Just so... Everton

If this Ancelotti thing just turns out to be one possible ghost of a Christmas Future that might be, I'd be happy for him to carry on.

One game at a time, while we filter in returnees from treatment room and sick bed.

Arsenal next and we can get something from this before Arteta gets his feet properly under Wenger's desk.

There are times now and again when Arsenal don't seem to relish a trip North of Watford in the cold and wet.
This present incarnation is nowhere near the ones that had us, literally, at 6's and 7's.

If we can continue with our...'they don't like it up 'em' spirit - then who knows.

So, Everton, pick yourselves up, dust yourselves off and start all over again. You earned a draw vs the second in the league having done the same with Man Utd and you beat Chelsea. Get on with it and beat Arsenal! I reckon that would help all us fans get over this disappointment and get back the feel good factor.

Promote Lewis Gibson, Anthony Gordon, Matt Foulds etc

He covers ground, tackles and wants the ball. PuttIng his foot on it and looking for the pass.
Most importantlly, he seems to be moody enough to play in the middle. He's got the anger in him that so few in our team have (including Davies).

Cant see many players in that side getting near an Ancelotti 11.

We can moan about the injured we have but the players who are out, most people have used as whipping boys this season anyway, only Gomes would add class (when he’s on form that is) but even he hadn’t really set the place alight this term prior to November.

The glaring thing about us for me is we lack a truly class player to influence games when the going is tough.

Richarlison cant, doesn’t get into the game enough playing out wide, the last two games were tailor made for a big performance from him but he’s wasted out wide.

Bernard always looks tricky until he reaches the penalty area then more often than not fails to pack a punch.

Davies and Holgate try hard but Tom’s goal aside, he’s not a massively creatively class influence.

Iwobi has been god awful on the ball for months now, don’t get me wrong he works hard but his end product and final ball is abysmal, another player that we have paid tremendously over the odds for.

It’s a sad way to again go out, a glorious opportunity to reach the Final but hey ho, does any club out there do heroic failure better than Everton?

Always the bridesmaid and never the bride.

Ancelotti or whoever takes it on full time will have the biggest job of their career to date.

We sign the likes of Minna, Iwobi, Sidibe and Kean who can' t even run properly.
All suffering from JordanHenderson-disease (referring to his gait, not being a shithouse).

I’d swap what you said about Keane and Mina to the other way round. I’d also say no one deserved an 8, and I’d give Davies a 7 and man of the match. He was the one who forced the comeback, even if he wasn’t at his best. He’s got that winning attitude and he’s only 21.

If Duncan can get something out of the arsenal game, then he will have had a successful caretaker spell. He seems to have done the hard part for Carlo and arrested the slide against tough opposition.

Both our centre-backs have little threat from set-pieces. Mina had a couple of gilt-edged chances and wasted both. Keane has no conviction when heading the ball. He lets the ball play him instead of attacking it.

Iwobi just seemed lost, again his awareness of what's happening around him is poor, his control was poor also. Very frustrating to watch.

Onwards to Saturday, and Arsenal are struggling too, so maybe with Duncan's buzz, we can get something, fingers crossed.

Other times, like now, I wonder if there's anything between his ears coordinating his actions on the pitch. Some of his decisions are unfathomable and his actions completely uncoordinated.

I'd score him as lowly as possible on this performance. It's never lack of effort, it's just lack of absolutely everything else.

You don’t half talk guff sometimes!!

Players out:

Sibide, been one of our best performers of late, a couple of assists

Digne, not been at his best but still a danger going forward.

Gomes you have mentioned, but what a big miss.

Next up, well, the entire midfield!! First second and one third choice!! No team can play to their potential with that many players out. And it’s a credit to those who were fit enough that they made a game of it.

Now, if big Dunc could have that effect on a patched up team you have to wonder whether he could motivate the first team players in the same way?

Anyway, of course the only injuries Played a part. Credit to Dunc for turning the game around, credit to the players for sticking at it and not giving up.

Yes Jim sadly it again is Bridesmaid.

Didn’t Gomes and Digne play at Bournemouth, Brighton and the home game against Sheffield Utd, the awful defeat at Burnley?

