Galloway scores in pre-season friendly

The boys need to put their heart together and convert chances.

Goals win games, not chances created.

Goooooo boyssssssssss!

Niasse tripping over his own feet as he received the ball on the edge of the box with no-one anywhere near him sums up this disaster of a signing.

Three EFC flags on show for a behind-closed-doors game. ;)

Oh god. Here we go again.

Henen looked okay second half as they looked more composed.

Good performances overall too from Holgate, Galloway, Gethin Jones and Conor Grant with Oviedo standing out.

The less said about Niasse, the better.

Glad the Under-21 boys got game time. Hope to see all those players mentioned at some point this season.

Because the game was played at Sportplatz Golm (FC Schruns) which has a capacity of 3,000. There were fans there (not so closed doors).

Match also was filmed and shown on Dutch version of Fox Sports 2.

Commentary was fascinating, understood bugger all, apart from some bewildering remark about Romelu Lukaku and Fleetwood Town.

You heard it here first.

Thanks

Hard to read too much into our first friendly but, if pushed:

Gibson looked like the top class footballer on show. I suppose coming up to fitness and speed doesn't really affect him.

Besic didn't impress. I'd love him to show more quality but he just doesn't have it.

Niasse likewise - he's a lively disaster of a footballer. If anyone wants to bet he'll make it at our level, I'll offer whatever you want to one. £13.5 million for a player you could replace off the parks.

Davies at right back looked really confident. Bags of energy that lad.

Baines quite subdued... ah well, it's preseason.

Leandro and Lennon anonymous... ah well, it's preseason.

Mirallas and Deulofeu bright but summed up a pre-season game (not much to shout about).

Galloway looked very assured.
Dowell was lively enough. Couple of good efforts and a nice through-ball to Leandro.

I couldn't really pass comment on the rest but it was good to see Holgate; he wasn't particularly tested though.

Come to think of it, I didn't see Ronald once. Now the cameras were only on one side of the pitch (it was more training ground than stadium) but you'd expect a shot of him? Was he there?

Personally I think Holgate looks a really good up-and-coming footballer, the boy seems to have a nice touch and really understands what's in front of him. I have high hopes for this kid.

I didn't read too much in to the game really; Niasse hit the post in the second half but still looks like a clumsy overly energetic circus juggler. I can't see this lad improving EFC... maybe a season or five out on loan, who knows.

But still a winning start for Mr Koeman.

He joined us at a time when he was in effect in the pre-season stage and at a time when the whole team was playing poorly. Don't get me wrong; I'm not saying the lad's the next Kanchelskis, but I would love it if he proved his doubters wrong and became a useful member of the team.

Today's match really was just about fitness and getting back into the swing of things, hence having it played behind closed doors. I didn't see the match and accept that he may not have shined, but surely we all want the £13.5m the club spent to end up being a good investment, no?

Henen and Rodriguez were quite anonymous but got little service although Gibson tried to play some good balls for Rodriguez first half. Mirallas looked like a man with a point to make...

I somehow suspect that if the likes of Steve Walsh takes over responsibility for foreign scouting, slightly more research may go into recruitment in future!

He must have something that persuaded the club he was worth making our 2nd most costly player ever...

Trust Ronald Koeman to make the decision and move him on if necessary.

Sounds better than a laptop, Ray!

Who was MotM, guys?

Seeing the report, it seemed we were under some pressure at times and little was heard of Mirallas and Deulofeu, it all sounded very familiar and not a real confidence booster, friendly or not. Or is it just me???

Sadly, given todays display, I reckon that Fleetwood would be shitting breeze-blocks at the prospect of Niasse making them a half-time brew. God help the lad, he looks genuinely terrified when he gets possession. I wish that I could attempt to raise a laugh on the matter, but that would just feel bloody cruel.

Nope, the Blues in the "Beer garten" remarks were far more interesting than any performances by the players on the pitch.

But! According to quite a few TW'ers, the two "fitties" running the lines were the highlight of the afternoon.

ps: There were a few closeups of Ronald Koeman (looking at his watch as if he couldn't wait for final whistle!) towards the end!

The "Behind Closed Doors", seemed to have more in common with an "After Hours Session" then, judging by the fact that Gibbo didn't reappear after half-time and the "BeerGarten Jocularity" got ever closer to drowning out the Dutch commentary, one must naturally conclude that a relaxed time was enjoyed in the Austrian sunshine, "Mit einem oder zwei Glas Österreich feinsten".

