Today was the first time since 1982 that we’ve kept a clean sheet against Everton. The last time it happened was our first ever match at the top level.
"Troy: Fall of a City" on BBC1 before the news tonight.. "Troy: Fall of the Toffee's" is on after the news. Pity we hadnt beaten Swansea or Leicester!
What a return by Okaka! He was the one who really turned the match. Obviously had a point to prove and, for me, proved it. Must start v West Brom. Another excellent performance from Capoue. Shame he couldn't catch one of those long shots right, but great that he tries them. It'll come... Apart from one awful ball out, Mapps did very well too. Kiko I thought, showed himself a bit rusty. Pickford blasted the ball at Deeney's face (note how he lacked the cojones to face up to it by the way and deflect it back the way it came) and then Kiko broke clear. Deeney went absolutely nuts that he didn't square it for a simple tap in. Doucoure played fairly well and got some decent challenges in and won the ball for us on quite a few occasions in midfield. Distribution was lacking a bit though. Shame Deulofeu had to go off. Best player on the pitch by a mile. Looked like he just jarred his ankle, so hopefully it's nothing. In a 'Doyley scores' moment, Janmaat won a defensive tackle! I think he was even shocked himself.
Delighted to beat them, but Christ, that was horrible to watch. Positives to be taken: Okaka was excellent, and it looks like Javi's had words with Troy about his off the ball play. He was finding space for himself instead of looking for futile tussles with a centre back, and was much more of a threat than he's looked for a while. Loved the game management towards the end!
The happiest man at the Vic tonight must surely have been @Relegation Certs. I can only imagine how excited he was when he found out Gabbiadini scored today. I assume everything that followed was just window dressing.
Three absolute whoppers here (the posts that they make are funny as well): https://www.101greatgoals.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/*****Images-914623286.jpg Bonus:
As poor as that game was, you have to give credit to Gracia for 'blinking first' and actually making some attacking changes which swung the game in our favour Love the Deeney finish, head down, foot straight through it, pure Brexit. Glorious
When you're near the bottom of the league, you want some key things. The manager to give us a solid defensive shape which is hard to beat, and make intelligent subs. The players to be committed, aggressive and work hard. There to be some intelligence at seeing the game out, and knowing when to commit offensively/ defensively. We got all of the above today. You might not find it great to watch, but I do. Ruthless, aggressive football with a plan. Passion. 3 points. A perfect 90 in my opinion, at this point in the season.
Since Brexit is an utter ****-up so far, it would seem a more accurate word to capture spooning the ball over the bar from a yard out.
Massive win. We looked very solid defensively, struggled a bit in such a congested midfield but got the goal that mattered. Gracia doing exactly what we wanted him to do. Perfect.
The goal came from someone deciding to actually fight. The ball was hanging in the air for what felt like ages before Okaka decided to contest it and his header started the move which led to Deeney's goal. Before that being lethargic and sloppy was costing us the three points. Femenia should've squared it before too. Prodl back to his best defensively and back to his awful distribution too. Mariappa probably same. Janmaat quietly efficient without the brain farts for a change. Holebas strangley the same. Karnezis proving to be a great understudy - Gomes got a tough job on his hands. Richarlison awful. Gerard was buzzing around, lacked the final ball. Was excited about Pereyra as number 10 and it was promising but he got bullied a lot. Doccoure excellent engine, sloppy with the ball. Deeney wasn't great at all but buzzing to see him score and from open play as well. I'm happy whenever we score but when Deeney scores it just has an extra buzz to it. He's seemed allergic to shooting recently so was great to see him just leather it. Thought the Okaka sub was a weird one but ultimately it worked, still don't like it though. Seemed like Gray made more sense given the situation - no idea what this means for his career here? Three vital vital points. Everton are dog sh*t. Capoue still annoying, not bad but just hate watching him play football. Missed Cleverley's energy and discipline. We're not going down now, beat West Brom next week and it's pretty much season over for us.
Good win, not a great game but who cares. One more win should do it, hopefully next Sat. Special mention to Holebas who was good tonight and normally gets slagged off by most on here
Really enjoyable game despite the relatively low quality. Hats off to the players for giving it their all and staying switched on during a tense final 10 minutes. I suspect we'll see more of this type of performance - rather than that of vs Chelsea - over the rest of the season, and that is absolutely fine by me if it delivers the points to keep us up. Great to have Kiko and Okaka back in the fold. There was a marked improvement in the quality Gracia had available to him on the bench tonight, and he certainly made the most of it.
Deeney's made 19 Premier League appearances this season, not 27, and he 'hasn't proven how useless he is' in all of those 19 games. You made a fool of yourself before the game and you made a fool of yourself again immediately after by doubling down and slating our match winner and man of the match. Please don't do it to yourself again now, mate.
"It was two teams desperate not to to lose, with the way the table is," said Deeney. "We don't want to lose a home game and Everton want to keep a gap from the bottom. "I have to say our fans were fantastic. It was a dire game, but they stuck with us and deserve it." If you are being serious about what you interpret Deeney as saying, a fine career in journalism awaits you at the Daily Express. Deeney SLAMS fans in Watford win SHOCK. (It's we fans by the way, not us fans)
Man of the match. That's stretching it a bit fella. Great goal. Great finish but no way was Troy our best performer tonight.