I’m sorry Jim H but Digne has had a poor season compared to last.

Gomes is a big miss when he’s at it, but he’s one very inconsistent player always has been.

Sidibe is great going forward defensively not so much.

Let’s not pretend we were really pulling up trees with these players.

They are a miss yes, but not enough clearly to challenge the top six or seven.

Yes, Digne has not played as well as he can, but he is still a shoe in first team player. Baines did incredibly well yesterday but you can’t seriously say had Digne been available he shouldn’t have playing?

We all know they were underperforming. Every player at the club arguably. But since Silva has gone, all be it only 3 games to look at, the level that virtually every player has performed has been higher than before. So, given the turn around I don’t think it unreasonable to expect that the most talented players who are currently injured would improve the overall performance of the team if they were available

To highlight one area. In central midfield we had Holgate. A centre back who struggled for games. We could have had Gomes,Gbamin, Delph, Siggy or even Morgan S in there.

Sorry chap. With the squad at full strength and being utilised correctly then yes, they should be challenging for top 6 and above. They were not being managed well enough. Do you seriously think Sheffield Utd or Wolves have better squads?? It’s debatable whether Utd do and we held them with a depleted team. Arsenal have two top notch strikers and a bag of average behind them.

I work on what I see.

Do I think Sheffield United have a better squad than us?

No on paper they don’t, but they do however have players that can do the basics pretty well.

Too often this season (last night another) our players turn up like they’ve never seen a football in their lives.

We still had enough international footballers on that pitch last night but the passing was as bad as I’ve seen.

Big Dunc has galvanised them to a a decent extent, he’s put a bit of oomph there but still the same schoolboy errors are there, defensively we still can’t cope with corners/set pieces.

I dearly hope Ancelotti comes in and does a world class job, but he’s a wise man, a man with years of footballing know how and knowledge, so I hope he doesn’t try to start playing fancy football with limited players.

If we invest in better players, and I mean proven better players, not just “supposed to be” lads, then maybe just maybe we can evolve the style of play.

I can’t disagree with your last sentence!!

But there is enough quality in the squad to be doing much better, and injuries have had a significant effect, but as yesterday’s result proved it’s not just down to injuries. Had the players dug deep On a couple more occasions over the season some of those losses could have at least been draws. But when/if Carlo comes in, he will be looking at getting the best players the club has fit and in the pitch

As for injuries, we have our entire midfield wiped out. THE ENTIRE MIDFIELD. Just to confirm these are the midfielders:

Gylfi Sigurdsson - ill
Morgan Schniederlin - calf
Fabian Delph - broken fingernail
Andre Gomes - savagely attacked
JP Gbamin - surgery on his tendons in his knee
Beni Baningime - brutally hacked down in the EFL trophy match by Barton's butchers

Tom Davies has also been carrying a knock, going back to before the Derby, and has played on regardless.

But I left the ground pretty annoyed that after getting back into the game having been the poorer team overall, and getting into a winning position by Pickford saving the first penalty, our players then failed their task of getting us through to a semi-final for which we might have been in better shape than we are now.

It’s a great opportunity wasted.

Injury prone at Man City and guess what he still is.

His tub thumping I'm a winner Mantra annoyed me from the get go. He only won what he did by riding on the shoulders of giants.

Until he's managed to string together 5 consecutive matches he should just shut the f**k up. Given our injuries to Gomes and Gbamin his constant niggly injuries prove what a joke signing he is/was.

Mina, Bernard, Kean and Iwobi (all Brands) have been poor. Other than Sidibe, (and to some extent Digne, but he’s been poorer than last season and suspect defensively) there hasn’t been much contribution at all from Brands signings.

Some of our best players recently (Davies, Holgate and DCL) have all had significant time under the waste of space that is Unsworth. While other performers such as Coleman, Baines and Richarlison weren’t Brands signings.

Even the likes of Walcott, Sigurdsson and Schneiderlin played well against Utd.

I’m yet to be convinced by our white knight director of football.

Our multi faceted approach to losing is equally brainless and predictable - Baines scuffing a pen????

