Van de Ven destroys Everton on corners

Team selection full of surprises!!

(Only 2 keepers!!!)

I don’t usually criticise team selection but I am beginning to think that the team picks itself. I would think that Dewsbury-Hall suits Barry and Alcaraz suits Beto.

I would also think the second combination is better for the 2nd half, when the game is likely to open up.

From one Neil to another…

I agree — and it is a game of 2 halves.

Shows you how much I follow non-Everton footy…

I think I only know one player from that Spurs line-up.

The only time that this team selection is changed will be when they sign a goalscorer.

This team reminds me of wet paint still on the wall — there is no finish.

Bit disappointed… no Dibling or Röhl in the starting line-up, after allegedly impressing in training. Then again, who does he leave out?

No Alcaraz either!

Thanks, Neil.

Derek,

I would like to see Rohl but as you said Derek who would you leave out. Similarity for Dibling and Alcaraz. As I said above I had thought Alcaraz was overrated before the Palace game now he deserves a chance but instead of KDH.

That’s not going to happen as KDH is essential to a high press whereas Alcaraz is not as good but probably more creative going forward. Hence my preferred 2nd half combination would be Alcaraz and Beto.

Neil, for what it’s worth, I know, we have no say, in who gets picked or dropped but, in fear of being labelled Draconian, Beto would be placed in the Last Chance Saloon… patience is rapidly running thin in him.

As many have suggested, we have plenty of options of false 9s: Ndiaye, Dibling, Alcaraz and Grealish, to name but a few.

Hope the reverse curse on Beto pays dividends!

Sky: Everton haven’t conceded from a set piece.

Corner comes in. 0-1.

Spurs have been boring and crap yet are 2-0 up… bad luck and rare set-piece mistakes from us.

Sometimes shit just happens.

Ndiaye just stood his ground next to Vicario, albeit offside…

Whereas Van de Ven pushes off Pickford so he can’t reach the cross. But no VAR check. It just ain’t fair!

Why weren’t the players screaming for a foul on Pickford? It barely was but no less worthwhile than the “interference” by Ndiaye for our goal.

I am beginning to really dislike modern football.

Get that useless Beto off as soon as possible.

Even if it’s the tea lady, I bet she can control a ball better than that clueless prick!

Worth having a go at the referee for a push on Pickford.

Typical Everton — too nice for their own good!

When was the last time Everton scored from a set piece?

Is the set-piece coach still at Everton?

Moyes needs to grow a pair.

Do something different!

Jerome, they are still working off Charlie Adam’s Masterplan?

While he is blocking out the Sun on a beach somewhere!

Take Mykolenko off, give Aznou a chance.

We’re already done and Mykolenko offers absolutely nothing going forward.

Getting the ball to Grealish and Ndiaye is a good plan. But we seem to think that’s the end of things rather than the start.

Spurs are quite happy for the ball to go wide. There’s nothing to worry about in the middle.

Needs to be a bit more fluid up top. What do Spurs really need to worry about?

Only 5 minutes again for Charly.

Pathetic again and again and again.

Everton are just slow; build-up play ending on the wings with no overlap and with one option to score.

This ain’t going to happen in the Premier League. Moyes needs to get faster ball progression attacking the centre and get beyond the defensive line.

Standing back off the defensive line and playing across it is useless.

Too deep, too slow, too narrow.

Same thing every week.

Moyes is probably going to have to reorganise the formation to address this. Maybe a 3-5-2 or something along those lines. We’re far too easy to defend against.

Why can’t we pass the ball to our own players?

Surely that’s a basic skill a player needs.

Played good football but we don’t shoot and we have no threat through the middle.

Pickford will get targeted on corners now. I thought Mykolenko was poor. I still don’t know which is the least worst option up front.

This was coming.

Moyes terrible, Beto embarrassing, midfield one-paced, Pickford showing why no top team wants him, and Mykolenko appallingly bad.

