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Everton and the curse of the ten men

I always hate it when Everton are playing and someone gets sent off – from either side. The reason? It always seems to disrupt us. Recent examples would be Newcastle away last season, and the Dark Side this season.

The only game I can recall when a dismissal worked in our favour was QPR away years ago. I remember Martin Dobson slotted in at left back and we went on to score four goals.

Whenever someone is sent off why do other teams seem to get a surge of energy, whereas we always end up nervous and unsure how to take advantage of our numerical superiority?
Tony McNulty, London Posted 18/02/2010 at 18:16:31

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Er... Blackburn (h)? When was that...

Jason Lam
1 Posted 19/02/2010 at 04:15:54

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Easy, practice 10 vs 11 in training. Other clubs do that.

James Greem
2 Posted 19/02/2010 at 08:12:17

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Spurs away, when Zinedine Kilbane got sent off..but got to say it rarely seems to effect our team positively...

Gavin Ramejkis
3 Posted 19/02/2010 at 10:16:40

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I remember freezing my arse off at Elland Road back in 2000 and with much help from Andy D’Urso we went down to 9 men and managed a draw against Leeds, not seen that much fight for years, Dunne deserved to walk as did Duberry for them but Hutchinson didn’t.

Peter Anthony
4 Posted 19/02/2010 at 16:02:15

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Can’t remember the exact year, late 90s or early 00s, but I distinctly remember a game at GP vs Leeds where Jeff Winter booked Waggy twice early doors, down to ten men early in the game. Proper performance from our boys and we stuffed em 2-0.

Ajay Timothy
5 Posted 19/02/2010 at 18:02:49

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1985 cup final against Man Utd. Could have won the treble if they didnt get reduced to 10 men

Keith Glazzard
6 Posted 19/02/2010 at 22:13:52

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One problem with this topic is that we fall into the trap of assuming that media commentators know what they’re talking about. Newspaper headlines will always say ’ten man’ this or that as if it made any difference, as will TV arseholes. Some of them have played the game and should know better, but that’s not what they’re being paid for.

I was dismayed by the way we went about attacking the shite when they had managed to have Fellaini stretchered off, but what happened next was typical. The offending team carries on defending, with the possibility of scoring on the break or from a set piece.

Get the dirty bastards down to 9 or 8 and we are talking advantage. There is none in 11 v 10.

ps — There was a discussion about this in The Guardian recently. Apparently, in rugby union (15 a side), a player off makes a big difference. One explanation was that they play man for man, much as football would have been played in the 50s say, and they can’t adapt because of their set pieces (scrums, line outs etc). An interesting adjunct to our 4-4-2, 4-5-1 deliberations I think.

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