So effin' what. We failed on the penalties. But we did come back from 2-0 down at HT to 2 - 2 at FT.

Of all people, you Paul, should be looking at the positives. You post and so you must be a leader. I like your posts. But see the good where it is. We beat Chelsea 3-1, drew with Man U and the drew with 2nd in the league Leicester 2 - 2.

So effin' what, we lost on penalties. I remember being Chef de Mission for the Australian women's Ice Hockey team in the World Championships div 2 in England. The major game was GB vs Australia and it went to penalties. We (Aus) won on the 8th peno when our youngest player stuck one past the fantastic GB goalie. We got the gold medal in Sheffield, of all places. the differences between winning and losing was the width of a gnat's dick.

So let's not get too pent up at losing to Leicester on penalties. Allows us to concentrate on staying up and getting up higher in EPL particularly as we seem to be subject to a massive nr of injuries.

well done Ferguson and well done depleted team.

What's that old saying "cynics are right 9 times out of 10"?

I'm just waiting for #10 these days

A recurring theme from the commentators throughout the match was how easily Everton turned the ball over and the poor quality of their passes. They don't seem to know that we play in blue.
This is not a new thing it's been going on for a long time now and must be addressed.
James M. was at Norwich. People could see how good he was. Leicester bought him.
I don't like criticising individual players but we only seem to be able to spot the Iwobi's.

Steve #23.
Yes, it is the same one. Watch to see how many times he gets caught up field, not tracking back and leaving us exposed.

George in New Brighton will you post a bit more often please ? I love a good read.

To all the ranters, moaners, shouters, Swearers, deep thinkers, tacticians,financiers, doom mongers,eternal hopers, those who've been followers for many years and have seen better days. To those newer followers who have just started taking the Everton drug ( you can't get it on prescription) and are like me just an Everton supporter. I look forward to hearing from you ALL in the coming year.
Good wishes to you and our club.

In the two previous matches we had seen all the players working to a clear plan, simple tactics and accordingly putting in maximum effort. Last night in the first half physical and mental fatigue seemed to set in. As Paul says the performance, especially in the first half, was jaded with players making errors and poor decisions in all areas of the field.

Leicester, who had had an extra day to recover, looked an accomplished side with pace and power in their ranks and in Maddison a genuine number ten able to control the ebb and flow of play while providing a goal threat. It is to their credit that our players eventually made a game of it.

As regards the penalties it was disappointing to see our more experienced players miss while two relative novices at penalty taking, Holgate and DCL, converted with aplomb. For Baines it was a re-run of his experience at Chelsea in 2011 when he scored a superb equaliser three minutes from the end of extra time and then missed his penalty in the shoot-out. One wonders if scoring such a great equaliser so late in the game leaves a player so emotionally drained that he finds it difficult to re-focus for penalty taking.

We were second best for most of the game, as the current placings in the table suggest we should be. The big positive from the game was that we never gave up and that never say die spirit that Everton once had and which has been lost for so long is starting to return. When was the last time we were two down at half time and got something out of the game.

Hopefully, we will have a few of the injured players back on Saturday morning, as the 11 who started last night have put in some shift over the past two games.

Finally, I am so happy for Baines, that was some strike and rolled back the years. He was one of the best strikers of the ball throughout his career and he gave us a glimpse of that last night.

However a clever player he is not, while watching him engage in the latest of a long line of Buffonery last night, I believe he was challenging with the leicester lad, he was favourite to win the ball but decided in a lumbering cumbersome slouch to try to muscle the opponent off but ended up on his ass without the ball ,the lad was half his size

It crossed my mind at the time WTF is Carlo going to make of this lad after managing Baressi /Maldini et al ?? Probably what Koeman thought when he saw Niasse I would suggest

To note I was proud of the lads last night, First half we were awful but looked tired and came back well, Is it just me or is it always the team that fights back to earn the penos ( with late equalizers etc) tend to lose the shootout ? I have no stats to back this but just something that feels familiar is all

@Barry 33
"What's that old saying "cynics are right 9 times out of 10"?" - An early xmas pressie- I hadnt heard this one previously, If you don't mind, I will be using that to defend myself when I am engaging in my fav pastime, Cynicism :)

If caps were anything to go on, Mamadou Sakho has 29 of them, and he is crap.

