Tranmere friendly ends all square

I've always thought he's a good player from what I've seen and I hope he cements a place in the first team.

Can't find a link - tell Ferry he's a twat from me

Link

Tranmere can take more out of that than us.

Some of those on the pitch should have been fighting for a start this season and didn’t look interested.

Gibson did well, and McGeady crosses were begging out for a Lukaku type centre forward.

I hope to god it’s not our player, as, according to all and sundry he was the next star to come through and he’s only 17 .

McAleny, Kennedy and Garbutt stood out of the young players, Ossie showed his class and experience.

Stones was very average on the night, hope all the hype's not got to him.

We can only keep our fingers crossed that it's not a bad injury, with hamstrings you just play a waiting game, it would be a big blow to lose Coleman for a long period.

It's also why I can't stand it when other fans shoot down us realists when we say Everton need at least 7 signings this summer, we are Everton and we always always suffer injury crisis problems at some point.

Let's see Gibson do that in the heat of the Premier League humdrum when you don't get any time on the ball in the midfield.

I never take much notice of friendlies, just keep my fingers crossed that we don't get injuries..

Sadly the worst has happened tonight.

As for Gibson when the lad is fit he is more than capable of doing his stuff in the heat of battle in the Premier League - it's his injury record that has stopped him achieving throughout his career not his abilities or mindset.

Hope he's ok. I remember Yakubu picking up the same injury for us and being out for ages, and was never quite the same player when he came back.

Barkley was held back for years after being unfortunate with injuries. I hope this lad is fully fit and ready to force his way into the Europa League team.

Unless he has deleted something, Ryan Ledson hasn't tweeted anything since Sunday and it wasn't anything to do with his Achilles.

Considering the resources of Everton against Tranmere, they won't have been on a fitness training programme in Austria.

I thought the first half was fairly well dominated by the Blues, and they deserved to be ahead at the half time whistle. I then thought we will make wholesale changes for the second half, which we did, and thought Tranmere will tire as the game goes on; in all fairness to Tranmere, they upped their game and assisted by schoolboy mistakes by us, were soon level... Twice!

Leicester will have a field day if we perform like that in Thailand!

I thought the youngsters did ok but still have lots to learn. McAleny was sharp and intelligent and might have a future.

As for the others. They weren't match fit so criticism would be unfair. All I'll say is certain players who impressed the commentator and many TW members didn't fill me with joy.

I was watching the match and all through the game the commentators were reading out tweets from fans who were saying where they were watching the match, hopes for the season etc.

I think they basically read out a tweet from a fan called Ledson, saying he was watching the match on his couch with a ruptured Achilles. Hope I am right anyway

The one that doesn't inspire any confidence at all is Robles, even in a friendly. Even Hibbo blocked more than he did!

But good to see Duffy looking more self-assured. Stones has a rival!

Decent workout last night. Garbutt, McAleny, Duffy, Browning and Long all did well. I'm desperate for Lundstram to perform at this level; he did some good things but then put a couple of stray passes out too. Kennedy looked a bit out of his depth though; he did not grab his chance.

He did in the second half, but I can understand your query, as basically he was anonymous for most of the time. He was not alone in that, but maybe the directive from Roberto was to let the younger lads have more of the ball, to see how they perform, and if struggling, then step in!

Well if that was the plan, it certainly didn't materialise that way. It did show that, despite a few missing, there is a lot of work to be done!

I know we have the World Cup players to come back but even so I think we are still a good four or five players short of having a squad capable of challenging for 4th. I've no doubt that lots is going on behind the scenes but I hope that our chase of Lukaku does not end up costing us too much time and missed opportunity.

It concerned me that Distin looked a little slower than usual; I hope Father Time has not finally caught up with him or else perhaps we need another senior CB as I'm not sure relying on Stones, Duffy or Alcaraz for a whole season is wise. Caulker for ٦M looked good business to me for QPR but I suspect we cannot spend any good chunks until the Lukaku business is settled and God knows how long that will take.

At the start of last year, I went to watch a few pre-season games and I was convinced Distin's legs had gone. I was completely wrong... so I won't be writing him off this year either.

Stones had a bit of a horror moment in the game, but I think we've all seen enough of the lad to feel positive about his development.

Pre-season games are always weird. I think you've just got to look at it as a fitness exercise and little more.

It's all about opinions and perceptions at the end of the day, I have read a few posts suggesting Sylvain was a bit slow etc, I can only recall once when (because of the system – playing the high line) he nearly got caught out, but woeful finishing from the Tranmere player avoided any embarrassment.