Apologies to Mike Gaynes who thinks Mykolenko shouldn’t be constantly criticised; I beg to differ.

Barry looked half decent when he came. Showed some nice touches. Despite the abuse Beto gets he nearly scored with a cracking attempt.

The Ref is a joke. If our players infringed on play for the O’Brien goal, then how does Van de Ven get away with pushing the goalie out of the way for theirs? At worst, it should have been 1-nil if not 1-all at half-time.

Strange game. I felt I was watching the better team (us) but the score line suggests the exact opposite.

An absolute masterclass in bad management, Beto shocking Gana shocking, Dewsbury-Hall shocking, Garner poor, no subs at half time, Alcaraz on with 5 minutes to go.

We are going nowhere with Moyes, just a slight improvement on Dyche. I think we should be starting to look for an alternative to the dinosaur.

Everton useless at set pieces at both ends.

Set-piece coach was not replaced in June when Adams left.

Full backs need to be part of the attacking phase… and we have two who aren’t really up to that bit of the role. Great effort, limited ability on the ball. It’s hard to criticise them for not being something that they’re very clearly not.

Barry occasionally shows why he should be preferred over Beto. He’s a better footballer. Whether he’s a more effective striker is yet to be seen. It’s a pretty low bar.

Moyes had to see how that game was going. Spurs kept it narrow and were practically encouraging us to do the only thing that we seemingly wanted to do which was to get the ball to the wide players.

Corners conceded were rubbish. No-one marking.

I don’t have any issue with any of the VAR decisions. Ndiaye didn’t commit a foul, so comparisons with Van de Ven are pointless, but it’s very hard to argue he wasn’t interfering with play from an offside position.

I thought Moyes tried something different. Mykolenko kept bombing up the flank, but was unable to make that count.

Their 1st goal was lucky — the cross came off Bentancur’s shoulder straight into Van de Ven. The 2nd goal should have been looked at by VAR.

Merlin Röhl looked quite assured on the ball. Beto wasn’t bad, he tried hard, as did Barry, who showed some decent touches.

But we badly need an experienced striker in January. The goals need to come from somewhere, Grealish and Dewsbury-Hall are flattering to deceive.

Time for Moyes to bring back McNeil, he was our best player before he got injured. He can create and score goals.

And Alcaraz needs to start in Beto’s place. Well played Ndiaye again. I am afraid he will get frustrated and push for a move away and who can blame him?

Few positives to take out the game today.

Mykelenko should be sent packing, move Garner in there and get a replacement asap. He is truly garbage.

Moyes needs to be careful, he will not get the support and protection like he did under the Kenwright era. Keep this up and he will be up for the sack.

Moyes should have made more positive changes far earlier than he did.

Good win would have made it a good start to the season, sadly we haven’t moved on that much and are still in that “look over your shoulder” mentality.

We’re not that good. And we haven’t been that good all season.

Even though we were a tad unfortunate tonight, a result like this has been coming. We may yet get drawn into the relegation battle as I’m afraid the players we bought this summer have not added sufficient balance to the team.

I don’t think he’s making huge mistakes but equally I’m far from convinced Moyes is getting the most out of this team at the moment.

A reality check. In over 27 years as a manager, Moyes has won 2 trophies: a Europa Conference cup and a Charity Community Shield.

Does anyone out there think he’ll win a trophy for Everton?

Win a trophy, Sean.

Wohhhhh there.

Let’s win a game first! 😁

I’ve defended Moyes to the hilt, but sorry… no more.

That line-up today was so fuckin predictable, Alcaraz did not deserve to be benched… absolutely not, I fear he doesn’t fancy him at all.

Dewsbury-Hall was average; Grealish flatters to deceive and hasn’t done nothing for 2 months; Ndiaye is in a class of his own; Garner and Gueye are just passengers — they offer nothing offensively at all.

