Everton post match 2-4

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

Really wanted Leo to bag

[Matt]

1 minute ago, Slim Dog said:

It was mostly tongue in cheek but the point stands. Ulloa also gets to play against tired legs with Mahrez whipping the ball on his head.

Erm.... ...Hasn't Slimani been a sub quite alot, coming on to play against tired legs, Mahrez exclusively passing to him, whipping balls in...Hasn't exactly set the world alight doing it has he?

 

As i've said and I feel I need to keep reiterating this to give balance and not just seem like i'm slagging him off, he shown more Tuesday and today than i've seen previously but it's still far from good enough, i've had it with Mahrez and Slimani fanboys, when they're poor you stop denying it!

 

I have my favourites, notably Gray at the moment, he was poor on Tuesday did I deny it? No, I said he was very poor, one of our worst players in that game.

[HoustonFox]

3 minutes ago, Dan LCFC said:

Disagree with the OP saying it was unwinnable. We were leading the game.

 

Which leads me onto saying that's our first points dropped from a winning position all season.

 

Thought it was a poor performance but not massively surprised, think we took a risk or two too many today and it backfired.

 

But I can sympathise, losing today won't relegate us and we've got one of the biggest games in our history on Wednesday, so totally agree with throwing some eggs into that basket.

 

Saying that, if we produce a similar defensive display on Wednesday then we will be annihilated. In-particular set pieces, a renowned strength of Atletico's, we dealt with pretty terribly today.

 

Said in the match thread Albrighton was our best player but was met with a lot of disagreement. My case really was that he was our most involved player and not a single other player, other than arguably Schmeichel (can't blame him for any goal and that save from Barkley was outstanding), really had a good game.

 

Poor but Wednesday was the big one, and always was. Some issues to iron out but I've not lost faith in this team.

Agree with you Dan - I thought getting a 1-2 lead after the quick start they made would drive us on, but some sloppy goals cost us.  

 

Albrighton made a huge difference in terms of energy.  No one really stood out though.  

 

That really was a wonder save from Kasper - loved it! 

[STUHILL]

3 minutes ago, The Guvnor said:

Ulloa was very close to goal how can you possibly say Slim would have scored that chance? I still believe Ulloa can easily match Slims attributes at a fraction of the cost So recoup some money on Slim and keep Leonardo as the only reason he want's out is he can't get a game.

Slimani will always score more goals than a striker like Ulloa. Just look at Ulloa's record. been a great servant for us, but Slimani is a step up as a genuine goal scorer, as he is already proving. As I've said, you are going to have to get over this value for money thing.

We need top players who score and his goal/mins ratio is already decent.

 

I think it's also crazy people are discussing Slimani after today, who held the ball up well and finished his chance well, rather than criticising the players who were genuinely very poor, such as Benny, King and Drinkwater.

[Thracian]

Totally predictable defeat. Better match than I expected for all our defensive and midfield errors  but with a few points that stood out even in the context of our fielding a much-weakened and clearly vulnerable team.

 

First Benaloauane. Anyone seriously considering he's a replacement for Morgan got their answer today. The guy was so badly at fault, so often in the first half  he only emphasised how badly we're lacking a genuinely capable back-up central defender with a bit of height, strength, presence and no-how,

 

I know Lukako's a handful but Benny looked totally overwhelmed and didn't do any of the things needed to make him less of a threat.

 

Others in our back line were no better. Chilwell should have closed down the cross for Lukako's first but didn't get right enough or react quickly enough.

Huth didn't start to show the authority needed to contain Everton, Schmeichel was defensively trapped inside his six-yard box and therefore unable to help and we simply didn't want the crosses enough - and I thought that's one of the things we'd either prevent or cope with.

 

Albrighton continued to show his best form and willingness to run as well despite our impending Champions League outing. I don't know what he'll say about it but the angle he approached his cross for his goal suggested it was aimed exactly where it finished up - in the net. But that was just one feature of a fully-committed display and one which might easily have resulted in more goals.

 

Slimani continued to show his happy knack of scoring and Gray would have been delighted with a timely final pass to provide some end product, But thereafter Slimani huffed and puffed willingly enough but didn't really retain the threat and sharpness I hoped for.

