5th goal. The 3 Everton players get stick for not clearing but for me its down to our change of attitude - we would have run away last week to defend deep and been passive. This week we fight for the 2nd ball, pressure applied, win the ball, simply, King does not get that chance last week. Watching Norwich on motd, they're doing what we did last week but worse and more passive - which I didn't think possible.
If I supported Norwich I would want a change of Manager, it may happen, however I think they are happy to be a yo-yo side and are set-up as a club to do just that
The thing is, they are going down without doubt. Who is the best guy to take them back up again? It makes no sense to sack Farke, unless they actually want to stay in the Premier League, but that horse has already bolted for them.
It's not Farke's fault, I think he's a fairly decent manager, the problem is they don't back him when they get promoted. They don't spend to stay up, they just take the money to keep the books healthy.
It may be an unpopular opinion, and not taking anything away from the performance, but I believe if this had been Claudio's first fixture, I think the first half would have panned out much the same way. As it got to 1-1 after a low-key 45 minutes without us creating that much, I was just pleased to see us competitive and committed, and it was still a world away from the Brighton, Leeds and Newcastle displays. In fairness to Xisco, he did give us something of what this team is capable of in three games - Aston Villa, Norwich and Spurs - the trouble is most of the rest was so bad, he had to go, and it was clear it was performances as much as results that influenced the decision to sack him. Under Ranieri, from the start, we saw what this team can do, for all its weaknesses, but it helped that we were playing a much more obliging opponent than Liverpool - an average Everton team missing key players. What I'm quite sure we wouldn't have done is make such a sensational comeback in the second half, as the result last week must have compelled Ranieri to have a long chat with the squad and do something to get the belief and confidence back, something that was a prime driving factor behind the comeback.
I said earlier in the thread, he had the entire week with the whole squad to prepare for today when last week he had 2 maybe 3 days. For a new head coach coming in during the international break, having so little preparation time with the whole squad to face Liverpool, he was on a hiding to nothing.
This team couldnt stay up without a really good manager. We needed a manager who can put the players in a system that allows them to perform effectively. We have to hope Raneiri can achieve this consistently. Apparantly having 5 technically gifted attacking players in your squad with plenty of pace between them can help you stay up. Who knew?
Incidentally, did anyone else notice King's odd reaction to his first goal just after it went in? Quite a contrast to his expression after the "goal" against Newcastle. He must have been afraid he'd have another one ruled out, and coupled with his dejection at not scoring for so long, I don't blame him for being reserved in his celebration. The belief he must have got when it was finally allowed must have been something, and then after scoring two more - it's hard to imagine just what he must have felt.
Everton took an early lead then went to sleep waiting for their inevitable 2nd 3rd and 4th goals to arrive. They didnt come so they brought Ricky off the bench to score the inevitable winner and then went back to sleep. We equalised again. Everton woke up and tried to get the winner, not realising we had 4 total fooking ballers on the pitch.....the rest is history!!
Today showed me that we've joined the game. Are Everton worse than Leeds, Wolves, Brighton or Newcastle? No, of course not, but this is what we can do if we apply ourselves and play to our strengths. Apart from the top 5 or 6 clubs there is nothing to be scared of in the Premier League. Of course we are not superior to anyone, but we can compete and cause problems. If we can do that to Everton, a team who were in 4th place in the 77th minute today, at their home ground, there is no reason we cannot do that a few more times this season. King, Sarr, Dennis, Cucho & Pedro are special players, who will cause a lot of problems. We need to use them to the max as our survival depends on these guys having a good day at the office, just like today. I hope we do sort out the defence though. Hopefully Nkoulou will be decent, and getting Sierralta will help us. Midfield does need sorting out too, but I'm sure we have enough options in order to sort that out. It's amazing how a good result can change attitudes. I didn't think we'd win today, but I was sure if we did, the thinking would be a lot different. I just wanted to see an improve in attitude, desire, professionalism and today we got it. It tells me Ranieri has got through to them. However, we have seen this before. Remember Pearson ensured we beat a high flying Wolves, Man Utd and Liverpool, but to no avail in the end. Today gives us belief we can get the job done, and hopefully we'll back this win up with another against Southampton next week.
