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Dick Brady
1 Posted 01/02/2014 at 20:48:15
I think we were all disappointed and deeply hurt by the Derby defeat. I can only speak for myself but I have not been so depressed and suffered so badly over a result in many years.

Today, it was really important to get 3 points from Aston Villa. The season was beginning to get away from us and a lost today would really have been too much to bear. And with difficult fixtures to Spurs and Chelsea on the horizon things could easily have become bleak.

Getting a win and the all important 3 points is undoubtedly a pivotal moment in the season. Congrats to Roberto and the boys.

Kieran Fitzgerald
2 Posted 01/02/2014 at 20:42:36
What you say about this season being kept alive Lyndon is certainly one of the biggest pluses from today. Instead of spending the first week dissecting how this season has already passed us out, we are looking forward to taking on a Spurs team that are beatable. The Spurs game is now coming at a great time for me instead of just being something that was rubbing salt in the wounds. All of a sudden February looks like a month where we can keep in touch with the top four and progress to the quarter finals of the cup.

The derby game was a disaster. We were poor and deserved to be beaten. Now, it feels like we have the stamina and stomach for a fight that Tuesday night's performance didn't show.

Mike Gaynes
3 Posted 01/02/2014 at 21:38:53
Lyndon, great point about McCarthy and Barry being held deep even when we were dominating the ball in the first half. I thought their (RM's?) conservatism was one reason McGeady, Ossie and Baines found so little room to operate, and maybe that was a hangover from Tuesday's disaster. Both Macca and Barry got farther forward in the second half and found space, and Barry's entry pass to Peanuts for Naismith's goal was inch perfect.

Dick Brady
4 Posted 01/02/2014 at 21:48:53
Sometimes a defeat or a really bad performance can be a pivotal point in a season and really change things. I remember under Moyes a couple of bad results were followed by improved performances.

There's no getting away from it, the derby defeat was a nightmare and hurt something wicked but if it has galvanised the team and brought out some grit then maybe we will look back at it and not hurt quite so much.

Although in saying that all this week I have doubted I'll ever get over the pain of that awful night.

David Graves
5 Posted 01/02/2014 at 22:55:31
Distin, Coleman and Deulofeu back. Traore getting match fit and Lukaku hopefully back for the run in. FA Cup run and fight for fourth is on.
Christopher Timmins
6 Posted 02/02/2014 at 10:15:05
Lyndon, during the Norwich game I thought Pienaar was back close to his best. He like so many others found last Tuesday night to be a week too early to recover from his injury. If we keep the Pienaar / Baines axis on the left and get the Coleman / Deulofeu axis back in motion on the right then we will give things a right good go in the months ahead.

Yesterday was the manager's best day since his arrival. To come from behind against a team who are set up to play away from home was no mean achievement.

Paul Roberts
7 Posted 02/02/2014 at 10:19:16
I fear there is an overly-emotional reaction to Tuesday night. The cold facts are that half of the team were, at best, lacking match sharpness and more likely a good measure of general fitness. The bench was at its thinnest, reflecting the depth of the short-term injury crisis.

Add in to this the mental trauma of seeing a close friend and colleague horrendously injured days earlier, only to see your star striker stretchered off after 20 minutes. Drop in to the mix a rabid home crowd and opposition full of confidence then it was perfect storm of shit, with a good hiding the only likely outcome.

Yet how many Evertonians would swap the last 2 years' league positions for more derby game wins? How many would rather finish below them this year, but triumph last Tuesday?

Our seasons need to stop being defined by two fixtures. It is small-minded to do so and indicative of a lack of ambition to truly scale the heights of our potential.

Chins up my Blue Brothers and Sisters. Redemption is within our grasp.

Wayne Smyth
8 Posted 02/02/2014 at 10:38:28
Dick, if anything I thought the game on Tuesday negatively impacted us yesterday. Martinez said in the interviews we were too worried about the result and were over-thinking some of our play; I don't think the players were relaxed at all.

With Villa parking the bus it was always going to be a really difficult game anyway, never mind with a goal deficit to make up and half a team out injured.

I thought Martinez's substitutions were inspired. Barkley was clearly off the pace and having little impact and the introduction of Pienaar gave us that bit of quality we were lacking. Even Naismith played really well when he came on.

I think the game against Spurs could be easier, Deulofeu will be back, maybe Traore will be fit and our other walking wounded will have had another week to get sharp. Spurs will also come at us more and leave more space in behind.

In the longer term – and I can't remember who it was on here that suggested it – but perhaps we'd do better with a quality Arteta type to play alongside Barry or McCarthy for the days when teams come to defend. We could, of course, drop Barkley in there and go 2 up front when Traore is fit, perhaps?

Colin Glassar
9 Posted 02/02/2014 at 11:54:50
If WBA can do us a massive favour today, then the race is definitely back on and the momentum shifts back in our favour.

I see Mourinho has given his biggest hint yet that Lukaku is finished at Chelsea so I hope we can come to some pre-contract agreement now so the lad can get his head sorted for the last part of the season.

Bob Parrington
10 Posted 02/02/2014 at 12:22:36
Maybe it's a confidence thing but Aiden seemed to be very singular in his moves, deciding only to turn inside the left back and never to pass to the overlapping player (mostly Stones). I hope he has more in his locker.

Naismith was the game-changer. Good on him! An honest player who just gets on with it.

Ben Dyke
11 Posted 02/02/2014 at 12:48:02
To be fair to McGeady, I think he is probably playing a bit earlier than he anticipated because of injuries in the squad, and he has also come in when the team are struggling a little bit which makes it even harder. We have seen some glimpses of quality and penetration that will become more frequent as the team improves, he gets match fit, and gets used to English football and relaxes and becomes confident.

This is a big test for the lad! I don't think he'll ever be a world beater but he will definitely add something to the squad and hopefully have the pinnacle of his career here.

Colin Glassar
12 Posted 02/02/2014 at 13:07:05
10 hours later..... The exciting thing is the players who are coming back after a good rest e.g. Barkley, Seamus, Lukaku, Del boy, Traore etc... these lads will be crucial in the last dozen games or so.
David Ellis
13 Posted 02/02/2014 at 15:38:18
The other results have gone well for us this weekend. Now 5 clear of Utd, leapfrogged Spurs and only two off Liverpool - in other words as it was a couple of weeks ago. We're very much in it and there is a long way to go yet.
Colin Glassar
14 Posted 02/02/2014 at 20:25:57
Arsenal will beat them next week so we MUST beat Spurs. Kill two birds with one stone so to speak.
Rahman Talib
15 Posted 03/02/2014 at 03:02:15
I think Kev was caught offside too many times. Otherwise, the Villa defence would've been shattered in the first half. Kev is fast so he doesn't need to stand shoulder to shoulder with the defence line

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