It's not necessarily been pretty, and perhaps we've been fortunate, but I'd say that the last two weeks have been a very welcome upturn in energy, attitude, and results. Keep on as you are.

Duncan has given the team some purpose. I'm sure if Carlo joins, he'll carry that on and add some skill and nous. But that purpose has to run right through the club. No falling back on plucky Everton or EitC when we lose. No 'Everton, that'.

Moshiri is showing good commitment and mindset in bringing us a proven, winning manager. The rest of the club has to be equally committed. The only curse we have is our lack of commitment and winning mentality.

I think Richarlison is the one player who has talent and can produce the goods. We have far too many players who are not good enough. We have a couple who have been brilliant servants but are now, unfortunately, past it, despite playing well last night. I like Gomes and when he's good, he's very good but he can stink the place out. He was really poor away at Villa, for example.

I think Digne is a good player but he has been slated for his lack of defensive discipline and he hasn't been anywhere near as good as he was last season. I'm still not a fan of Pickford. I don't think he's good enough and I don't like his cockiness.

We have one of the least effective sets of forwards in the division. Missing players include Schneiderlin, Walcott and Delph – not massive losses. Sigurdsson is a good player on his day but his day is pretty rare these days. What quality are we talking about?

Dunc has done an amazing job getting any positive results from what he's been given. I absolultely worship the guy. Ancelotti, if he comes in and please God, make it happen, needs a massive clear out and proper "quality" players need signing because we have wasted most of the money we've shelled out since Moshiri took over.

Part of me wants Ferguson to continue till the end of the season, although I know Ancelotti is a super lucky appointment. I would like to see what Duncan can get out of the likes of Sigurdsson and Walcott. He has shown us that some of the guys who have irritated us all at times, can put in a shift.

The 2nd half was much better, especially after the Davies goal, but not so much better to forgive the first half performance. If they had won, then yes, all would be forgiven. But they did not, and that was due to the performance in the first half. I remember in the live chat many folks saying that the Duncan bounce had worn off, and it sure felt that way. Obviously the 2nd half alleviated that concern.

Mina should have scored at least one of his chances, and should have been better on defense. I have no idea where Keane was, or why he was just so slow - I normally like him, but yesterday was awful. And I keep waiting for Iwobi to show us why he deserves his spot in the team. I haven't seen it yet.

Now - the positives: they fought back, which never seemed to happen under Silva. They played VERY aggressively from behind, bringing on goal scoring threats in substitution rather than simply like-for-like. Silva would never have done that. They got us to believe that they really could pull off the comeback, and they very nearly did. I was truly convinced they were going to score from that last corner. The pens were disappointing, but such is life. On to the Arsenal match, then life with Carlo (and maybe Zlatan!)

Baines has always been a question mark defensively and has regularly been rightly criticised for his inability to block the cross. Not to take anyhtng away from his fine career with us but he has never been that great as a defensive full back, his career having been largely driven by his understanding with Pienaar.

I understand players can have 'off' days but Iwobi was shocking, I mean truly shocking. Slow, lethargic, can't tackle, can't pass... Who on earth saw anything of note in signing him from Arsenal.

Would introducing Anthony Gordon for him at halftime improved us? He couldn't have done any worse.

Another player having a nightmare was Michael Keane, Vardy 'bullied' him all night long without any response. Dave Watson would have kicked him up in the air a couple of times.

Finally, and I know people may disagree with me on this one, his goal apart, I thought Tom Davies was poor throughout. Slow, caught in possession a number of times, which very nearly led to Leicester scoring twice.

If and when Ancellotti gets the job, there will be at least five players in that team last night who simply have no long-term future at Everton.

Give Tom a decent, quick partner (like Maddison) and he will make progress. Tom Davies, Domenic, and Mason have all come on leaps and bounds this season, and I have loved how they have blossomed under the tutelage of Ferguson. It's like their blindfolds have been taken off!