Overall, I think if you were to choose between central defenders and effectiveness, I would have chosen Duffy and Distin over Stones and Alcaraz, in the second half.

Like I say, if Distin had played with Stones and vice versa, we will never really know!

The exercise did indicate that we are nowhere near ready yet (I know the World Cup players were missing) but hope those lessons have been well digested!

I was a bit frustrated last night that we seemed to have picked up where we left off (dominating a game for 90% playing pass the parcel to get done twice out of pretty much nothing) but:
a) Plenty of first-teamers didn't play (Howard, Jags, Baines, Mirallas, Barkley);
b) Some of youngsters looked pretty handy and it was good experience for them;
c) Everyone who played got a decent run out;
d) I'm sure there are signings to come; and
e) We've got players coming back.

My two concerns are we are desperate for a couple of strikers and a few more who can actually beat a player like McGeady and play a ball through or across rather than in a triangle. Other than that, I thought it was a pretty useful 90 mins.

He had no chance with their 2 goals, made an excellent full length save to his left that many keepers wouldn't have reached.

For long periods he had nothing to do!

Of course, the young lads had to inter-pass with Pienaar. The little tough enigma who likes to stop, turn back, come inside and slow everyone up. Baines and Barry understand him but he must be a nightmare for anyone else.

Incidentally. It was easy to see that Barry has a defensive brain and protects the back 4. Gibson has an attacking brain and feeds the front 4. Folk who think they do the same job are way off the mark.

I was impressed by the way Roberto pulled people aside at half-time for a detailed critique of their roles. He obviously doesn't miss much.

As for the Leicester game. We look far from ready but I suppose it breaks things up a bit. Coleman's injury was a worry and a warning. So easy to pull things early on. Especially in the 2nd game after a break, when the "Bounce Factor" challenges stiff muscles.

I also agree that you can't judge much from pre-season games but, at the same time, we've all been starved of Everton games to analyse for months so it's always going to happen!

Other teams had big wins in their friendly matches and scoring goals brings confidence. The present squad will not do as well as last year IMO. It is already weaker and players coming back from long-term injuries are always vulnerable.

We really need a top class striker plus a midfield playmaker.

Garbutt is a big improver with a great left foot but still very raw. McAleny, for me, is a must for the first team squad. Small in stature with an ever stronger upper body strength, he looks the real deal. Not sure about the orange boots but he's quick, reads the game and his through balls to a rusty Naismith were tremendous. Fingers crossed for the lad. He's had a tough time.

On a goalkeeping note. The 6'-4" Czech kid we bought from Sparta Prague in January appears to be coming on a ton. Think his name is Stanek. Still way down the pecking order, he is amazed with his progress under the guidance of our Tom Selleck lookalike goalkeeping coach.

Ryan Ledson is perfectly fine.

It looks like Seamus will only be missing the game in Thailand but we have an able deputy in Tony Hibbert in that position. The likes of Ledson, Lundstram etc will get plenty of chances pre season as hopefully will Joel.

On a different note, does anyone know when the Europa League draw is?

The way Lyndon lined it up suggests Duffy at right back, but I’m assuming Browning in fact started there. Having not seen Browning, does he look like a centre back or a full back? I mean both in terms of physique, and does he look like someone who will bomb forward and create chances the way Coleman and Baines do (and Garbutt for that matter)?

Lyndon’s line-up suggest Pienaar played centrally, with Kennedy and McAleny on the wings and Naismith as the No 9. Is this accurate?

Where did Osman play? And finally, where/what roles did Hope and Long play when they came on? Were they a front two or was one of them pushed wide?

It may be that even these choices don’t mean much, but I, along with many I think, still don’t know much about the playing styles and positions of many of our youngsters who may break through this season.

Thanks.

Watched it on EFC TV so I will try to answer your questions:

Pienaar played more or less the same role we have seen him mostly, ie. left-mid but drifted into the centre at times, but to be honest he didn't really perform that well and lost the ball on several occasions.

McAleny played more up front and looked useful, but (difficult to assess after one game) does look like he could be a first-squad member (probably on the bench).

Osman played his usual centre-mid role and so easily could have had two goals instead of just the one. Not bad over all.

Hope and Long played up front and I was impressed at the quickness of both, more so Hope, although the end product was not really evident, but then again, one half of one game, it's hardly enough to comment one way or another!

Hope this helps mate, but being subjective, others may have interpreted the game differently...

Anyone else any thoughts?