chelsea - Preview, Match Report and MotM Poll

[Dave Gowers]

We defended pretty solidly against a top 3 team,, they created very little, we had some decent chances and could easily have come away with a point.
Against lesser teams, we'll get some reward. Yes we need a striker/focal point but there are big improvements over last season

 

[Dave Gowers]

We've got a good striker.Unfortunately he's playing for Siunderland ! WHY ?

 

[BlueStevie35]

We've got a good striker.Unfortunately he's playing for Siunderland ! WHY ?

He’s not ready to play Premier League football

 

[Voodoo Billy]

Don't know if it was discussed on Sky when the match was shown live as I was at the game but there was no mention on Match of The Day that the linesman should have flagged when the ball was well out of play just before Godfrey's injury. Pundits have been harping on about this for a while, the fact that a player could be seriously injured when play is allowed to continue when (pre-VAR) the lino would have flagged. Well it's happened.

 

[AndyC]

Never a free kick and went on to cost us. Yeah poor by Doucoure, but when can we have competent, consistent and fair officiating?

That my friend in the proverbial $64,000 question

 

[bigboy]

Overall happy with that performance. Looked very organised and solid, just lacking any sort of threat upfront. Looks like there’s something to build on there though

 

[Yarrgh]

Having not watched the game or highlights, I can honestly say I am rather sanguine about a 1-0 loss to Chelsea. Might not bother next game either.

And this is why I believe I have what it takes to get a 5 year deal to get into Everton's midfield.

 

[Jeff Jones]

You couldn't fault the effort, but we never looked like scoring. Neither did they for that matter and I think it could have turned out better if we'd had a real centreforward, who could have turned that effort into a goal or two.

 

[WestStandLower]

With or without Richarlison, that was a better performance from us as a template. We looked better drilled without the ball, and much better off set plays.

I didnt think Chelsea looked like scoring, barring a dubious penalty, way over what the alotted time should have been, off the back of a free kick that should never have been given.

For us, it was an almost day. Tarkowskis header, the double save off Holgate and Doucoure 2nd half, Silvas block off Gray. Also the lack of a header from Gordon and through ball from Gray, where we were inches away from 2 more clear chances. It was close for us, but not quite.

We need to improve the personnel on the template. Another forward, DCL back, and Gueye/Onana will make a big difference. Once they get integrated, we will be a lot better than last season, which at times was a complete shambles.

Like yourselves, we looked a bit off the pace, but honestly not sure we looked worse than last season.

As I said earlier far too early to gain any real perspective

The early part of the season usually throws up some dour performances.

The penalty was a penalty as for it being over the allotted time not so sure the 8 minutes were a minimum and it was awarded in the 53 minute. The free kick was soft yes but Tarkowski was far too tight but even then you set to defend it so that phase of play even for VAR purposes had gone.

I said on here when FL was appointed that it would be a different matter if he had a pre season but at this point as an outsider looking in I really think you will miss Richarlinson far more than some of you believe. But its your injuries that seen to be your Achilles heel.

 

[Ufotone]

Voted Patterson MOTM

I was a little uncertain of how he would cope, but he looked confident and pretty damn good, well done.

Iwobi and Tarkowski earning many votes, both were great too.

All things considered, Everton put up a very reasonable performance against a very good Chelsea side.

Again injuries holding us back and of course the lack of a striker is unforgivable.

I think we will thrive under super Frank Lampard. ?

 

[Noisy noise annoys]

We've got a good striker.Unfortunately he's playing for Siunderland ! WHY ?

hE'S NOT GOOD

 

[WestStandLower]

Because in his peripheral he’s only seeing the ball coming towards the touch line not how far it’s gone over

Pickford is no different than any other GK they play it to try and avoid the corner. 99 times out of 100 if the asst doesn’t see it the GK will get the ball away but in this instance it backfired massively

 

[SpiritOfTheBloos]

Was at the game and thought we did OKAY. Certainly nothing to panic about, can only really judge how things might pan out after a handful of games, last year’s deceivingly good start showed that. Definitely positives to take.

Tarkowski looked very composed and made the back line look more assured, silly mistakes from others aside, so good early signs there. Was a test for Patterson but thought he did well. Really impressed with the midfield, lots of energy and who would have thought Iwobi would play himself into being a key member of the team. Again good signs that the midfield didn’t capitulate after the first goal with more reinforcements in this department to come

We were just lacking that cutting edge quality in the final third, plenty of times Chelsea were there to be had on the break with nobody to make the final key pass or hold the ball up. Others have pointed out that if Richarlison was leading that line yesterday that result is not a loss. As for Chelsea, on that showing (again still early days) they’ll be struggling in a fight for top 4. Looks a disjointed team to me, and certainly them shutting up shop and sh*thousing around after 60 odd minutes showed that we were still competitive (without real quality) and that they also didn’t have the ideas to kill the game off either. In the end the game was decided by a silly to give away penalty.

Finally the collective ‘FFS’ when Mina went off was very ‘Everton that’. Will have to manage with Coady (pending) until Mina is match fit again (WHENEVER IF EVER), and however long Godfrey is out. Holgate did okay mind.

Onto Villa, ideal world we see a couple of midfield and attacking reinforcements before then.

 

[catcherintherye]

As I said earlier far too early to gain any real perspective

The early part of the season usually throws up some dour performances.

The penalty was a penalty as for it being over the allotted time not so sure the 8 minutes were a minimum and it was awarded in the 53 minute. The free kick was soft yes but Tarkowski was far too tight but even then you set to defend it so that phase of play even for VAR purposes had gone.

I said on here when FL was appointed that it would be a different matter if he had a pre season but at this point as an outsider looking in I really think you will miss Richarlinson far more than some of you believe. But its your injuries that seen to be your Achilles heel.

Of course it's too early to gain perspective, but you are trying to make said perspective on one game.

The discussion around Richarlison is also not so much, will we miss him, but more how much will we miss him given the replacements we ate getting.

We didnt lose that game because of Richarlison though. We lost because a dubious penalty was given, and I'm really sorry but if you think that was a free kick in Sterling in the build up, you really dont know about football mate. I can see a world where the pen is given, but you cant get free kicks for slipping over.

I'm also not sure what you mean by Tarkowski being too tight. He is stood off Sterling. You can see he stops and doesnt even touch Sterling as he slips. If you're saying defenders cant defend like that, you're essentially saying you can defend at all, as if you are stoid within 2 metres of an attacker it's a foul.

But alas, I'm not sure 1 game, against a substantially better team is really enough to judge we will fatally miss Richarlison. We probably missed a fully fit DCL more. As someone who watches us most weeks though, the shape, defensive organisation, and set peice defending was a lot better than last year with Richarlison

 

[ForestBlue]

Don't know if it was discussed on Sky when the match was shown live as I was at the game but there was no mention on Match of The Day that the linesman should have flagged when the ball was well out of play just before Godfrey's injury. Pundits have been harping on about this for a while, the fact that a player could be seriously injured when play is allowed to continue when (pre-VAR) the lino would have flagged. Well it's happened.

I dont think the liner our side raised his flag once all game. Looked a bit like a startled rabbit in the headlights or had over done his meds a bit