twoblue
Player Valuation: £35m
"The four months, where we didn't win a game and Dyche Walker was lucky not to be sacked":
Background, December 2023, On the back of beating Forest Away, Newcastle and Chelsea Home and Burnley Away between 2 and 16 December, we had a League Cup Quarter final on the 19th December with Fulham who were in good form at the time. The tie went to extra time and we lost on penalties.
That's a period of five games in 17 days, unbeaten except for penalties. This then starts the “four-month winless run.” (Hint: Wasn't winless, and wasn't 4 months)
I think we should look at the fixtures with the power of hindsight, each game insolation for the season, and see what games were bad results:
23 Dec
Tottenham 2 -1 Everton. Away at top six side
27 Dec
Everton 1 - 3 Man City. Best team in the world
30 Dec
Wolves 3 - 0 Everton. A tired performance. Bad result, but we have small squad that had just played their 8th game in a month. Wolves top half side
4th Jan FA Cup 3rd Round
Palace 0 - 0 Everton. A tricky away tie against premier league opponents above us in table. DCL sent off and decent result, if unneeded replay
14 Jan
Everton 0 - 0 Villa. Decent result against high flying 4th place Villa
17 Jan 3rd Round Replay
Everton 1 - 0 Palace. An Everton win, in period where we apparently never won in 4 months.
27 Jan FA Cup 4th Round
Everton 1 - 2 Luton. Cant argue that this is a bad result. The only defeat in January.
30 Jan
Fulham 0 - 0 Everton - tricky away tie against a mid table side, above us in the table.
3 Feb
Everton 2 - 2 Tottenham - a good comeback against a good Spurs side
10 Feb
Man City 2 - 0 Everton - Never going to grab a result here.
19 Feb
Everton 1 - 1 Palace - A game we hope to get more from but in isolation not a bad result for where we are this season
24 Feb
Brighton 1 - 1 Everton - On paper a good draw, would have accepted that at the start of the game. Letting them equalise in 90+5 mins was a disappointing.
* Key Stat - only lost once in the league to Man City over the first 2 months of 2024. Won one (in period we never won one) and lost one in the cup.
2 Mar
Everton 1 - 3 West Ham - West Ham are decent outfit (currently 8th), although we would have hoped for a better result at home to them. Again, two injury times goals changed the game with West Ham scoring 90+1 and 90+5 to win the game
9 Mar
Man U 2 - 0 Everton - Undone by two penalties. You wouldn't expect a result at this game at the start of the season.
30 Mar
Bournmouth 2 - 1 Everton - tricky away tie, lost in the 90+1 min by a Coleman OG
2 April
Newcastle 1 - 1 Everton - Another tricky away tie. Scraped a draw.
So, in conclusion:
Premier League 4 months (Dec 3 to Aprl 2):
Played 17, Won 4, Drew 6, Lost 8, Pts 18
We achieved over a point per game, which would likely have kept us up in a normal season. The Four Months is a myth. We won games in December and beat Palace in the cup in January, too.
There are also only a couple of games we should have expected a better result, given the league position of the opposition.
You would have been a fool to sack Dyche in the period. A period against difficult opposition, where we still maintained over a point per game, and undone by bunch of injury time goals.
Background, December 2023, On the back of beating Forest Away, Newcastle and Chelsea Home and Burnley Away between 2 and 16 December, we had a League Cup Quarter final on the 19th December with Fulham who were in good form at the time. The tie went to extra time and we lost on penalties.
That's a period of five games in 17 days, unbeaten except for penalties. This then starts the “four-month winless run.” (Hint: Wasn't winless, and wasn't 4 months)
I think we should look at the fixtures with the power of hindsight, each game insolation for the season, and see what games were bad results:
23 Dec
Tottenham 2 -1 Everton. Away at top six side
27 Dec
Everton 1 - 3 Man City. Best team in the world
30 Dec
Wolves 3 - 0 Everton. A tired performance. Bad result, but we have small squad that had just played their 8th game in a month. Wolves top half side
4th Jan FA Cup 3rd Round
Palace 0 - 0 Everton. A tricky away tie against premier league opponents above us in table. DCL sent off and decent result, if unneeded replay
14 Jan
Everton 0 - 0 Villa. Decent result against high flying 4th place Villa
17 Jan 3rd Round Replay
Everton 1 - 0 Palace. An Everton win, in period where we apparently never won in 4 months.
27 Jan FA Cup 4th Round
Everton 1 - 2 Luton. Cant argue that this is a bad result. The only defeat in January.
30 Jan
Fulham 0 - 0 Everton - tricky away tie against a mid table side, above us in the table.
3 Feb
Everton 2 - 2 Tottenham - a good comeback against a good Spurs side
10 Feb
Man City 2 - 0 Everton - Never going to grab a result here.
19 Feb
Everton 1 - 1 Palace - A game we hope to get more from but in isolation not a bad result for where we are this season
24 Feb
Brighton 1 - 1 Everton - On paper a good draw, would have accepted that at the start of the game. Letting them equalise in 90+5 mins was a disappointing.
* Key Stat - only lost once in the league to Man City over the first 2 months of 2024. Won one (in period we never won one) and lost one in the cup.
2 Mar
Everton 1 - 3 West Ham - West Ham are decent outfit (currently 8th), although we would have hoped for a better result at home to them. Again, two injury times goals changed the game with West Ham scoring 90+1 and 90+5 to win the game
9 Mar
Man U 2 - 0 Everton - Undone by two penalties. You wouldn't expect a result at this game at the start of the season.
30 Mar
Bournmouth 2 - 1 Everton - tricky away tie, lost in the 90+1 min by a Coleman OG
2 April
Newcastle 1 - 1 Everton - Another tricky away tie. Scraped a draw.
So, in conclusion:
Premier League 4 months (Dec 3 to Aprl 2):
Played 17, Won 4, Drew 6, Lost 8, Pts 18
We achieved over a point per game, which would likely have kept us up in a normal season. The Four Months is a myth. We won games in December and beat Palace in the cup in January, too.
There are also only a couple of games we should have expected a better result, given the league position of the opposition.
You would have been a fool to sack Dyche in the period. A period against difficult opposition, where we still maintained over a point per game, and undone by bunch of injury time goals.
let's not suddenly try to re-write the story here..
