2022/23 Sean Dyche

[BlueToff]

Not one of the worst attacks, THE worst attacks.

well quite, statistically and with the eye test.

Also sold our top scorer in the league, who was also crap like.

 

[TheBigIguana]

Ancelotti took one look at them and gave up trying to play any kind of football and had us playing for set pieces. One of the greatest managers of all time recognised that they were incapable of playing football, so forgive me but I tend to believe him over you who just seems to think “go and play good football lads” will work.

Some of the actual suggestions you make aren’t viable either. You seem to think that just putting Dwight McNeil on the right is going to make him a better player, as if he can become a Robben-esque cut inside winger. But he can’t, because he doesn’t have the skill set to do that. You have to be able to drop a shoulder, change direction quickly, be actually capable of going on the outside to the byline occasionally so that the full back can’t easily read you. All McNeil ends up doing is taking the ball on the right, and slowly meandering into 3 players in the centre before giving it away or going backwards. I’m genuinely not trying to be patronising here and trying to help you understand the game of football a bit better. You seem to have a very, very base level of understanding of the game.

For the billionth time it's about having McNeil on the right so that we can generate actual combination play and not have our fullbacks running straight into the back of a right footed winger who can't go left. It's not about McNeil being good so much as the team functioning in possession.

 

[TheBigIguana]

What has given you this idea? It's been two games. What ideas are flawed?

You really always seem to think that this squad is capable of playing lovely footy (you and Lampard clearly had this in common) but there's so much evidence that they aren't.

The idea where not passing the ball through midfield is viable.

It's also been a decade. Until he's playing noticeably different from how Burnley did those seasons all count.

 

[MikeH72]

For the billionth time it's about having McNeil on the right so that we can generate actual combination play and not have our fullbacks running straight into the back of a right footed winger who can't go left. It's not about McNeil being good so much as the team functioning in possession.

How can he link up with the full back when the full back is Seamus Coleman who can’t run anymore? And has never been able to cross? And is notoriously terrible on the ball and panics in possession? Think about what you’re typing.

And there’s absolutely no reason why a right footer can’t tuck in and allow the full back to overlap. It may be an issue when it’s Iwobi who is as one-footed as McNeil and generally pretty crap on the ball too, like, granted. But there’s no reason why McNeil couldn’t do that on the left hypothetically, but then his full back on that side is Mykolenko who is useless too. Do you see where I’m going with this?

 

[TheBigIguana]

Also if anyone has actually grown up playing footy, and done it all their life, they'd know that footy is not 'an incredibly complex sport'.

No sport is incredibly complex. It's why so many people around the world play it.

The basics always stay the same and it's the basics that are at first required. Ultimately you need quality on top and that's where this Everton squad falls down. Because the quality isn't there.

Calvert-Lewin (crocked), Maupay, Simms, Gray, McNeil, Iwobi.

That's our attack. That's one of the worst attacks in the league. Which is why we've scored 16 goals in 22 games and are 18th.

What percentage of those actually master it though? That's why it is complex mate. It's not that only a few people can do the basics it's that few people can become masters of it.

Again would you call chess simple? Everyone can play chess!

 

[roy vernon]

Completely concur.

Frankly I didn't expect us to get anything at the pit. RS fans and players alike always treat it like a cup final game. And despite what some blues might say the RS do have a good squad.

These next two games of ours, both at Goodison, are perhaps the two biggest games in our club's long and proud history. Win them and we will almost certainly stay up.

When, consider my flabber completely gasted, Gorgeous Gareth 'completely concurs' with George Gibson.

 

[LucBesson]

What percentage of those actually master it though? That's why it is complex mate. It's not that only a few people can do the basics it's that few people can become masters of it.

Again would you call chess simple? Everyone can play chess!

The amount of people who 'make it' has f all to do with its complexity. There's always going to be a finite number of professionals because there's only so many professional teams. Half of professional footballers are braindead as well, so they're not exactly outwitting their opponent every time they step onto the pitch. It's athleticism more than anything.

 

[BlueToff]

The idea where not passing the ball through midfield is viable.

It's also been a decade. Until he's playing noticeably different from how Burnley did those seasons all count.

We passed it through midfield plenty of times against Arsenal. You clearly didn't watch the game.

The difference between that and what we did under FL, Benitez and even in the derby last week was we were able to do it quickly and with purpose, because we had a firing Dom pushing their CBs back to create space and we weren't faffing around with it at the back.