As for up top, well, let’s not go there, them 2 gobshites that are currently masquerading as strikers are atrocious. Anyone with half a brain cell would tell you that.

But all our fans do week after week is blame refs, victim mentality, it is the ref’s fault we are so predictable in our style of play… no, it’s not. We are the most pedestrian side in the league and a forward-thinking young hungry manager would change that in an instant.

It’s insulting playing Beto or Barry in an isolated role like that, for one, the service isn’t great and the pair of them are limited like you wouldn’t believe. Seriously, who looked at Beto and thought “Yes, he could be the answer to our striking problems”? Believe me, he most definitely isn’t. Ditto Barry.

Another season of struggle looms unless this stubborn man changes things — and quick.

As the great man himself said, struggle after struggle, year after year.

Our Summer recruitment was diabolical.

Barry is second banjo to Beto. Dibling can’t get into the team. Aznou has already been written off by Moyes. Dewsbury-Hall doesn’t contribute nearly enough. And Grealish spends his time looking for a foul.

Röhl may have something to offer. If he can stay fit.

By far Moyes is getting it wrong although we lack quality and money.

Using your biggest budget in the summer on players who you then give no minutes to (Dibling, Aznou) instead of addressing the Number 9 area is worrying.

The new stadium thing has probably given him time to make these mistakes of poor team selection and sub choices; but, in a couple of months, patience will soon be over, I suspect.

When Moyes returned earlier this year, I thought he and the team did really well. We were hard to beat and, after the dire last months of Dyche’s tenure, it was truly a breath of fresh air. With the new stadium, new owners, and a summer of signings to look forward to, it was all looking rosy.

Now, 9 months down the line, and the gloss is beginning to wear off. A disastrous summer transfer window and a mediocre start to the season has seriously damaged the momentum we finished last season with. We need to start picking up points fast and try something new.

Disappointing, sadly there will be days like this at HD. It’s a slow build for us. I think to get to where we want to be (Top 6 side) will take probably three or four seasons. The last few seasons have put us back many years.

We need to keep our better players and look to build year on year.

The club should also be looking to identify Moyes’s successor next summer.

If you look at Spurs today, they had a second eleven out, played midweek and still managed to pick up 3 points. For us to get to those levels will take time and patience.

Today felt like the beginning of the usual Everton winter.

We look like a side that will very quickly be getting dragged down into a relegation battle.

No goals in us, no pace in us, and our defence looks incredibly old and fragile now, and again lacks so much pace it’s unreal.

The new stadium bounce bubble was well and truly burst today, you get the feeling now teams will come here from now on and start playing with less trepidation.

Another likely loss at Sunderland means Fulham at home before the international break is massive, even this early.

Kunal 47 and everyone else.

It will take the sacking of Moyes to get us 6th or 7th. He’s old school.

The trouble with us is we had yet another very underwhelming summer transfer window.

We were all dazzled by the Hollywood signing of Jack Grealish but, as the window was coming to closure in late August, myself, like many, stressed that the inability to have brought in any real pace or power, a proper centre-forward and a proper right-back meant was cause for concern.

We have to be one of the slowest pedestrian football teams in the league, we have such little athleticism in our team.

The striker problem burns my head, we’ve got last season’s understudy as this season’s number one choice.

This result today was on the cards, it could have happened against Palace in fairness.

Moyes was the last manager to get us in the Top 6.

If we’re a work in progress, why change the manager?

Bobby, the proof will be with the owners and the club next summer. They will need to identify his successor. That doesn’t mean picking flavour of the month in the Premier League, it means putting in the ground work and identifying the next Glasner and Iraola.

For too long, Everton have taken the easy route with managers. Change the story and make those earn their money at the club by unearthing the next manager who they can identify with a style of play they want this club playing.

I will say it again.

Bottom of the league for sprints per game.

There’s a reason why we can’t score and we’re shit.

Moyes:

“We played really well today… dominated the game… had more chances… Nothing really to change.”

