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Match Thread POSTPONED: Everton v Manchester City - Preview only

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Zabbasbeard said:
Kevin Horlock was an important player for us. Helped bring us back from the brink in the 3rd Division - particularly the Play Off final where he scored the 1st goal, played his part in the 99/00 and 01/02 promotions and helped stabilise our season back in the Premier in 02-03. He's a good lad, down to earth, makes time for fans, good laugh.
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Well you’d know his career much better than me. Sounds like he contributed more to football than he does to social media.
 
Barnfred 55 said:
You are normally the first to put the boot in when the club doesn't stick up for themselves Dave, and all too often you are right to do so. Thought you would welcome that statement given neither City or the PL are very forthcoming with the facts
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You can stick up for your club without grandstanding in public.
 
Zabbasbeard said:
I don't think that there is a rat to smell here.

The right thing was done. It would be totally wrong for City to go to Merseyside even with asymptomatic players and spread coronavirus to Everton. It would potentially start off another increase in infections in an area which has seen the benefits of mass testing.

I was looking forward to the game, hoping to make ground on Everton and your thoroughly horrible neighbours. I just hope our people and others are not affected more by this killer virus. Those two Newcastle players are still suffering from long Covid. That is a concern.

Hopefully we can play this fixture soon. It's one of my favourites and it will be a sad day when you leave Goodison with the special atmosphere it can habr, particularly with two clubs who have a mostly healthy rivalry (I'm sure coming to Manchester as an away fan can be as, err, challenging as going to Merseyside is - that's what my Evertonian mate tells me when I recount some frankly dangerous days out).

Anyway Everton will probably be stronger with Richarlison who was kicked out of your cup tie with United (a well worn tactic employee by those two vile clubs),and Digne.

The real skullduggery in Football comes from those two clubs, their Arsenal and Tottenham buddies. Not from a club that is doing the right thing in a pandemic.
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Yeah. I'm 100% convinced that this has nothing to do with the number of players City had unavailable for last nights match, and has everything to do with player safety and reducing the spread of the virus. The late cancellation was unfortunate but unavoidable if the latest test results only came about yesterday.

The Everton statement would not have come about had the PL not said that they had cancelled the match after consultation with both clubs, as clearly this did not happen. We were informed of the decision only after it had been made. Even this would have been OK if the PL or City kept us up to date with the facts. As it is we have had to request them which, as a club, is completely within our rights. Transparency in such matters is paramount, and I'm sure City would expect the same courtesy if they were in our shoes.

As regards the game itself, I'm also of the opinion that last night was a bad time for us to be playing City. Four of our best five players were out and the rest of the team were knackered. We don't have anywhere near the depth of quality that City can call on and we'd have been struggling to rest even 2 or 3 players. Plus, with City still fighting for trophies on four fronts, and extra congestion expected if you have to cancel more games due to this covid outbreak and win the LC semi next week, the chances are this game will need to be shoehorned into a congested programme at the end of the season; similar to Arsenal a couple of seasons ago. That can only work in our favour, especially if we have some of our better players available.
 
catcherintherye said:
Hold on Dave. The PL and City called the game off, with very little advance warning and withoit the courtesy to let us know. Who's to say that we haven't explored options privately and been rebuffed? We at least deserve to know how the process occurred to make the decision. This is especially so given the late notice, and fans having to get tests/employees having to be paid/not paid at the last minute over Christmas. Indeed, even Carlo would have pulled players in on the 27th to prepare for a game, which had we told was off we could ahve dicarded.

The club for too long have sought to take a moral high ground and not been savvy enough. Essentially let people walk all over us.Nobody ever gives us any credit for it anyway. I'm glad we are standing up for ourselves a bit.

There are questions here. What changed in the two days between the Newcastle and Everton games? What have the PL put out a set of rules, then ignored those rules? Why did the PL put those, essentially unworkable rules in the first place, if they were not enforceable. Did the PL know and sit on information, if so how long for? These are all reasonable questions to ask.

Some of the stuff on the back of it, at times from Liverpool fans is whats wrong here. At this point it ought not go beyond the above. There's no need for wild conspiracies etc. But we are entitled to ask some questions Dave, both of City and the Premier League.
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Nowhere have I said the club didn't have a right to question and enquire. I stated that the public dimension to it leaves me cold. I'd expect it of them and encourage them to. Why does it have to be in public they make a balls on the table statement?

