Everton (A) - 5.30pm 01/01/2021

yoyo

Any idea what Fabs injury is?

alderz

yoyo said:

Any idea what Fabs injury is?

Presumably muscular if he went down in the warm up? He's had problems with his hamstrings in the past so we might fear the worst

alderz

Now, I’m not suggesting that this BBC journalist doesn’t know anything about our squad, but it would explain how they think Fredericks is our first choice

Jorderz_Moyes_will_be_Moyes

I saw that as well. Shoddy.

IronHerb

alderz said:

IronHerb said:

alderz said:

I think I’m done with Haller now. I’ve been pretty easy on him and have defended him a lot, as I’ve seen some flickers of quality on the ball particularly. But today he’s been shocking with the ball, and when you are bad on it you have to work a lot harder off of it.

Thats ok. You've got Dawson to lay into now by the looks of it.

I don't see what point you're trying to make with this post?

Apologies alderz, it was Outcast who was slaughtering Dawson. 👍

EXETERHAMMER

I am delighted with that win. Solid defensively, and a classic 'clutch' away win as my teenager son would say.

PrestonHammer

As that opposed to a classic automatic away win?

EXETERHAMMER

alderz said:

I think I’m done with Haller now. I’ve been pretty easy on him and have defended him a lot, as I’ve seen some flickers of quality on the ball particularly. But today he’s been shocking with the ball, and when you are bad on it you have to work a lot harder off of it.

Totally agree with this. After Antonio came on, it highlighted just how pedestrian and ineffective Haller is off the ball and off the ball.
We must get another striker in January in case (when) Antonio is out again.

IronHerb

Our fixture congestion is getting silly now -

Posted at 21:0421:04
Post update
HT: Man Utd 1-0 West Ham
Anthony Martial's goal tonight takes him to 117 goal involvements in all competitions since his Manchester United debut in September 2015.

That's more than any other United player in that time - two more than Marcus Rashford.

Can Rashford respond in the second half?

Good old Beeb.

😂

Pengeman

alderz said:

Now, I’m not suggesting that this BBC journalist doesn’t know anything about our squad, but it would explain how they think Fredericks is our first choice

And Daily Mail gives Fabianski a rating of 6.5 for his performance against Everton
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-9104305/David-Moyes-wins-Everton-time-leaving-2013-Tomas-Soucek-strikes-late-winner.html

What game did they watch? Or is Randolph a clone of Fabinaksi?

MunichHammer

Pengeman said:

Or is Randolph a clone of Fabinaksi?

If that is the case, can we please clone Rice, Soucek and Antonio, please?

Dodger58

Pengeman said:

alderz said:

What game did they watch? Or is Randolph a clone of Fabinaksi?

Come on Penge they do look very similar, almost doppelgängers of each other

Lukerz

Moyes says Fabianski had a ‘thigh injury’ & Fredericks tested positive for COVID.

Lukerz

Thought Benrahma was really good today. His work rate was excellent. Constantly pressing their players & buzzing about. He won’t always score or make things happen, but his work rate was great today. Ogbonna was my MOTM, though. Rice was also great, Dawson & Cresswell too.

alderz

Rice just glides through games, he’s at another level to everyone else. He could have his pick of clubs around the world, IMO.

OldCastleSwift

alderz said:

Rice just glides through games, he’s at another level to everyone else. He could have his pick of clubs around the world, IMO.

He is top, top quality. He's still not appreciated enough because of who he plays for, but when he does step up a level I think he'll be considered world class. We really do to need to enjoy him while we've got him.

yoyo

It looked effortless at times ,when running with the ball

Jorderz_Moyes_will_be_Moyes

I think driving us forward is the one element missing from his game. He does it sometimes, but with his control and athleticism I really want to see him driving forward with the ball through the centre of the pitch.

But when he starts doing that, he will be gone. And I’ll be very sad.

Dodger58

I thought both Rice and Soucek played deeper today, giving cover for the back 4 and less support in attack, from Soucek in particular. All part of Moyes trying to find the right mix, but I liked the intent shown.

Lukerz

alderz said:

Dodger58 said:

I think you’re being a bit harsh alders, he and Benrahma are not quite gelling, but it is looking more promising. He would not be my choice (Haller), but he’s what we have at present.

He’s layoffs and link up play generally has been the worst it’s looked, to me. Maybe I am being harsh, but im not impressed in the slightest today

Some of the passing from both teams has been shocking

It’s nothing against him, personally. He seems a great guy & seems to enjoy playing for us, certainly shows a lot of emotion when another player scores.