He’s got to commit now to Ndiaye up top with Dibling or Alcaraz coming in, and drop the idea of Beto and Barry altogether.

It’s not like Beto or Barry are actually any good in the air anyway.

To persist with the same formation and starting eleven every week, then just swapping like-for-like after 65 minutes, is not working.

In the light of his team selections, the Summer spending was complete madness.

£100M on Alcaraz, Dibling, Aznou, and Barry plus some keepers to sit warming the bench. But, hey, they are really impressive in training.

Get top dollar for Ndiaye, and I mean top, in January, whilst his stock is high. Use the money to buy some footballers.

You know, young players who are fast and fit and know what that thing with the net hanging off it is.

The scoreline doesn’t reflect the game but the aim is to score goals.

If you have a team of players that struggle to put the ball in the net, you are in trouble.

That goes for all of the players, not just our centre-forwards.

Probably our salvation again is that there may be 3 or 4 teams worse than us.

Grant at 51,

He wasn’t the last manager to get us into the top six. Martinez did when we finished 5th with 72 points gained — more than Moyes ever amassed in any of his 11 seasons.

I can’t see the TFG accepting the excuses cuddly Bill put up with from Moyes.

Ed 59. I forgot about that season. It was clearly built upon the work of Moyes though as the second and third seasons under Martinez made clear. We were gash.

Martinez inherited a good side and was lucky to inject it with Lukaku and Barry.

Find a way to play without Beto or the other donkey Barry. Neither have pace nor are a threat in the air. Neither hold the ball up, win flick-ons, come short to show and lay it off, neither can spin off the last man to get a run onto a through ball. Finally, neither can finish.

Let’s accept they are useless. We’ve some decent players on the ball who can find a pass, so move Ndiaye into the middle, get Dibling wide and try to pass and interchange.
Everything at present is a waste of time as it breaks down at the top of the pitch.

It isn’t working and never will with either of those up top.

Ed,

The jury for me is out on these Americans.

Moyes…”nothing to change”…

Yes there is, the manager.

Hope is what kills you, they say.

At least I know I’ll live with Moyes here cause I’ve lost any hope… LOL

I watch other teams go forward and get players in the box. I was watching us break forward and Beto standing like a stranded lamp-post on his own.

We offer no threat on the break whatsoever.

Was he lucky, Grant? Why wasn’t Moyes that lucky in any of his 11 seasons?

Despite Martinez’s many flaws, his lack of flexibility being the main one, it was still the most enjoyable season and best football played by us for a few decades.

The rose-tinted patina of Moyes’s tenure whilst at Everton, as painted by many Evertonians, would have John Moores turning in his grave.

I feel sorry for our more talented players, Grealish, Ndiaye, Branthwaite, Dewsbury-Hall etc… they huff and puff but there’s no one to put the ball in the onion bags.

Add to that a manager who refuses to adapt to games and is timid, to say the least, when it comes to substitutes and his lack of inventiveness.

Our keepers best asset is shot-stopper, his worst is crosses – – really weak with corners and set-pieces. Frank knows this and quite obviously he and his set-piece coaches told players to get in on Pickford every chance they got and of course it paid off.

We are just toothless up front, bang average in the middle of the park, no pace anywhere in the side, and have a manager that is, let’s say, “set in his ways”.

I mean, Alcaraz has an eye for goal and more creativity in him than Dewsbury-Hall in my opinion, he should be in the starting line-up… up front even.

Referee gave us nothing, their full-back should have been booked for that terrible tackle on Grealish early in the game.
Even though he was weak, Pickford was clearly pushed and is experienced enough to know he should have made a meal if it like their keeper did.

Back to the drawing board for Moyes — not !

Three headers in the box. The back 5 had a stinker.

You ain’t going to do much when the keeper can’t command his box, Mykolenko and Garner losing out, and the three centre-backs who are all big units, do not compete.