 

Once again I felt a bit sorry for Ulloa when he came on. He was clearly a threat and twice came so close to scoring - one being diverted by the luckless Musa and the other simply misdirected when anything right of the keeper (as he looked) would surely have done the job. The big plus was that he looked both keen and fit to play and showed what I've always believed - that he's a handful for any defenders.

 

Oh yes, and Kasper's save when Barkley thought he'd beaten him and was about to score into an open goal was another collectors item in his book of outstanding saves but otherwise it wasn't his best day from the moment he was beaten on his near post for their first.         

           

Everton lost a bit of ambition second half and we looked quite flattering at times in attack but I never thought the result in doubt, just that 4-3 might have been achieved. I don't fault Shaky in any way. He gave everyone fair notice of his intentions and I've no serious complaint about that - it ended up an opinion thing rather than a reckless risk to our Premiership survival.

 

But our reserve centre-back problem was exposed big-time...and I take no pleasure saying so. Others were at fault too, no question. But Benny was taken apart today and looked a sorry sight especially in the first half that effectively decided the game.

 

But surely Ulloa did enough to put himself in the frame for a place on the bench on Wednesday. I wish he'd played longer but he certainly looked strong and dangerous while he was out there.  

 

             

[Ted Maul]

8 minutes ago, Slim Dog said:

It was mostly tongue in cheek but the point stands. Ulloa also gets to play against tired legs with Mahrez whipping the ball on his head.

Ulloa's hold-up play is infinitely better than Slimani's. Different players- Slimani better suited to playing against weaker teams, Ulloa the better ones.

[Jimothy]

4 minutes ago, Slim Dog said:

I've watched every game. I was talking about this game specifically. 

So you judge players on one game?

[seenitall]

Slim a different class to Ulloa - if we can keep crossing he'll keep scoring, therein lies the problem. Clearly we have one full strength team and virtually no depth. I am sure Shakey will regret doing this today.

[STUHILL]

3 minutes ago, Matt said:

Erm.... ...Hasn't Slimani been a sub quite alot, coming on to play against tired legs, Mahrez exclusively passing to him, whipping balls in...Hasn't exactly set the world alight doing it has he?

 

As i've said and I feel I need to keep reiterating this to give balance and not just seem like i'm slagging him off, he shown more Tuesday and today than i've seen previously but it's still far from good enough, i've had it with Mahrez and Slimani fanboys, when they're poor you stop denying it!

 

I have my favourites, notably Gray at the moment, he was poor on Tuesday did I deny it? No, I said he was very poor, one of our worst players in that game.

Picking Slimani out today does seem strange though. Took his goal well, worked hard and held the ball up when needed. He did more than Vardy in those 60 minutes no?

 

I would have thought Benny, King and Drinkwater would have been the ones we were discussing for being poor rather than Slim. Seems people can't let him just get on with it. He scored, did OK, yet people still attacking him over others. Seems odd.

[dynamark]

Everything went through Lukaku pulling of the front and we seemed happy to let him take it and lay off very simple from them .Benny clipped him once late in the game no one else laid a finger on him.

Shaky needed to stick someone right up him and break up their play from there.Two goals and a few other chances so not all bad.

[Slim Dog]

1 minute ago, Matt said:

Erm.... ...Hasn't Slimani been a sub quite alot, coming on to play against tired legs, Mahrez exclusively passing to him, whipping balls in...Hasn't exactly set the world alight doing it has he?

 

As i've said and I feel I need to keep reiterating this to give balance and not just seem like i'm slagging him off, he shown more Tuesday and today than i've seen previously but it's still far from good enough, i've had it with Mahrez and Slimani fanboys, when they're poor you stop denying it!

 

I have my favourites, notably Gray at the moment, he was poor on Tuesday did I deny it? No, I said he was very poor, one of our worst players in that game.

My profile is just a coincidence btw. Just liked the name Slim Dog.

 

You make some good points, but at the end of the day Slimani has a decent goals/minute ratio for us. He came to us late, went to AFCON and has been injured a fair bit. Yet he still comes up with a goal.

Like other players in the squad, I'm willing to give them another chance now the whole team is paying more freely under Shakespeare.

 

However, I wouldn't be surprised if he left, because we don't play the style he thrives in.

 

 

[Slim Dog]

4 minutes ago, Facecloth said:

So you judge players on one game?

No?