Let's look at the possible ramifications of this: if there's enough fuss kicked up over a postponement then clubs getting tested throughout the squad might think it's better to avoid the stink and let players take to the pitch to avoid putting out a weakened team to compete for points - that's a possible wildfire for everyone else who has to play them and so on and so forth. Not all teams have a squad like City and even they couldn't feel weakened by the impact of their outbreak.

It seems to me that the opposite case to the one I make is to assume City are pulling a fast one. I dont buy that. They may have felt weakened and knew they were facing a team in form, but it beggars belief that the PL (utterly desperate to keep their show on the road) would be complicit with any such underhand plans City are being said to have had.
 

davek said:
You can stick up for your club without grandstanding in public.
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It's hardly grandstanding Dave. The club statement was quite reserved given the way it had been effectively walked over by the PL. They are more than entitled to the information they have requested and, as regards publicity, the PL need to also be more careful about their public statements.

Anyway, all of this needs to be out in the public domain so you know that all clubs are being dealt with fairly and consistently. Don't you agree?

I also have the nagging doubt that, if the club hadn't made that statement, then you would have been on their backs anyway for being cowards.
 
davids said:
Given Walker's antics the clues are all there.
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In fairness we were the same with Moise Kean. I'm sure a lot more players from many teams have broken covid rules but not been found out.

Am I right in saying that, so far, we haven't had any player test positive for covid?. Not that I recall anyway.
 
davids said:
Given Walker's antics the clues are all there.
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In fairness we were the same with Moise Kean. I'm sure a lot more players from many teams have broken covid rules but not been found out.

Am I right in saying that, so far, we haven't had any player test positive for covid?. Not that I recall anyway.
 
Ring master said:


Everton Football Club can confirm that supporters who were successful in the ballot for last night’s postponed Premier League match against Manchester City have had their tickets cancelled due to uncertainty over a rearranged date for the fixture.

All supporters who had secured tickets for the Manchester City match will now be given priority for the next home fixture they choose to enter a ballot for, including the Club’s FA Cup third round tie against Rotherham United on Saturday 9 January. As the ballot has already been concluded for the visit of West Ham United on New Year's Day, the next Premier League fixture which will be open to a ballot process, tier restrictions permitting, is scheduled to be the visit of Leicester City on Wednesday, 27 January.

Details of Everton’s forthcoming home fixture ballots will be announced in due course.

Fans who were successful in the ballot for the Manchester City fixture will now automatically receive a pro-rata refund for the fixture as part of the Club’s planned refund process schedule.
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Think we'll be in tier3, 4 or full lockdown by then mate
 

davek said:
Nowhere have I said the club didn't have a right to question and enquire. I stated that the public dimension to it leaves me cold. I'd expect it of them and encourage them to. Why does it have to be in public they make a balls on the table statement?

Let's look at the possible ramifications of this: if there's enough fuss kicked up over a postponement then clubs getting tested throughout the squad might think it's better to avoid the stink and let players take to the pitch to avoid putting out a weakened team to compete for points - that's a possible wildfire for everyone else who has to play them and so on and so forth. Not all teams have a squad like City and even they couldn't feel weakened by the impact of their outbreak.

It seems to me that the opposite case to the one I make is to assume City are pulling a fast one. I dont buy that. They may have felt weakened and knew they were facing a team in form, but it beggars belief that the PL (utterly desperate to keep their show on the road) would be complicit with any such underhand plans City are being said to have had.
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The thing is though, within minutes of the postponement, there was plenty of fans demanding answers. Even the owner of this site raised concerns/questions.

The club were accused of being a soft touch by some, so why shouldn't they let these fans know exactly what's gone on and what their stance on the matter is?
 
Zabbasbeard said:
Kevin Horlock was an important player for us. Helped bring us back from the brink in the 3rd Division - particularly the Play Off final where he scored the 1st goal, played his part in the 99/00 and 01/02 promotions and helped stabilise our season back in the Premier in 02-03. He's a good lad, down to earth, makes time for fans, good laugh.
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Maybe he is, but doesn't stop that tweet being completely out of order though.
 

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