Thomas Frank exploited a weakness. Easy street.

Sam @39, you pretty much sum it up. We got lucky against Palace and didn’t today.

I am starting to worry now. Are there three worse teams than us? Perhaps.

Are there three worse and more negative coaches? No.

Andy Crooks — there are definitely 3 worse teams than us in this league.

Are there 3 worse and more negative managers? Well, Forest certainly just appointed one of them last week.

We will end up with between 44 and 50 points.

Ed @66. Martinez had one season where he got any results in Premier League football. His last two seasons were starting to look like his four seasons at Wigan. Shocking defense conceding crazy amounts of goals and couldn’t buy a win.

I’d put his first season at Everton down to what he inherited and the addition of our only decent striker in Premier League history.

Well, Moyes consistently got better points totals than Martinez, bar one season. He also got us in the Top 4 with Marcus Bent upfront. A team that included such world stars as Kilbane, Carsley and Hibbert. A team where Osman was the star turn because he could actually trap a ball.

If gambling, being positive, being pro-active, or whatever, got good outcomes minus anything else, then why was Martinez so shit in club management? There must have been something about Everton at the time he arrived here that made his first season go well and I am guessing it was due to Moyes as he was here last.

There’s no chance of us going down and I’m going to say the unspeakable, ie, we are too good to go down.

I honestly believe that. The games we’ve lost have been close. No one has played us off the park. The players’ heads haven’t dropped. We are physically fit and battle etc… but we are toothless up front and struggle to score.

Let’s get to January, get a right-back and a striker and, with Branthwaite back, we’ll be fine. 12th-10th.

Next summer is crucial. New forwards and full backs and, a new manager.

Over to you TFG.

Moyes looking as old and stale as his tactics.

The 85th-minute sub and the Barry – Beto swap are turning into staples. Our entire attack consists of giving the ball to Ndiaye and Grealish and hoping they can do something.

Dewsbury-Hall looks neat and tidy but doesn’t really impact the game. Alcaraz plays with more intent and needs to start next game. All the optimism carried over from last season is now gone. I think the match-ups against the bottom teams are going to be telling.

We’ll finish mid-table this season. We’re just about good enough to do that and Moyes is good enough to get that out of this team.

That’s as far as our ambitions will extend though. It’s why Moyes is there. He’s there to manage through a transition. A steady hand. He’s certainly not there to win trophies. We’re not at that point and he’s never been that manager.

Watching a mid-table side is very frustrating. But it’s what we need to go through after years of nail-biting ends to seasons.

Whether that transition is successful is another story. We’ve invested in young players and will probably continue to do so. Some will come in, some will need time, some will bomb. But it’s still a better transfer strategy than the last time we could afford to buy anyone. Time will tell whether it works on the pitch.

Moshiri proved beyond all doubt that constantly changing the manager is the guaranteed passport to success. Didn’t he? And just think what Watford have achieved with their 16 in 19 seasons — or was it 19 in how many?

You win some and you lose some, but for God’s sake leave the judgements until at least the end of the season! But why lose the chance to show the world how football wise you are on a weekly basis, eh?

Slow and predictable, tactical Groundhog Day, no Plan B.

Yes, Beto and Barry were poor again, but poor all over the pitch today. Teams double up on Grealish and Ndiaye and we’re muted. Dewsbury-Hall flatters to deceive, sideways, slow inevitably to Grealish and all crosses hit first man. Better than other options in the Number 10 berth? Not so sure.

Full-backs are poor, contribute very little going forwards. Mykolenko with free rein second half simply got in the way.
We got done by set pieces, very easily. Looked suspect to every cross today, they didn’t.

Midfield is slow, ponderous and no goal threat whatsoever.
It has been coming, we’ve been picking up points without playing well.

Manager has a lot to answer for with tactics and inability to change.

Summer transfer business exposed now for what it largely was.

Time to dig in.