[Matt]

Just now, STUHILL said:

Picking Slimani out today does seem strange though. Took his goal well, worked hard and held the ball up when needed. He did more than Vardy in those 60 minutes no?

 

I would have thought Benny, King and Drinkwater would have been the ones we were discussing for being poor rather than Slim. Seems people can't let him just get on with it. He scored, did OK, yet people still attacking him over others. Seems odd.

Oh 100% agree i'm not scapegoating (FT love that word - I know you've not mention it) Slimani today, I've said today was down to simply poor defending and i've praised Slimani for taking his goal well, but someone was comparing Slimani/Ulloa and saying they can understand Ulloa being pissed off and i've just jumped on discussing that.

[smudger63]

35 minutes ago, BigWesMorgan said:

Rather progress to the semi-finals of the Champions league than lose a league game against inform opposition when we're already safe

We`re not safe though are we.

Of course we should be ok, might even have enough points now, although i personally think we need another 3 points to be comfortable, but our next 3 league games are away at Palace, where we will probably rest players again, away at Arsenal, where we never get anything, and away at West Brom, where if we defend set pieces on that day, like we did today, then we will get a tonking.

Lose those games, and we lose the positive momentum that we have picked up of late, and if other results go against us, we could well be back in the relegation mix.

If we were going to rest any of our midfielders today, then to give us the best chance to win the game, Ndidi was not the one that should have been rested.

Drinkwater has been struggling of late anyway, whether that is down to the hip injury he has supposedly been carrying i don`t know, but a midfield of King and Drinkwater was always going to get over run, and never going to be good enough.

That said, we got done in the main today, due to rank crap defending from set pieces.

 

 

[HighPeakFox]

For goodness sakes chaps. Let's talk again after Wednesday perhaps? 

[BigWesMorgan]

Just now, smudger63 said:

We`re not safe though are we.

Of course we should be ok, might even have enough points now, although i personally think we need another 3 points to be comfortable, but our next 3 league games are away at Palace, where we will probably rest players again, away at Arsenal, where we never get anything, and away at West Brom, where if we defend set pieces on that day, like we did today, then we will get a tonking.

Lose those games, and we lose the positive momentum that we have picked up of late, and if other results go against us, we could well be back in the relegation mix.

If we were going to rest any of our midfielders today, then to give us the best chance to win the game, Ndidi was not the one that should have been rested.

Drinkwater has been struggling of late anyway, whether that is down to the hip injury he has supposedly been carrying i don`t know, but a midfield of King and Drinkwater was always going to get over run, and never going to be good enough.

That said, we got done in the main today, due to rank crap defending from set pieces.

 

 

 

If we can't get 3 points from our remaining 7 games then we don't deserve to be playing premier league football

[Merging Cultures]

Great game. Very exciting. 

 

Was hopeful going into the second half, didn't car that we lost!!

[STUHILL]

8 minutes ago, Thracian said:

Totally predictable defeat. Better match than I expected for all our defensive and midfield errors  but with a few points that stood out even in the context of our fielding a much-weakened and clearly vulnerable team.

 

First Benaloauane. Anyone seriously considering he's a replacement for Morgan got their answer today. The guy was so badly at fault, so often in the first half  he only emphasised how badly we're lacking a genuinely capable back-up central defender with a bit of height, strength, presence and no-how,

 

I know Lukako's a handful but Benny looked totally overwhelmed and didn't do any of the things needed to make him less of a threat.

 

Others in our back line were no better. Chilwell should have closed down the cross for Lukako's first but didn't get right enough or react quickly enough.

Huth didn't start to show the authority needed to contain Everton, Schmeichel was defensively trapped inside his six-yard box and therefore unable to help and we simply didn't want the crosses enough - and I thought that's one of the things we'd either prevent or cope with.

 

Albrighton continued to show his best form and willingness to run as well despite our impending Champions League outing. I don't know what he'll say about it but the angle he approached his cross for his goal suggested it was aimed exactly where it finished up - in the net. But that was just one feature of a fully-committed display and one which might easily have resulted in more goals.

 

Slimani continued to show his happy knack of scoring and Gray would have been delighted with a timely final pass to provide some end product, But thereafter Slimani huffed and puffed willingly enough but didn't really retain the threat and sharpness I hoped for.