Agree with all that. I will caveat the Pearson caution with the Covid interrupted break + Pearson and some of squad having Covid too disrupting general momentum.
JP's overhead flick up the line that led to the third really was a thing of beauty. Just perfectly executed, directed and weighted. The boy's going to be a star.
Nice that out of the 2 sides, it was us pushing for the last 10 minutes to win the game. Under countless managers we would have taken 2-2 and sat deep.
Farke has some decent players at his disposal. They have totally embraced the role of yoyo side and seem almost proud of it. Mentally they are down before a ball has been kicked
Gutted not to have been able to go yesterday. Goodison has never been a terribly happy hunting ground. 15 visits in all competitions and only a couple of draws. We should have won there under Silva when we were ahead, had chances to put the game out of reach, capitulated late on and missed an injury time penalty that would have salvaged a draw. We should have won there in 2018 when Digne scored the free kick deep in injury time to make it 2-2. But yesterday, blooming heck. *That* is what football is all about. Chins down on the floor all week after a truly terrible performance, one which had me questioning whether there's much point in being in the Premier League. There's a cliche that footballers and coaches no doubt find useful, but which strikes me as absolutely pointless and self-defeating for supporters to adopt. 'Never too high when we win, never too low when we lose.' Fine if it takes the edge off defeats like last week but after yesterday let's fly, let's dream and hope again, just as we did after beating Villa on the opening day. The result and performance is one for the ages – genuinely one of the best away results in the club's top flight history. Everton may be a crumbling old club in a crumbling old ground but they are still English football royalty and yesterday's Watford team achieved something that no other Watford team ever has. I can take relegation if there are days like that every now and then. We'll no doubt be frustrated by better organised sides on occasions, we'll slip up in games that appear to be more winnable, but yesterday was a reminder to me never to give up hope because, for all its increasing predictability, football is still a crazy game of mistakes and moments of brilliance and random, unexplainable events.
What a game and what a rollercoaster of emotions! I still can't quite believe it, pinching myself that I was lucky enough to be there to finally, finally see us win at Goodison. Memories of so many defeats like the 4-1 beating at the hands of Howard Kendall's side when we first got up under GT; the 'face ball' incident when Chris Powell pointed to his head and said "it hit my head ref" as the lino gave it and the ref agreed; Iggy's great goal under QSF; Cleverley's added time missed penalty; the list goes on but yesterday now becomes the enduring memory to be replayed time and again in the memory banks, sheer joy, sheer heaven! The team - belief, attitude, desire was all there, complete turnaround from last week The players - we have found a new 'King', hopefully one to be proud of this time, makes an all round contribution and he scores goals. Special mention to Sissoko and Dennis. The coach - a leader, a motivator and a tactician (also likeable which in this media age won't do our much maligned PR any harm) Happy Sunday everybody
In fairness, that's still peanuts. Given that Norwich have been up and down several times but never spent premier league money, it does make one wonder where it all goes. If they're not sitting on a Smauglike hoard of gold, then it just shows how empty the illusion of riches the premier league offers. If they can come up, play safe, take 150m and go down, but not have a massive pile of riches saved up by now, it just shows that the money just all goes on expenses. They may not be in debt but by now they should surely be able to incrementally upgrade every time they get a season in the sun?
To be quite honest, we're still likely to go down, it's still hard to see 3 teams we can finish ahead of, but as long as we put up a fight like that and pull some results out of the fire like that, I can live with it!
I think after they got relegated in 15/16 they were in a right state, they got promoted again quite surprisingly on the cheap when they were still rebuilding, they've spent a bit more this season, but I think the main problem isn't that they didn't spend more, but that their team is full of diddy men who are too easy to play against (hence our team of misfits under a variety of managers have beaten them fairly easily in the last 5 games)
Tbf I wonder how long they can keep bouncing back up again, last season they had a huge advantage, having not lost too many key players and still being able to spend money, but when they go down again, who will they keep hold of? Will the Championship have stabilised a bit and not be on its knees like last season?
I think it will be a weak-ish league again next season. Muff and Wesf Brom will probably go up this year and the rest will be clubs who have been in the Championship for a long time. The only real threats to Norwich will be the other two clubs that go down with them.
Agree with both points, reluctantly so on struggling to find 3 worse teams than us (mainly due the Newcastle takeover)
