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The case for the defence...

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Milk said:
Patterson is quoted as saying (Paul Joyce article in Times) that he is improving in every aspect of his game directly because he sits down with Ashley Cole after each game and analysises his performance in detail then goes away to work on it.
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There are two schools of thought...

One is to buy quality attackers and score goals and the other is to build from the back and improve the spine of the team.

My opinion has always been the latter because that makes you more difficult to beat, and then you improve the frontline as and when you can.

Maupay and DCL are perfectly good options to have because the spine of the team is unrecognisable from the one when Frank arrived and all that with just losing Richarlison.

Remember the good old days of Keane and Holgate and a midfield of Gomes and Davies?

Even if you have Messi upfront you will still lose more games than you will win with those four as your first choice CB and CM...
 
Rooney_Tunes said:
There are two schools of thought...

One is to buy quality attackers and score goals and the other is to build from the back and improve the spine of the team.

My opinion has always been the latter because that makes you more difficult to beat, and then you improve the frontline as and when you can.
Click to expand...
If you don't concede, you don't lose games is how I see it. With a strong defence and a growing midfield, the forward players can develop with less pressure.

We looked threatening on the counter attack yesterday only to be limited by the precision in the final third, but that will come with time.
 
slipstream86 said:
Impressed by the Coady and Tarkowski partenership today. If they keep turning in performances like that then they could turn out to be the most dependable CB pairing Everton have had for many years...Since Weir and Stubbs perhaps...

As a team, I thought the defensive performance was solid and reassuring today. They made the 1 - 0 lead feel very comfortable. Compare that to last season....The few times we actually took the lead in games, everyone was just on edge waiting until the inevitable equalizing goal.
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I like the Stubbs and Weir comparison because of how sturdy they are and solid despite a lack of pace, but to be pedantic Lescott and Jagielka was a cut above
 
Milk said:
Patterson is quoted as saying (Paul Joyce article in Times) that he is improving in every aspect of his game directly because he sits down with Ashley Cole after each game and analysises his performance in detail then goes away to work on it.
Click to expand...
Mr Milk, have you seen any of the training videos, Cole looks to have the making of been a very very good coach. He is always pulling them aside to give them instructions on the training pitch
 

slipstream86 said:
Impressed by the Coady and Tarkowski partenership today. If they keep turning in performances like that then they could turn out to be the most dependable CB pairing Everton have had for many years...Since Weir and Stubbs perhaps...

As a team, I thought the defensive performance was solid and reassuring today. They made the 1 - 0 lead feel very comfortable. Compare that to last season....The few times we actually took the lead in games, everyone was just on edge waiting until the inevitable equalizing goal.
Click to expand...
Love them tbh, really like Coady talking to the rest of the team and telling them to switch on. Coleman has a tendency to get rattled and shout at players, whereas Coady seems to really exude a calm focus.
 
yakublue said:
Love them tbh, really like Coady talking to the rest of the team and telling them to switch on. Coleman has a tendency to get rattled and shout at players, whereas Coady seems to really exude a calm focus.
Click to expand...

I know he’s new to the club but as a captain (leader and communicator) I think he’s excellent. Looking at the captains of other clubs - there’s no one who stands out as better in those areas.
 
I’d be interested in knowing how people would rank our centre backs in order.
For me;

Tarkowski
Coady
Mina
Godfrey
Holgate
Keane

With Brantwaite to come back in as well. We’ve clearly got too many.
 
buskwhi2 said:
I’d be interested in knowing how people would rank our centre backs in order.
For me;

Tarkowski
Coady
Mina
Godfrey
Holgate
Keane

With Brantwaite to come back in as well. We’ve clearly got too many.
Click to expand...
On early evidence from the top 2 I’d agree with that assessment. Mina can be excellent but that’s kind of beside the point when he’s always knackered.

I’d be very surprised if both Mina and Keane are still about when Branthwaite comes back. Lampard seems to have a list of those he has zero faith in, which - in terms of players still with the squad - defo includes Allan and Keane.

I always imagined Keane would end up back at Burnley when his time came but now I’m not so sure Kompany would want him. Stoke, maybe?
 

Rooney_Tunes said:
There are two schools of thought...

One is to buy quality attackers and score goals and the other is to build from the back and improve the spine of the team.

My opinion has always been the latter because that makes you more difficult to beat, and then you improve the frontline as and when you can.

Maupay and Dominic Calvert-Lewin are perfectly good options to have because the spine of the team is unrecognisable from the one when Frank arrived and all that with just losing Richarlison.

Remember the good old days of Keane and Holgate and a midfield of Gomes and Davies?

Even if you have Messi upfront you will still lose more games than you will win with those four as your first choice CB and CM...
Click to expand...

Yeah - this is what we needed in that balmy summer of 2017 - some simple Tarkowski, Coady types. But then again, it did look good on paper - Pickford, Keane, Rooney - some leaders and some flair, but it just didn't fit together at all. If we consistenly have this spirit, and spine, then adding flair and quality will be easier.
 
evertony said:
Gough and Distin with their respective centre back partners were both top notch.
Click to expand...

The Coleman-Distin-Jagielka-Baines back 4 was excellent. Yobo too. We've had some top notch players in there. Great to see this again, and I think any of the others improve immediately if they play alongside Coady especially. Keane, Holgate, Mina, Godfrey would all play much better alongside them I reckon. Wasn't Keane-Tarkowski the pairing when Burnley had that great season?
 
Blast_of_Cannock said:
What a difference to last season. Every corner we conceded it was "OH ####, HERE COMES ANOTHER GOAL!". Now, with this defence, it's not worrying me whenever the opposition gets a corner.
Click to expand...

Yeah it just shows how lazy some of the players in there were. The systems don’t change, but for some reason for a period under Carlo and now the team is concentrating on every set piece whereas other times they just switch off so easily.

The team still struggles with anything that is repeated. So Gordon and Gray will track their runner back the first time, but if the opposition work it back out and around they don’t go with their runner the second or third time. I’m always confident we’ll be ok on the first corner but if there’s a number in quick succession I worry that some players will just switch off after doing whir job once.

That’s why it’s good to hear Coady barking at players to switch on because concentration has been a massive issue for recent teams.

I do think it just comes down to the likes of Keane Kenny Doucoure Siggurdson Davies Delph et al sometimes just being too lazy to keep their concentration in defensive situations. The new breed seem to understand that they have to be on it for 95 minutes every game. They just don’t seem to give up as easily as previous players did.
 

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