I wish our players would try shooting. Garner hit one which their keeper saved but, apart from that, we just seem to try and get it into a better position. Beto doesn’t work hard enough, for me. He doesn’t close down.

I can’t stand the constant voices to change the manager. I agree with him that we played well today apart from defending two corners. Pickford should have gone down on the second.

Moyes needs time and he needs funds. He did well when he came in. Ask West Ham fans about getting a less pragmatic manager. The decision to put all our eggs in the Liam Delap basket is reminiscent of Marco Silva going after Giroud.

I do think we waste too much money on potential for the future. We could all see we needed a striker and a first-choice right-back.

I have yet to see Pawson have a good game refereeing any game, nevermind us.

Our disallowed goal took a while for them to cancel as it wasn’t obvious and from an angle behind the goal, Ndiaye doesn’t touch their keeper.

In real time, the ball goes in and gives the keeper no chance. In slow motion, it looks like we have 2 players blocking the goalie in an offside position.

Anyone watch the Sunderland winner or Leeds goal this weekend? Players offside clearly in the line of the goalie but goal stands… but not for us.

Gana gets barged over in the box, a foul anywhere else on the pitch and a penalty isn’t given.

We all just want some form of consistency from the refs, consistently shite doesn’t count.

The game was won by some quality delivery from set pieces which were Thomas Frank’s trademark whilst at Brentford.

Spurs are no mugs… our best striker since Lukaku can’t even get in their team.

I thought Dewsbury-Hall stunk the place out and somehow managed to stay on the pitch. What is it going to take to drop him?

He is playing in the Doucoure role without the off-the-ball work and today, whilst he was on the ball, he gave it away almost every time. I would start Alcaraz over him all day.

O’Brien offers nothing going forward, I would drop him for Coleman who is now back to fitness or play Garner there.

Moyes needs to find a way to score goals. I can see us finishing 15th if we are lucky.

I had a chat with some Spurs fans after the match. They said it was never a 3-0 game. I agreed, but they definitely deserved to win.

Tottenham did a number on us. Their set-pieces were excellent and they worked hard. Fair play.

I thought that it was a dull game of football. Although 3-0 flattered Spurs, all they had to do was to be competent defending because we were mostly slow in attacking and very predictable as usual.

We did make their ‘keeper work on three occasions with the efforts from Garner in the first half and Beto with a very good effort in the second period, along with the deflected shot from Ndiaye.

I hope those predicting a midtable finish for Everton are correct; unless some decent signings are made in January, I think we could be in a battle at the bottom.

I’m not saying that because of today’s game but from the results of the nine games played this season, close to a quarter of the season. We have gained 11 points with 8 gained at BMD; I suggest that we were very lucky to get half of them, which would have left us with 7 points out of 27.

The loss of Branthwaite, the poor full back and striker situation have not helped — but that has quite a bit to do with those making the signings surely?

It really was depressing watching Everton struggle today and many had quite enough of it, leaving early and facing a long cold, windy and wet walk on their way home to contemplate the result and performance of today’s game.

Martinez might have started to slip in his second season but we still reached 2 semi finals and he believed we could beat anyone and sent the team out to win every match.

Give me that any day instead of this safety-first cowardly shite we get served up now. That was awful today, so predictable — like most of this season so far.

We’ve played well in little patches, Moyes has spent £120M this summer yet £90M is sitting on the bench… Give them a go, for fuck’s sake!

Lots of positives from today. We created a fair few chances, Barry had some good touches and we looked good in possession. Negative would be defending from the corners; that second goal killed the game.

It’s not all doom and gloom. We won’t be troubling the European spots but we won’t be looking over our shoulder in the same way we have over the last half a decade.