 

[TheBigIguana]

How can he link up with the full back when the full back is Seamus Coleman who can’t run anymore? And has never been able to cross? And is notoriously terrible on the ball and panics in possession? Think about what you’re typing.

And there’s absolutely no reason why a right footer can’t tuck in and allow the full back to overlap. It may be an issue when it’s Iwobi who is as one-footed as McNeil and generally pretty crap on the ball too, like, granted. But there’s no reason why McNeil couldn’t do that on the left hypothetically, but then his full back on that side is Mykolenko who is useless too. Do you see where I’m going with this?

So the answer is to just do nothing? We could use Vinagre btw who has shown more attacking prowess in like 20 minutes than Myko in years.

There are lots of excellent players who are much more useful on one side than the other. This isn't a fatal flaw with proper coaching and organization.

 

[MikeH72]

What percentage of those actually master it though? That's why it is complex mate. It's not that only a few people can do the basics it's that few people can become masters of it.

Again would you call chess simple? Everyone can play chess!

This is irrelevant, darts is a very simple game where you throw a sharp object at a board, but very few can master that either.

 

[roy vernon]

This is also a viewpoint I've never quite understood. Football is an incredibly complex sport. Do people think chess is simple? Football is magnitudes more complicated.

Then you have obviously not played it very often, football is a very simple game, the more you try to complicate it, the worse you will get at it.

 

[MikeH72]

So the answer is to just do nothing? We could use Vinagre btw who has shown more attacking prowess in like 20 minutes than Myko in years.

There are lots of excellent players who are much more useful on one side than the other. This isn't a fatal flaw with proper coaching and organization.

The answer is to find a way of grinding out results that suits the terrible options you have. That’s sort of the point we’ve been trying to make all along. It’s an incredibly tough job managing poor footballers at such a high level.

Yes there are, but there are also lots of average to poor players that will just be bad wherever you put them. McNeil falls into this category for me.

 

[BlueToff]

What percentage of those actually master it though? That's why it is complex mate. It's not that only a few people can do the basics it's that few people can become masters of it.

Again would you call chess simple? Everyone can play chess!

The basics of footy, cricket, baseball, American football, tennis - they're all very simple.

The complexity comes from marginal gains, whether physical, mental or tactical. Absolutely. And the better players are, the better they become at making those marginal gains count.

We need better players, but they're not here, so we need to make sure we're getting the basics right. Will it be enough? I'm not so sure, because it comes back to not having the quality to score goals. We don't have that, so have to find ways around it, which is probably going to mean a more direct approach and getting players into the box. Unfortunately, that is very reliant on Dom and he can't stay fit, which again comes back to why the DoF is even still in place, and this disastrous board.

I get your point, but what have Klopp's Liverpool and Pep's City done so well? They just do the simple, basic things so, so well, 9 times out of 10.

Does that pass look the right one to make? Yes. Is playing an extra ball rather than shooting the right idea? Yes. Is ensuring midfielders track their runners still vitally important even if you play a back three? Yes.

Then the quality does what it does on top and produces those moments that are complex, or those managers that are the very best around come up with that tactical switch, etc.

 

[BlueToff]

The answer is to find a way of grinding out results that suits the terrible options you have. That’s sort of the point we’ve been trying to make all along. It’s an incredibly tough job managing poor footballers at such a high level.

Yes there are, but there are also lots of average to poor players that will just be bad wherever you put them. McNeil falls into this category for me.

I've used this analogy before but I compare it to playing on FIFA.

If you were gonna pick a team to play with, it wouldn't be this Everton side.

 

[TheBigIguana]

The basics of footy, cricket, baseball, American football, tennis - they're all very simple.

The complexity comes from marginal gains, whether physical, mental or tactical. Absolutely. And the better players are, the better they become at making those marginal gains count.

We need better players, but they're not here, so we need to make sure we're getting the basics right. Will it be enough? I'm not so sure, because it comes back to not having the quality to score goals. We don't have that, so have to find ways around it, which is probably going to mean a more direct approach and getting players into the box. Unfortunately, that is very reliant on Dom and he can't stay fit, which again comes back to why the DoF is even still in place, and this disastrous board.

I get your point, but what have Klopp's Liverpool and Pep's City done so well? They just do the simple, basic things so, so well, 9 times out of 10.

Does that pass look the right one to make? Yes. Is playing an extra ball rather than shooting the right idea? Yes. Is ensuring midfielders track their runners still vitally important even if you play a back three? Yes.

Then the quality does what it does on top and produces those moments that are complex, or those managers that are the very best around come up with that tactical switch, etc.

So it's complex. Glad we cleared that up.