Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
- Status
EverBlue86
Banned ( again ) for threatening behaviour
Brilliant how hes played out of position and is slated yet the manager who puts him out of position gets off Scot free.
He isn't and will never be a winger.
He isn't and will never be a winger.
toffeestillidie
Player Valuation: £35m
Thought he had a good game, looked deadly every time he was on the ball, I have no idea what people are on about
Ruff Barkleaves.
deipnosophist
Player Valuation: £80m
I miss Gerry
bluemangroup
Player Valuation: £70m
Rust Berksqueeze
kithnou
Player Valuation: £70m
Of the two times he has played the left wing role imo today was an improvement over Swansea, not fantastic but a clear upgrade.
Took him about 6 weeks to come back to his best last season after the toe injury and he was always playing in his preferred #10 position. He was truly dreadful in a sub appearance against Spurs during that time, there was a comedy pass between him and an also recovering Deulofeu that was particularly inept.
Based on that he is doing far better than I expected, especially as he had a limited preseason.
Took him about 6 weeks to come back to his best last season after the toe injury and he was always playing in his preferred #10 position. He was truly dreadful in a sub appearance against Spurs during that time, there was a comedy pass between him and an also recovering Deulofeu that was particularly inept.
Based on that he is doing far better than I expected, especially as he had a limited preseason.
Toffee-nerd
Player Valuation: £20m
He did OK, he shouldn't be on the wing though. Hes arguably our most creative midfielder so should be played in his best position, especially if Naismith isn't starting there. We have two players who are quality in that CAM position yet neither of them were played there yesterday. I'm not knocking Eto'o, he really came into the game second half and made the difference for the goal but should Eto'o be playing there? I dont think so. Not if it means playing Barkley and Naismith out of position/benching one of them.
Saying Barkley looked "deadly" is a bit of an overstatement, none of our players looked deadly yesterday. Even Bainesy's peno should have been saved. We just look really poor at times, just plodding along going through the motions and it's so frustrating after seeing what this group of players are capable of last season. The likes of Arsenal, Man U, Spurs etc look drivel at times as well, I'm not sure whether the rest of the clubs in the league have improved dramatically over the summer or the "big clubs" are suffering with world cup hangovers or whatever.
It's good for us because we are still within touching distance of where we want to be, but frustrating as well. Last season we would have won yesterday. It just seems something is missing, belief or confidence, maybe just the Europa league games but we have a squad big enough that should be able to cope with the extra games. We know we have quality too. Everton that. Should, would, could.
Last edited:
Toffee-nerd
Player Valuation: £20m
He's definitely doing better than expected based on last season but surely he needs to be played in his preferred role. Considering the start Naismith has had to the season, one of those two has to start as CAM. Eto'o made the goal yesterday but it's games like yesterday the manager has to play his best team. Either have Lukaku and Eto up top together and lose one of the DM's or stay with the usual formation with one of Barkley, Niamith and Eto. Playing Eto and Barkley together meant they took space away from each other, its putting square pegs in round holes.
Towards the end of the game we did look to have more penetration but by then it's too late. Mcgeady was imo our best attacking player yesterday and thats because he stretched them and could go down the outside. When you play barkley naismith and eto they are all looking to come inside and they take the space away from each other. It does open up the space for our wide men but then you have to zip the ball out quickly to exploit the space and we didn't do that yesterday, the passing was pedestrian at times. We missed pienaar yesterday, he's that link for baines to get to the by-line with their interplay, they don't play the ball quickly between them but the understanding they have means they can move into space and know the ball will find them.
I'm so frustrated by yesterday. It wasn't a terrible performance but it's games like that, that I really wish Martinez would change how we play and do something different. It's too easy for teams to just sit and we just knock it around our back four and centre middys.
Agree we really missed Pienaar, with Osman playing the full game on Thursday we had limited other wing options.
With the benefit of hindsight I would have played either Lukaku or Eto'o as the striker, Naismith and McGeady on the wings with Barkley as #10. But Eto'o was excellent in the CAM role vs Burnley, he linked up well with Lukaku who seemed to be returning to form on Thursday so didn't really have many issues with the starting lineup.
Several players had subpar preformances, even usually dependable ones like Coleman - just one of those days tbh.
- Status