I am reflecting after a few drinks…

Illy was a standout player today.
Jack could/should have scored.
Jimmy G was everywhere, what a guy, shame he got a 4th yellow today…
Beto so needed that overhead kick to go in, he is so due one…
Barry has a touch that Beto lacks, and plays a different game, we have to bring the best out of this pair.
Dewsbury-Hall, Alcaraz, Gana, all good squad players…
Pickford was let down a bit today, he needs solid support on set-pieces, he will not ever dominate his box, that’s not his forte. Our best centre-back is awesome, we miss him, our full-back options are thin, need improving.

We are moving too slowly in the right direction, and it’s bloody exasperating at times, made harder by some officiating, but I see more to like this season than I have in ages.

Kunai @47,

It’s days like this I wished I believed we were as bad as many posters like yourself think we are as it would be a lot less torturous. Like you, I knew they played away in Europe midweek, had some important players missing, would have had little time to prepare; we had over a week to analyse their threat, how they would play and their weaknesses.

Despite my worries about Moyes’s record against the Sky 6 and my head telling me different, I stupidly fancied we would do a job on them today.

“I think we can turn over this lot if we play with a bit of intensity. They want to play on the counter and try to hurt you with set-pieces so we don’t need to go gung ho but we can get at their dodgy defence”.

It’s not rocket science. What were they working on all week? Dewsbury-Hall floating the ball into the keeper’s arms perhaps? Now that is a head scratcher.

Michael @54

I hope you are just on the wind up again. If that’s true, Frank must be pissing himself.

Oliver @64

Yep, you’re half-right. The worst keeper in the league from corners was on show today… unfortunately he didn’t get tested.

A few other points:

Who carried more threat, Beto or Kolo Muani? Yet Beto was the problem today.

It’s a shit window — sounds a bit familiar to this time last season when O’Brien and Mangala had only a few games between them and Ndiaye was the only one with promise.

Only 2 points better off… but still we don’t know how good it is if the manager doesn’t play most of them; yet many are certain it’s a disaster.

Because technically they were offside, and it’s the refs interpretation if they were interfering with the keeper.

I’ve only seen it once, but the way it is shown in slow-mo, makes it look worse than it was. I am not convinced he would’ve saved it.

Feels like we get the shit end of the stick, when other similar decisions seem to go for other teams.

This is beginning to look serious. There are no goals throughout the team. If you can’t score, you don’t win games.

The only player getting his share of goals is Ndiaye with 3. Beto and Barry have had enough chances. No other player has more than 1 after 9 games.

Our midfield players are just not goal scorers. Gueye and Garner are 1 per season players. Dewsbury-Hall has never scored more than 2 in a season (Premier League). Even Grealish only averaged 3 per season for Man City.

Iroegbunam has never scored in the Premier League. Rohl scored 2 goals in 3 seasons in the Bundesliga. The lack of goals is sapping confidence throughout the team.

Grant @ 51, Moyes did get us a top 6 finish during his first spell here. 20 odd years later, he is still employing the same safety-first tactics.

Nothing changes with the man.

Clive – Barry has an expected goal of. 5 in his games so far.

Nothing is created for him.

The midfield is absolutely shite.

Gana and Garner offer nothing.

Grealish has done basically zilch.

Dewsby Hall is tidy but does nothing.

Ndiaye has been ok.

Our full backs are an absolute embarrassment attacking wise.

The team is absolutely woeful.

Still at least our fans got to clap Richarlison when we were getting beat 2-0.

We are the worst football club to support in England

Whilst I’m having a rant – get Alcaraz on the pitch. At least he drives forward and has attempts at goal.

Giving him 5 mins at the end was a total disgrace from Moyes.

Hes on the bench whilst Grealish and Dewsby Hall do absolutely nothing.

FFS Moyes try something different in midfield whilst your at it because that 5 behind the striker is not working and totally one paced.

Is there a clause where we can’t buy players with pace.

What a mess.

Relaying on three worse clubs again

Andy@71, certainly there are 3 worse squads than ours and really we should be heading for 14th/15th minimum but we are struggling to create meaningfully despite having some good players and also struggling without Branthwaite to keep clean sheets. Obviously a worrying combination.