Given Niasse's display, I'd very seriously doubt that we could swap the lad for a set of Senegalese face masks (see Phil Walling regarding the current exchange rate for such artefacts).

You know when you hear about players who apparently do great things in training? Well, this game was like a training session. It was even played at what looked like a training complex. So no pressure at all and he was still stumbling over the ball.

I'd love him to do well but I've never been more convinced about a player than I am with Niasse. We need to sell before other teams see him play more games.

I don't think he was scouted at all – certainly not by Martinez... but not even Martinez was dumb enough to buy a player who can barely tie his shoe laces by the looks of it, for a whopping £13.5M!!!

No, sorry – definitely something fishy about this deal... Who knows... maybe a tax write-off or a favor to a certain Russian steel magnet?

Remember, folks, we support one of the most secretive clubs in the land!!!

The player sadly looked out of his depth, but I was very disappointed by his lack of willingness to work for the team. We are expecting more from the outlay. The stumble at the edge of the box under no pressure, when a shot was there for the taking, was dreadful.

Agree with Ernie's fair assessment of the game and performances. Tom Davies is looking like a player, strong and ready to go.

31 Kieran Dowell, up from 51
34 Tom Davies, up from 46

I expect these will be their new numbers for this season, with Marteen Stekelenburg wearing 22, Steven Pienaar's old number.

I thought Rodriguez was very poor first half, as were most of the players except Gibbo.

Still, it was only a training exercise!!

At a time we weren't exactly spoilt for choice for 'footballing' footballers, Gemmill and Hutchinson were the best.

Perhaps you meant to say Mark Pembridge?

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/Everton-set-part-company-oumar-8434566

Surely he'd want to take a look at him?

Is he still injured?

Harold Matthews likened him to Pele in his view, and Harold certainly had an eye for a player.

Colin, I think that players like Gemmill and, dare I say it, Osman would be excellent players in today's game if they were say 22. There is more protection for talented players than there was 20 or even 10 years ago.

But that's just my opinion.

They were dark times.

But some last exhibits for your consideration Colin;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCpzlGORHr0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_uxbHna7lA

I'll think the term you are looking for is 'unblivbl tekkrz'

However, there is a lot of skill and youth at Everton now and it remains to be seen if Big K can get a Leicester-like symmetry with them.

It looked like the ground of a local village side, the type of grounds I used to play on in my lowly playing days. Nice to see a lot of the young lads getting a run out.

For what it's worth I thought Gemmell was a decent player certainly not the worst I've seen wearing blue. All things considered, I thought he was good considering the side he was playing.

Who remembers Li Tie play a few games in that team? I saw a few games when he first signed, he didn't have a bad range of passing in the games I saw, but it didn't really happen for him at Everton.

The players missing from the Austria/Spain trips that you would have thought would have gone: Tyias Browning, Joe Williams, Delial Brewster, Courtney Duffus, Tyrone Duffus, Sam Byrne & Jack Bainbridge.

Both the Duffus's & Tyias were injured in the later part of last season so maybe they were left at home for further rehabilitation. Delial Brewster & Joe Williams I thought would have been involved in one or the other trips.

Niasse was total crap in the game although he did try. In Russia he played a lot on plastic pitches so maybe that is the total of his game. Looks like being loaned back to Russia.

Mason Holgate & Brendan Galloway look to be the future centre-back pairing, both looked very comfortable. Davies, Dowell & Gibson had good first halves. Leandro looked short of matches, so did Mirallas. The others did okay.

Stekelenburg's positioning in the second half shows why we bought him. Not afraid to go for the ball & tall. Gethin Jones played well, as did Oviedo. Garbutt had some nice touches on left of midfield, so did David Henen on the other side. Conor Grant looked very solid, Deulofeu tried hard but not much came off. Cleverley was almost as bad as Niasse.

The best thing to come out of this was a clean sheet. The defence held out.

They hit the bar. A couple of inches lower and the mood might have changed.

"Two David Milners, there's only two David Milners..."

Dave M #63 (whichever one you are) - thanks for the report. Or is nobody else talking to you so yo're reporting to talking to yourself?

Seriously, I liked the report.