Season › 2017-18 › News
Schneiderlin: Plenty of room for improvement
Morgan Schneiderlin has acknowledged that Everton need to play better if they are to continue to make up ground on the top seven.
The Blues ended the calendar year with Sam Allardyce's first defeat as manager after Ryan Fraser's deflected winner handed Bournemouth a 2-1 win at Vitality Stadium this afternoon.
The loss came on the heels of two dull 0-0 draws that have stalled the early momentum established when Allardyce first took over from David Unsworth at the end of November but while a general lack of attacking prowess has been a problem, it was defensive vulnerability that hurt them today.
James McCarthy marred his return to the team with a poor back-pass that led to the Cherries' opener but though Idrissa Gueye equalised early in the second half, Fraser took advantage of lapse defending to plunder a late goal.
“I think when we equalised we expected to keep the ball better and be more of a threat to them but we didn't do so and we were exposed to their play,” Schneiderlin explained after the game.
“Then there was a deflection for their goal which was frustrating but we need to pick ourselves up, keep going to try and correct the things that are going wrong and improve.
“[Their first goal] was bad play from us but we can't blame the player who lost the ball; we need to blame each other because we need to create more options.
“Sometimes we don't move enough to create options for each other so we can't point the finger at anyone — we need to look to ourselves.
“We have some positives [to take into the new year] because we were unbeaten and we moved out of trouble. We turned things around and now we want to turn another corner and to win games.
“We know that these kinds of games are the ones we need to win to push up the table and we didn't do so. So, yes, there are some positives to take but there's a lot of things to rectify to be able to move on.”
Allardyce blamed his team's attacking shortcomings for the lack of adventure and his decision to field three defensive midfielders.
"Our goalscoring abilities are limited, you don't need to be a manager to look at what the squad has got," he said.
"It's got players who can play well and create but not many out-and-out goalscorers. That's why I work so hard on defence as we're not going to be a free-scoring team."
Reader Comments (45)
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3 Posted 30/12/2017 at 19:40:05
He wants to take more responsibility???
I don't think I have seen one ounce of it from him all season.
4 Posted 30/12/2017 at 19:45:08
5 Posted 30/12/2017 at 20:00:50
Anyway, I think we need a Taoist solution to all this rubbish we're seeing. I've cited the principle of Wu Wei on here before and received, frankly, a lukewarm response. We need to stop fretting, thereby paralysing ourselves, and let the flow happen. I am sure Sam is on to it.
6 Posted 30/12/2017 at 20:10:50
These are all things that can be labelled at most of our players.
7 Posted 30/12/2017 at 20:22:55
8 Posted 30/12/2017 at 20:23:57
9 Posted 30/12/2017 at 20:29:00
Numbing performance today after increasingly sluggish performances,and not much more to say , zackly what we all feel and reality is.
The worry is any deals we are linked with are normally bull and any player coming to EFC must be naming his price.
Surely there must be outgoings but how much would we make and whom would buy any of our shirkers and dead wood players in January and the next close season?
10 Posted 30/12/2017 at 20:37:45
11 Posted 30/12/2017 at 20:58:54
If we can get anywhere near the money we paid, I'd sell now. His wages must be huge, and he's playing within himself for 3 years now. It ain't going to get better.
12 Posted 30/12/2017 at 21:27:12
He attempted several today. Right onto the head of the full back. Sure movement needs to be better but there's nothing behind them. Flat and with pace, thats what gets you in behind. He just chips and floats.
Whats better?; overhitting a flat diagonal or chipping every effort to the oppo?
A player devoid of confidence and lacks any sort of courage with the ball. Safety first, all about me is this lad.
What happened to the fella at Southampton?
13 Posted 30/12/2017 at 21:28:27
15 Posted 30/12/2017 at 21:44:18
He should never been allowed near the club after that caper at Finch Farm a few weeks back. As someone brilliantly put it, he's only interested in his hair and posturing on social media.
16 Posted 30/12/2017 at 21:56:49
I have seen all the bottom sides, and they all have a go at least, and try to score goals. This Everton side doesn't have a Scooby doo about how to attack sides. Pass it back and hoof it up the pitch aimlessly is the only tactic.
With the fixtures coming up, I wouldn't rule them out of a relegation fight just yet.
17 Posted 30/12/2017 at 22:16:30
He has a full range of passing.
Sideways, backwards and to the opposition.
Oh and he talks a good game too.
18 Posted 30/12/2017 at 22:16:33
I know players have bad spells and lose confidence but this guy shows a real lack of effort - cant wait to see the back of him.
19 Posted 30/12/2017 at 22:20:51
Man Utd fans I know have said the best thing that their club did was get rid. We need to quickly if not already. Shite.
