I bet he wasn't going to say that till Deeney struck! A patchy performance although thought we wanted to win it more than they did 2nd half and got the 3 vital points. Okaka and Femenia made a difference when coming on.
I agree, the quality was poor, but at least we tried to get forward. There was no lack of effort or commitment. Just what we needed. It is a lack of confidence, in my view, not endeavour. Great goal from Troy. It is amazing what he can do if he comes towards a cross instead for hanging about at the far post. Just a bit of movement and variation is all that is required to improve his game significantly. Let's hope that it gives him a bit of confidence and we don't have to wait another 10 months for the next goal. But, for me, the main difference is in the defence. I have said all season that our defensive personnel are good enough to cope with 75% of our league opposition. We just needed sorting out and today and, yet again, we looked pretty solid and relatively error free at the back and we were disciplined seeing out the game for the last 15 mins or so. Well done lads, one more win and a draw should see us safe.
Plus we have Burnley at home to come. Of course I’m still more worried about safety but being part of the infamous Big 7 is possible.
Dreadful game for the most part, both teams pretty awful but a huge win. Everton were set up to stop us playing, absolutely no attempt to press us high up the pitch, just dropped back into shape to stop us passing through them. Led to some truly horrific long passing from Mariappa in the first half but he was his usual switched-on self defensively, couple of great blocks and headers. Holebas was my Man of the Match (despite the foul throws), dealt with Walcott's pace really well and the timing of his tackles was perfect, there were a few times where he would've been booked or Walcott would've been away if he'd got it wrong. Okaka was great when he came on, clearly the right decision as Gray would've had no space in behind. Shame he didn't score when he rolled the defender but he made the goal and put a lot of effort in. Interesting seeing a continental coach deciding to go two big lumps right up top and some speedy wingers to get the ball into them but seemed like exactly the right tactics against a very limited Everton team. Brilliant finish from Deeney, didn't do much else but took the goal fantastically. No idea what happened at the end, whether Karnezis made a save or it was just a scramble but was just waiting for the roar from their end as was convinced it was going to go in. Anyone else think Kiko got injured again? He didn't track back at all after the goal and looked like he could barely move.
Pickford (!) won the header from the corner, a couple of Everton players miscontrolled it on the bounce and then one of them, possibly Tozun, scuffed a shot into the ground and into Karnezis' grateful arms.
Bolasie headed it onto his own player from 2 yards out straight into Karnezis hands according to Allardyce.
How was I supposed to know that? It's not what you said is it? Absolutely no need to be abusive either. Calm down.
Just watched the highlights back, fair play to Deeney for making a big thing out of Okaka's contribution to the goal when they were celebrating, and also really good feet by Okaka to get in the right shape to play the ball across.
You are right, there is always one t**t. I should have spelt out, just for you. Have you put your Deeney posters up again, or had they never come down?
I wish you heard 'Everton all that is wrong with English football' a bit more in the media. Overpaid on mediocre players. Big wages. Sacking coaches. I mean that number 14. The 28 million pound striker - he was woeful. His biggest contribution was getting a kick in the nads by Capoue! Why they get an easy ride is anyones guess.
I know it's been a tough day for you, but you need to chill out a bit, buddy. Having a read of your own words on the topic of abuse and bullying might help:
Also, thought it was a bad tackle at the time but that one from Keane on Doucoure was as bad if not worse than either Zeegelaar or Deeney's reds earlier in the season. Got none of the ball, caught him with his leading foot and also with his trailing leg whilst Doucoure was at full stretch. Very lucky not to be seriously injured. https://twitter.com/popcornreel/status/967466961893404672
Aside from the fact it was blindingly obvious? I said as much at the time. Honestly should have been a red, it was a nasty challenge. Er...was he looking at the right challenge?
Genuinely staggered by that. Clearly at least a yellow, could easily have been a red if judged the same as some other tackles this season. Had his knee caught Doucoure's ankle a fraction higher, he would've caused him a serious injury, clearly out of control.
Not a great game for the TV viewers, but I don't care about that......we won. It was a very good performance, and one I totally expected from a Gracia team. We are using the same players at the back, but are now they are well drilled we're not giving away easy chances. That's 7 points from 4 games. I said before the Stoke match, I thought we should get 7 from the next 5. So we've done it with a game to spare. Big improvements from certain players. Ok, Janmaat made a few errors, but overall his performance was great. Okaka, wow, where's this version been? Not seen him play like this since.......Everton at home last season. The opponent must agree with him. Deeney looks much fitter now and his goal was a great strike. Mapps reads the game really well, and is so underrated. I think he deserves to keep his place even when everyone else is fit. Capoue, another who under-performs often, has put in a lot of good performances under Gracia. He was decent tonight. I hope Deulofeu's injury is only a minor one, and I think it probably is. It was great to see Kiko back. How we've missed him. It's all about grinding out results now and today was just that. 6 points from Gracia's first two home games against the hardest two opponents bodes really well. Only 2 or 3 more wins realistically required now. We should be able to do that comfortably with the remaining home matches still to play. Tonight, I'm a very happy hornet.
Keane has gone massively backwards from what I’ve seen this season. A big indictment of the way Everton aspire to play these days.
Thought Everton were abysmal and carried us down to their level. Interestingly at half time the pundits on NBC thought Everton would win because "they had a lot more quality and potential to improve". Personally i dont think their 11 offered any more than Watfords on paper. Silvas Watford would probably have smashed Everton today 3-4 Today needed one bit of quality. I was concerned when GD went off but actually it came from Deeney/Okaka
Given the Brexit reference, I was going to make an observation that Theresa May looks better with her hair like this but self edited on the grounds that it was mildly sexist & a little lame. Anyway, as happens, I pushed the wrong button & this pops up. Who is this? Posh Spice? For what it is worth, I felt the difference today was in the intelligence of the two managers. Gracia adroit. FSA characterically rigid. Their best player was Davies. If they do go down, I suggest we make enquiries.
Better but he is still too slow. He is the opposite of de Bruyne. KdB has an extraordinary map of the situation in his mind which allows him to execute passes which virtually no one else would see. EC gets the ball & then starts thinking. With so little time, he usually goes sideways/backwards.
Is it MotM or Player otM? Cricket now is PotM. Some grandmaster level pc thinking which is difficult to fathom.
Never heard of him, I’ve already forgotten his name and and his opinion means less to me than the fart I released at West Ham a couple of weeks back.
Agreed. I was struck by an economic difference that they had 3 players on their bench who cost a combined £75m. Can you imagine us having the luxury of 3 players on our bench we’d paid £25m each for and overall we were still sh1te? It’s bad enough with poor Gray.