 

Once again I felt a bit sorry for Ulloa when he came on. He was clearly a threat and twice came so close to scoring - one being diverted by the luckless Musa and the other simply misdirected when anything right of the keeper (as he looked) would surely have done the job. The big plus was that he looked both keen and fit to play and showed what I've always believed - that he's a handful for any defenders.

 

Oh yes, and Kasper's save when Barkley thought he'd beaten him and was about to score into an open goal was another collectors item in his book of outstanding saves but otherwise it wasn't his best day from the moment he was beaten on his near post for their first.         

           

Everton lost a bit of ambition second half and we looked quite flattering at times in attack but I never thought the result in doubt, just that 4-3 might have been achieved. I don't fault Shaky in any way. He gave everyone fair notice of his intentions and I've no serious complaint about that - it ended up an opinion thing rather than a reckless risk to our Premiership survival.

 

But our reserve centre-back problem was exposed big-time...and I take no pleasure saying so. Others were at fault too, no question. But Benny was taken apart today and looked a sorry sight especially in the first half that effectively decided the game.

 

But surely Ulloa did enough to put himself in the frame for a place on the bench on Wednesday. I wish he'd played longer but he certainly looked strong and dangerous while he was out there.  

 

             

Fair assessment. Interested to hear how you think King did though and whether you think he should stay beyond the summer? I'm leaning towards an upgrade to Drinky in CM, pushing him to the bench and hopefully having James back, meaning that it might be time for King to move on? Similar to Schlupp.. A decent servant but if we are genuine about pushing for top 8, we may have to upgrade even our reserves

[weller54]

4 minutes ago, seenitall said:

Slim a different class to Ulloa - if we can keep crossing he'll keep scoring, therein lies the problem. Clearly we have one full strength team and virtually no depth. I am sure Shakey will regret doing this today.

Shakey would have been slatted by lots on here if he'd played our strongest 11...

Accused of not resting key players for Wednesday! 

It was a no win situation for him. 

Personally I think he did the right thing,  a loss today is no big deal on the back of Hull,  Swansea and Palace losing yesterday. 

[Guest Col city fan]

Slim is becoming like a modern day Yakubu....all he does is score goals!

I think Slim's all round game is really average. Ulloa, for me, is a better target man.

But Slimani does know where the goal is...for sure. But for thirty million pound, I'd expect just a better all-around footballer.

 

[TrentFox]

Whilst we are not totally safe, we are close enough for this to have been a chance to rest those that needed resting. Good on Shakes for doing so. Let's hope those that most needed a break got one. As a game, it was the warm-up act for next week. Nothing more. It simply highlighted what we already knew. Assuming we do find our one more win from somewhere, our summer recruitment and strategy needs to be significantly better than the shambles that was last summer.

[Eagle10]

9 minutes ago, Ted Maul said:

Ulloa's hold-up play is infinitely better than Slimani's. Different players- Slimani better suited to playing against weaker teams, Ulloa the better ones.

That's bull. Slimani played against Man City and guess what, got 2 assists and played pretty well. How can you say Ulloa is better for the best teams when he isn't anywhere near Slimani's level? I find it funny people even comparing them, Slimani is in another level compared to Ulloa. He scored 1 goal today, tracked back, worked hard and did some link-up play, yet some are still slating him. What do you guys want him to do? Poker in every game? Jesus, learn some football and then post.

[Jimothy]

5 minutes ago, Slim Dog said:

No?

Well you complained Ulloa misses abs Slimani scores so that makes Slimani better than Ulloa. When I pointed out Slimani's chance conversion isn't brilliant either, you remarked you were only on about this game. So you've judged Slimani better than Ulloa based on this game, no?

[Slim Dog]

11 minutes ago, Ted Maul said:

Ulloa's hold-up play is infinitely better than Slimani's. Different players- Slimani better suited to playing against weaker teams, Ulloa the better ones.

You came to this conclusion, how?

[Eagle10]

1 minute ago, Col city fan said:

Slim is becoming like a modern day Yakubu....all he does is score goals!

I think Slim's all round game is really average. Ulloa, for me, is a better target man.

But Slimani does know where the goal is...for sure. But for thirty million pound, I'd expect just a better all-around footballer.

 

Yet he is on top when it comes to assists. Slimani can do way more things than only score goals. He can track back, do some decent link-ups and help the midfield. You just need to watch some games, or maybe new glasses?