But he is just not a proactive striker. If you watch the game back, just watch him whenever he is in shot. There were a couple of really nice bits of hold up play near the halfway line & he laid it off, then just basically walked towards the box (was the 3rd or 4th guy to enter it as the attack progressed). He’s our main man up top. Watch the bit where he does a good bit of play before laying the ball to Benrahma who feeds Cresswell who flashes the shot across goal; he’s sat on the floor after he lays it off & is basically getting up & moving towards goal as Cresswell flashes it across. Where’s the desire to get on the end of that, like Soucek at the end?

The amount of times he is second best to balls forward. He is always behind the defender who deals with it. Ball gets clipped forward, he’s behind the defender. Ball gets played down the line, he's behind the defender. He controls the ball under pressure, he's shrugged off it & then chases the player he loses it to. Count the amount of times in his 60 minutes yesterday where he was chasing the defender.

He does a lot of ‘impersonating’ chasing down, where he runs about towards defenders & the keeper when not in possession, but there is no real aggression or intent to get any sort of tackle or physical pressure on the player. He just runs & that makes it look like he is pressing.

People seem to think he gets no service. He gets limited service, but he doesn’t do anything with it. Look at yesterday, he had a great ball in from a corner that he half-heartedly attacked & it glanced off his head with no power to it & it flicked away well wide. He won’t always get a lovely ball to feet with no defender within a mile of him.

I am starting to think, though, that it’s Moyes who now needs to get more out of him or experiment with a different forward option. It’s not fair on Haller knowing he is a damage limitation job whilst we wait for Antonio. It’s frustrating as there is clearly a player in there but he just isn’t applying himself here. Maybe I am wrong, & just missing stuff.

OutcastLondoner

IronHerb said:

alderz said:

IronHerb said:

alderz said:

I think I’m done with Haller now. I’ve been pretty easy on him and have defended him a lot, as I’ve seen some flickers of quality on the ball particularly. But today he’s been shocking with the ball, and when you are bad on it you have to work a lot harder off of it.

Thats ok. You've got Dawson to lay into now by the looks of it.

I don't see what point you're trying to make with this post?

Apologies alderz, it was Outcast who was slaughtering Dawson. 👍

I think I made two comments but he gave the ball away under no pressure on, I think, three occasions that broke down attacks. On two of them, he could have put us under serious pressure in dangerous positions where it's hard to recover. He did it once in the Southampton game as well. As well as he's dealt with whatever's come at him, I'm worried he's going to create chances for the opposition. I don't think he's our first-choice CB.

I also genuinely think his "injury" was a reaction to missing his kick and I don't know what that says about him if it's true. But that's speculation.

buffybegood

Lukerz said:

But he is just not a proactive striker. If you watch the game back, just watch him whenever he is in shot. There were a couple of really nice bits of hold up play near the halfway line & he laid it off, then just basically walked towards the box (was the 3rd or 4th guy to enter it as the attack progressed).

This in particular was something I noticed yesterday. Most strikers, if they'd done what he'd done, would be busting a gut to get into the box to be on the end of the move that his good play helped start, but he was just ambling forward at barely a jog. The Premier League doesn't allow teams at our level to carry players that don't put more effort in. I've been hoping that Moyes would be able to improve his fitness to the extent that he'd be better suited to playing here, but I'm not sure if it's his fitness or his motivation that is the real issue.

I like him, he has some ability, but I'm not sure he'll ever be suited to the Premier League, and he certainly isn't suited to the way we play as a club, which, unless we suddenly join the top few clubs isn't going to change to dominating possession any time soon.

Lukerz

1) Liverpool, United
2) Spurs, Leicester, Everton
3) Chelsea, Villa, Man City, Southampton, West Ham
4) Arsenal, Leeds
5) Wolves, Crystal Palace
6) Newcastle
7) Burnley
8) Brighton
9) Fulham
10) WBA
11) Sheffield Utd

Great to see us third in the table after 17 games...

IronHerb

On that basis Sheffield United are safe. 😧

jay_in_cpt

IronHerb said:

On that basis Sheffield United are safe. 😧

🤮🤮🤮

ASLEFshrugged

I just found out that the goal celebration was for Coufal who became a father for the second time just before Christmas. Awwwwww

IronHerb

Keep up ASLEF. 🙄

PrestonHammer

I thought it was a belated celebration of the birth of Bebeto's baby. He or she would be 26 now.

MrsGrey

Soucek and Ogbonna made Crooks' team of the week.

IronHerb

Well, he has to get it right sometimes. 🙄