20 Posted 30/12/2017 at 22:32:36
21 Posted 30/12/2017 at 22:32:52
22 Posted 30/12/2017 at 22:38:55
24 Posted 30/12/2017 at 23:08:58
25 Posted 30/12/2017 at 23:32:33
No shit Sherlock, if this team played on the local park half of them would have dogs pissing up their legs.
26 Posted 30/12/2017 at 23:46:16
27 Posted 31/12/2017 at 00:02:32
28 Posted 31/12/2017 at 01:52:26
I'm consigned to the thought that his better days, even at 27, are behind him.
29 Posted 31/12/2017 at 09:21:32
Agreed
Just hide in the shadows Morgan as you are not wanted here anymore
30 Posted 31/12/2017 at 09:57:33
Pickford, Keane, Rooney, Sandro, Klaassen, Onyekuru, Sigurdsson, Vlasic, Martina but barring Pickford and Rooney, they all turned out to be very poor buys. 145 million was blown on these players - and the result is there for all to see. Koeman also splurged about 60 million on Williams, Schneiderlin, Bolasie and Lookman. Just for comparison, for the money spent by Koeman, the RS got Sane, Coutinho, Salah, Van Dijk, Oxlade Chamberlain - enough said. It is going to be a long and painful recovery from the shambles of Koeman's reign.
31 Posted 31/12/2017 at 10:05:03
Liverpool have always signed players that attack and excite whereas you can count on one hand the amount of truly exciting dazzling attacking players we have signed over the last 25 years.
Everton seems to be a club obsessed with holding defensive honest grafting lads rather than players who can go forward and entertain and this current Everton team going into 2018 is the absolute nutshell of that.
32 Posted 31/12/2017 at 11:11:23
UTTER DROSS
34 Posted 31/12/2017 at 11:42:35
I don't even think Schneiderlin has the football intelligence of Scot Gemmill to be honest , that lad scored a couple of crackers along the way despite being dross.
35 Posted 31/12/2017 at 12:09:20
), but he's not the only one, no movement or urgency from a lot of those fuckers out there.
36 Posted 31/12/2017 at 12:51:59
Morgan Schneiderlin should not be anywhere near this team. Ever again.
There is a complete absence of quality in this team. The whole recruitment team need to be fired, simply for the disgusting summer trading undertaken. How fucking hard is it to identify pacy forwards who can score? It's not that fucking hard! Middling European clubs, not offering our wages, find them and develop them.
We have a fucking footballing dinosaur as Director of Football and our previous manager had a superb golf handicap.
Does Allardyce have the clout, intelligence and desire to build a team which can attack with pace and purpose??
37 Posted 31/12/2017 at 14:28:22
38 Posted 31/12/2017 at 15:38:02
Bobby Collins, a master of this type of pass, never tried to get it over the full back he it, at a more acute angle, inside the full back who then had to turn, and it was closer to the penalty area for the winger to run onto.
Schneiderlin and others using this pass try to look good but it seldom comes off; Steven Gerrard hit dozens of them for England and they seldom came off.
39 Posted 31/12/2017 at 15:52:59
When a team has a bad run it usually means they have been somewhat unlucky at times, ie, injuries, poor refereeing decisions, last-minute goals or opposing keepers having blinders. None of these excuses apply to Everton this season.
They have been poor in almost every game, lacking intensity from the first whistle and showing anything offensively that can threaten even the poorest teams.
Yes, they have picked up points lately but we all knew deep down that nothing had really improved.
Schneiderlin has been poor himself most of the time and should keep his mouth shut. New blood is the only thing that just might make this team more watchable.
At the moment, they are pitiful to watch and, as a fan for 60 plus years, I can honestly say I have never seen a poorer product representing Everton Football Club.
40 Posted 31/12/2017 at 15:53:02
Add in Reach from Sheffield Wednesday & put Vlasic or Lookman on the right wing.
Sorted!
41 Posted 31/12/2017 at 15:53:17
Schneiderlin is not the worst player, I've ever seen in a blue shirt, but he's really getting on my fucking nerves right now though because he just doesn't look like he wants to play football.
Like a boxer who has been Champion, and made his fortune, it looks like Morgan has had enough?
42 Posted 31/12/2017 at 16:04:06
43 Posted 31/12/2017 at 16:08:51
When we do buy in a striker, I fully expect him to take the same responsibility for our toothless attack performances as he does for our backs-to-the-wall hoof-ball defensive displays.
44 Posted 31/12/2017 at 16:38:13
45 Posted 31/12/2017 at 18:50:52
46 Posted 31/12/2017 at 20:24:46
47 Posted 31/12/2017 at 20:36:47
48 Posted 31/12/2017 at 22:33:58
Keep your mouth shut lad, get your head down and show us something worthwhile on a match day. Just for a change eh? Your inane drivel off the pitch is nothing short of infuriating.
49 Posted 01/01/2018 at 16:37:00
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1 Posted 30/12/2017 at 19:18:12