Today's Football 2017-18 Season

[deipnosophist]

Good game... it’s really whetted the appetite for the next Everton matches

 

[ToffeeTim]

Tbf to us and the 13, Cesc Hazard Morata Ozil Alexis Lacazette Willian Pedro and Giroud would be the best attacking player on basically every one of those teams. So going and opening it up probably leads to teams losing 5 or 6 to maybe 1 or 2 as opposed to keeping it to close and maybe getting something.

The influx back into the league of the merry go round, negative, hoofball managers is destroying the spectacle, the quality and ultimately the competitiveness of the match.

Too many teams content merely with survival, ourselves included. You will never achieve anything with these Allardyce type tactics. It will never breed a winning mentality or a winning style so why do so many teams adopt them.

 

[TheBigIguana]

The influx back into the league of the merry go round, negative, hoofball managers is destroying the spectacle, the quality and ultimately the competitiveness of the match.

Too many teams content merely with survival, ourselves included. You will never achieve anything with these Allardyce type tactics. It will never breed a winning mentality or a winning style so why do so many teams adopt them.

Because the alternative is the Eddie Howe or Marco Silva approach which is more entertaining but not necessarily any more effective. Plus it opens you up to get embarrassed like City did to Watford and RE did to Bournemouth

 

[ToffeeTim]

Because the alternative is the Eddie Howe or Marco Silva approach which is more entertaining but not necessarily any more effective. Plus it opens you up to get embarrassed like City did to Watford and RE did to Bournemouth

Except it's not. There are ways of carrying threat without being wide open. It's not one or other. It's the complete lack of talent in the managerial positions in this league which is the problem. You could take a random German or Spanish coach from their grassroots and they will probably be much better than every English boss in the PL.

 

[TheBigIguana]

Except it's not. There are ways of carrying threat without being wide open. It's not one or other. It's the complete lack of talent in the managerial positions in this league which is the problem. You could take a random German or Spanish coach from their grassroots and they will probably be much better than every English boss in the PL.

I still think it is much more difficult than you make it seem. If you made an all star team of players from the non top 6 the attacking talent wouldn't match a single one of those clubs. That is a massive gap to overcome. For example Southampton the other day who did what you suggest at United and still ended up with no goals. If that was Chelsea or Arsenal they would have won easily

 

[ToffeeTim]

I still think it is much more difficult than you make it seem. If you made an all star team of players from the non top 6 the attacking talent wouldn't match a single one of those clubs. That is a massive gap to overcome. For example Southampton the other day who did what you suggest at United and still ended up with no goals. If that was Chelsea or Arsenal they would have won easily

Southampton had much less defending to do because they played on the front foot. That made a clean much more likely.

 

[Khalekan]

Good game... it’s really whetted the appetite for the next Everton matches

lol

 

[Khalekan]

Might as well be two different sports hey?

In a nutshell.

 

[Khalekan]

The influx back into the league of the merry go round, negative, hoofball managers is destroying the spectacle, the quality and ultimately the competitiveness of the match.

Too many teams content merely with survival, ourselves included. You will never achieve anything with these Allardyce type tactics. It will never breed a winning mentality or a winning style so why do so many teams adopt them.

You answer your own question with that sentence, Tim.

Fourteen other clubs and thirteen other sets of fans hope for nowt more than to finish above 18th place.

The clubs because their owners see a cash cow to be milked merely by staying in the EPL or even more money to be made yo-yoing between the EPL and the Championship.

The fans because they love their day in the sun when Sky cover their games against the "big teams".

And us poor, blooming Evertonians are the last pocket of resistance, refusing to accept mediocrity gracefully and never believing we exist merely to make up the numbers, despite the fact our club seems to have very much bought into the concept of a league within a league.

 

[TheBigIguana]

Southampton had much less defending to do because they played on the front foot. That made a clean much more likely.

I'm talking about the fact that they didn't score when a team with more attacking skill would have scored easily

 

[Yid4life]

I hope we destroy the wannabe nobodies later. Keep them as close to the relegation places as possible.

 

[DanEFC92]

 

[Alan Whittle]

I went to Highbury in 1970 with a Chelsea supporting mate to see Arsenal v Chelsea. There were fights in all stands throughout the game. It was like a war zone. Two frightened 13 year olds sat very quietly.

 

[Alan Whittle]

Just noticed; tweet from a West Ham fan criticising someone else's ground.lollol

 

[Acelisc008]

The league is crap this year, any team outside the top 6 just park the bus and don't even attempt to attack. Games are just defence vs attack. So boring.