We just don’t seem set up right at the moment with too much going through Grealish. Mykolenko seemed to be overlapping more tonight but doesn’t often do much with it. Beto and Barry isn’t ideal but behind them all is not well either. One win in the last 8 and my biggest worry is that Moyes will change nothing.

Thought we looked like Man City lite today.
We had all the huff and puff and endless passing without the finish.

I see neither of their goals was set pieces was looked at by VAR even though Pickford was hindered far more than their keeper and as usual VAR spent at least 5 minutes trying to find something to rule our goal out for. How the hell Gana wasn’t given a penalty for being hit like a train.

The worry is that we are relying on luck rather than endeavour to get results.

Beto can’t hold the ball up so we might as well try something else like Ndiaye, Charley or even McNeill up there.

As much as I like and admire Gana Gueye I think now might be the time to try something new in MF. Röhl alongside Garner for example with Alcaraz in for KDH.

All the creative workload is on the shoulders of Grealish and Ndiaye with no outlet in the box. As many have said, try Ndiaye as a false 9. Give Dibling some minutes to ease him into the team.

But this is David Moyes, who doesn’t really rotate, so expect the same lineup next time around.

Jay, VAR looks at everything. They absolutely would have reviewed the touch on Pickford and confirmed there wasn’t that much in it. Pickford should have been stronger and there clearly should have been a defender in there helping him.

The challenge on Gana was the only near controversy for me. It was clumsy and gets penalised anywhere else on the pitch. But it was pretty subjective and VAR wasn’t getting involved unless the ref gave it.

I must admit I don’t really see the controversy over the refereeing.

Our disallowed goal was frustrating but it’s hard to argue that Ndiaye wasn’t having an impact on the play from an offside position.

Yawn… I see the ToffeeWeb backbone is proving as brittle as usual – at least those knees are still capable of jerking!

Previously decent Moyes is shit again, previously great transfer window was terrible, starting line up (which looked fine tbh) is now awful… blah, blah, blah!
Honestly this whinging is more predictable than Beto missing clear cut chances!

Obviously it’s a hugely disappointing result, against a decent side who are expecting European football, and who we need to get closer to if we’re going to push on, but the scoreline was hugely flattering, aided by bad luck, poor finishing and more VAR nonsense. We didn’t play badly and we are not awful now, any more than we were brilliant before.

What we 100% do need is a centre forward worthy of the name or a different approach to the front line. Beto tries hard and is a physical presence but lacks any goalscoring instinct, Barry hasn’t yet found his niche so maybe he needs time. Neither of those situations will fix themselves automatically.
I don’t think this is an easy problem to solve, nor do I think Everton are alone in forward struggles (Spurs front line didn’t do much damage here), but I do agree we need to try something different before reinforcement(s) in the window. Maybe NDiaye through the middle, but I worry that takes a creative player out of his favoured position, could Alcatraz do a job up front? What about Keane?

Has this been mentioned – $40M for Dibling + $30M for Barry: 2 players that can’t even start.

Where Woltemade cost $75M. Or Mbeumo $70M.

Yes its a huge risk putting all your eggs in one basket but at some point we’re going to have to take the leap and put some serious cash on the table.

And yes we’ve done very well with bargain basement/loans but I just feel like striker that strategy doesn’t work.

And yes someone will say “but the good players want champs league”, but surely we could have found someone and done a deal.

Grealish/Ndiaye are capable of feeding a decent striker.

The goals we conceded to the two corners will be of no relevance to any club in the Premier League, all of whom for many years will have identified our Jordan as too short to compete alone with a player of Van der Ven’s height and power.

The team failed on corners – end of.

If other clubs haven’t sussed out our corners as a defensive frailty for years, I don’t know what they’ve been looking at.

Moyes, and the players, need to address it – today.