What a fantastic result. I reckon most of us would have settled for a point before the game. Everton is a place where a lot of 'bigger clubs' will go there and get turned over. From what I saw on the highlights we seemed very compact and organised. It took a world class strike from one of the best prospects in the Country to get them level, and I think most of us would be forgiven for thinking 'here we go again'. The desire to try and win the game from 1-1 after 82 minutes at one of the toughest places to go is very pleasing. It seems as if QSF got his tactics spot on and made the right changes at the right time. The only negative (sounds silly) for me was seeing Ben Watson ball watching for their second and not following Kone's run. I think he'll be fine as a fourth choice defensive midfielder, but we definitely need to sign another player to be ahead of him in the pecking order. A very solid Championship player that's probably a bit out of his depth in the Premiership, but that could just be me being harsh. Behrami certainly put himself about and seemed to tire before he came off, so a bit more depth in this area is crucial. The game is done now, it means nothing if we lose next weekend at home to WBA. That's the sort of game we'll need to win to help stave off relegation. I fully expect QSF to pick a different side for next weekend, will probably see either Ighalo or Vydra come in for Anya (most likely to drop out). There's a lot more to come from us with the likes of Britos, Berghuis, Abdi, Vydra and Diamanti still to come in to the side at some point. I can't wait, I think we're in for a cracking season and it's very funny listening to and reading the praise from other people now after yesterday.
Google cricfree and you ll find a website that has all the sky channels . That way you can watch goals on Sunday which is Sky's superior version of MOTD. It's not on demand though . If you do , use chrome with ad blocker to make the whole thing easier
Lol, I was googling to read some comments about the match and found this one: http://toffeeweb.com/season/15-16/comment/fan/30528.html Nothing particular really, the obvious complaining that Everton should have done better, but I was impressed by: "Let’s pull no punches; the starting line-up at 3pm against Watford contained ten full internationals, with a further four lying in wait on substitute bench if required. With all due respect to Watford, who outfought Everton throughout the afternoon, this was a game that Everton should not be losing on paper." Our starting 11, apart from the funny thing of having 15 different nationalities (counting the double passport of several players), counted 9 full internationals! Only Deeney and Jurado have no caps. And another four (Vydra, Paredes, Pudil, Ighalo) were on the bench.
Fantastic day. Scenes like you've never seen when that first goal went in. Some of the best football I've ever seen us play and I didn't even feel we were at our best. Flores more than justifying the selection that made us all scratch our heads before kick off. Capoue looking every inch the player he was supposed to be. Prodl 'Thor-like' at the back. Jurado nutmugging Barkley or Barry - dunno which. Ighalo leaving an England centre-back and a £30m rated defender on their arse. For all our signings, two ex-Championship players scored the goals. We made 'Mr Football' Martinez resort to long ball. The 'proper' Flores chant taking off. I thought I might hate the Premier League. Meh. It's fan-****ing-tastic. For now.
Not getting the words, they are obviously Spanish, though the tune does sound good; are they singing: - "Regarde de Flores"? Any Spanish speakers out there?
Ross Barkley in Garth Crooks' team of the week. Well he scored a goal and he also....erm....he had a shot and.....erm....
In that video, they're singing "lo,lo,lo,loooo, lo, lo, Quique Sanchez Flores, lo, lo, lo, lo, lo, lo, lo, lo Quique Sanchez Flo-res". Here's another clip with better sound quality where you can hear the words more clearly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJe_gTGvxz8&spfreload=10
This should not be a footnote, in my opinion it should almost be the headline from Saturday. This is from whoscored.com: (pg means 'per game' but as there has only been 1 game so far the table just shows this weekend's fixtures) Last season Everton averaged 68 long passes per game at home. We went to an established top 10 PL side and made them change their game to get something from us. That has to be a big positive if it's something Quique can replicate tactically throughout the season.
We had the highest percentage of completed passes in the opposition half this weekend according to MOTD.
To be fair - everyone is partially correct - it was potentially career ending - it also was not even a foul It was in F1 terms "a racing incident" - 2 players going fairly for the same ball at the same time - frankly i thought almost the same was true of the Deeney incident where when you look - Deeney was rash (a bit studs up) and their guy also threw himself in to make a desparate clearance. I did not think either challenge deserved the coverage they have had
Behrami's tackle was a bad one, but I think it just happened due to a 50/50 challenge between tired players, I don't think there was intent Mirallas lay around crying for about 10 minutes before then getting up and sprinting around again so he can bore off
Football365's Winners of the Weekend... Multi-culturalism in Watford Watford's starting line-up featured 11 different nationalities. Watford fans They have been understandably a tad aggrieved that their evil, manager-sacking club has been anointed media favourites for relegation while plucky little Bournemouth are simply media favourites. Not only did the opening day bring a precious first point of the campaign but also four goals and a whole barrel-load of entertainment. Whatever happens in May, this is going to be one hell of a fun ride.
I knew Ighalo was going to do his classic fake shot when running across Stones! Despite being put on his ass by Ighalo, I can now see why Chelsea are bidding so high for him - he's deceptively strong and just very good.
Yeah I think the point of that bit is to paraphrase what the media have been saying about us, not to accuse the club of being evil.
It was mildly amusing on the MOTD highlights to see Barkley checking and smoothing down the back of his head after his goal celebrations with his team mates.
Agreed about Stones and as I see it he had to block Odion's feint otherwise it could have been a certain goal. He was up fast and came very close to the actual shot when it came.
For me, my favorite part from Saturday was Deeney's enthusiasm and celebration on both our goals. A true leader! Still gives me massive goosebumps.
Might be a bit late for many people to actually engage with this article, but nonetheless here are my thoughts on the game on Saturday: http://www.watford.vitalfootball.co.uk/sitepage.asp?a=408642 Basically, we look good.
Only one game of course but what struck me was the fact that we looked nothing like most newly-promoted Championship teams - all hustle, bustle & maximum effort in an attempt to compensate for lesser quality. Instead we looked calm, composed, very well organized, tidy, and dangerous when attacking. Like a proper mid-table Premier League side in fact. The manner of the point gained mattered as much as the actual point itself.
A fine write up ... got too agree we will be far more attacking against WBA and with different personnel, not least because QSF still has some big decisions to make on the final twenty five.
