Possession.

[Gilbert..]

This team is very difficult to watch much of the time.

I hope there's an enormous clear out in the summer.

Posted in another thread. I cant deny it. I get a bit jealous watching a team like brighton. And we're talking brighton here. Not some major club. Go away to places like arsenal spurs and most good sides in this league and hold their own. We play and we look like we're hanging on for dear life from the first few minutes in so many of them. And what i see is a brighton midfield who dont give the ball away. Who control that part of the pitch with as much success as the opposition.
Then i watch Evertons midfield and im in tears

 

[zook]

Absolutely vital we sign 2 (at minimum IMO) quality midfielders. We are devoid of the ability to control a game of football.

Allan and Doucoure are our two main midfielders and they both aren't good enough.

Would definitely help if we had a setlled pair of centre backs too mind you.

 

[MikeH72]

Our midfield is complete unadulterated poo, that’s why.

 

[Sharpies volley]

Left it until todays game, not that it would have changed.
Out of 38 league games this season i had a quick look and Two games. Just two games we had more possession than the opposition. Watford away and Burnley at home. Two relegated teams.( even they were very close) I think thats shocking.
Doesnt always mean you cant win with lower possession but you cant kick bite and scratch on a regular basis and scrape over the line on a long term basis with that.
Its clearly a midfield issue not surprisingly. Genuinely cant remember the last time we had a midfield that dominated anyone.
Is it viable to try and replace an entire midfield during the closed season. Probably not.
This for me is the absolute priority for Everton. We've got this so wrong over the last few years.

I'm sick to the back teeth bangin on about this. The midfield is where the game is won and lost. Its the engine room of a team. Our midfield is drastically lacking in pace, mobility and numbers and that's up to the DOF and manager to put right.

 

[Gilbert..]

We don't have good midfield players. Solve that and you solve the possession problems.

I think that line just sums up the whole issue. Its major work to be done by the manager/DOF whoever. Good luck.

 

[Librarian]

We don't have good midfield players. Solve that and you solve the possession problems.

You also need centre backs who look to find a blue shirt and can push up, ours are a liability and have to set up deep and clear it to anywhere will do

 

[magicjuan]

The power of Christ compels you...

 

[Gilbert..]

I'm sick to the back teeth bangin on about this. The midfield is where the game is won and lost. Its the engine room of a team. Our midfield is drastically lacking in pace, mobility and numbers and that's up to the DOF and manager to put right.

Same. Posted many times over a length of time that i think we have one of the worst in the league. We get odd games where we scrap and fight a win. But thats not productive in any long term thing. We hand over the midfield in so many games because we cant keep hold of it

 

[chrismpw]

There has to be a balance- good teams like Barcelona used to dominate possession but watching that is utterly boring. Equally the hit and hope long ball counter attack isn't easy on the eye. My view is that the best football is unpredictable - mix up being able to hold possession, press in midfield, yet ping in the odd long ball with some cut and thrust. This is what we did in the 80s and alec Ferguson did with his 90s Man U team. It makes it much harder for teams to set up to repel you and works at any level. Get your team prepared to mix it up like this means you can adapt to suit the opposition you face. Having a holy grail "there's only a plan A" to football is a tedious route to failure.

Football isn't rocket science.

 

[Carlito]

Posted in another thread. I cant deny it. I get a bit jealous watching a team like brighton. And we're talking brighton here. Not some major club. Go away to places like arsenal spurs and most good sides in this league and hold their own. We play and we look like we're hanging on for dear life from the first few minutes in so many of them. And what i see is a brighton midfield who dont give the ball away. Who control that part of the pitch with as much success as the opposition.
Then i watch Evertons midfield and im in tears

Style isn't everything, but it goes a long way towards breeding optimism.

At least Potter and Vieira have shown that it doesn't take five years and a small nation's GDP to be able to knock the ball around a bit. If I was a Palace fan coming away from that game on Thursday, I'd be thinking that if this is what we can produce with Will Hughes pulling the strings (a decent player, but basically just an Osman or Joe Allen), imagine what this manager could do with proper backing.

To me, what Everton lack most is a will to fundamentally change off the pitch. The club showed with Rodriguez that there's always a way to get shut of a player, and I don't believe for one second that enough has been done to shift the high earners that have been crippling us for years now, which is perhaps why we ended up sleepwalking into a relegation fight.

I don't really know how good or bad Lampard is yet, but I can say for certain that unless there's a commitment to overhauling our approach to recruitment (both ins and outs), we'll be reading threads dedicated to whether or not he should still be in the job before the end of this calendar year, and a big part of that will be because the football is as desperate as the league position.

 

[Toffeepot]

....is no longer a criminal offense in many jurisdictions

 

[Gilbert..]

There has to be a balance- good teams like Barcelona used to dominate possession but watching that is utterly boring. Equally the hit and hope long ball counter attack isn't easy on the eye. My view is that the best football is unpredictable - mix up being able to hold possession, press in midfield, yet ping in the odd long ball with some cut and thrust. This is what we did in the 80s and alec Ferguson did with his 90s Man U team. It makes it much harder for teams to set up to repel you and works at any level. Get your team prepared to mix it up like this means you can adapt to suit the opposition you face. Having a holy grail "there's only a plan A" to football is a tedious route to failure.

Football isn't rocket science.

Yeah just to clarify it wasnt a post about dominating possession. It was more we have gone so far the other way in terms of giving up that area of the pitch because of the players we have who are all to alike in terms of being water carriers. There are mid table teams in this division who even put our midfield to shame.
This has to be addressed.

 

[kev]

Allan and Doucoure are our two main midfielders and they both aren't good enough.

Our midfield is complete unadulterated poo, that’s why.

I'm sick to the back teeth bangin on about this. The midfield is where the game is won and lost. Its the engine room of a team. Our midfield is drastically lacking in pace, mobility and numbers and that's up to the DOF and manager to put right.

Luckily we have a manager who knows a thing or two about the importance of midfield.
Just hope he is given an opportunity to get the right players and motivate them.

 

[chrismpw]

Yeah just to clarify it wasnt a post about dominating possession. It was more we have gone so far the other way in terms of giving up that area of the pitch because of the players we have who are all to alike in terms of being water carriers. There are mid table teams in this division who even put our midfield to shame.
This has to be addressed.

I completely agree. I think we have (at last) a manager that realised we don't currently have the necessary skill set to play the ball around without making costly errors. Martinez tried, but the squad was rumbled once teams realised that pressure on us lead to mistakes and then it was curtains to him and his single track road. Lampard has seen our flaws and has played the safe game so far. Hopefully he can show he has a decent eye for the sort of transfer we need to get a better balanced approach

 

[Rita_Poon]

The power of Christ compels you...

Had a Leslie Nielsen pic or line lined up. You win.