Everton draw Watford in last 16 of EFL Cup

Battle of the Z-Cars!

Good draw - let's do it!

As favourable a draw as we could ever ask for; let's not screw this up!

The way the draw has worked out, win this and we could get soft draw next round. At least we are taking it seriously which is more than can be said for others.

A twist of fate, so let's take it and progress to the lad 8.

There's no easy games, but hopefully this will and if it doesn't the manager and coaches will make sure their squad is motivated and up for all our games.

I'm travelling to Alba for work and a bad signal. Does anyone know who the other lot got and Man City?

Thank you.

Paul - full draw =

Everton v Watford
Aston Villa v Wolves
Manchester City v Southampton
Burton v Leicester
Crawley v Colchester
Chelsea v Manchester United
Oxford v Sunderland
Liverpool v Arsenal

Don't forget, Watford got to the FA Cup Final last year. This won't be a pushover unless we start to straighten out.

Lyndon - you forgot Chelsea - Man Utd.

Decent draw for us, especially considering the home advantage (!). Happy to see that a couple of the Premier League top 8 will be gone for sure by next round too.

Oh, nice to see Nathan Broadhead score for Burton as well! Forgot he was there on loan. Looks like that was his 4th goal in 9 games for them this season. Not bad.

Beat Watford, get Crawley/Colchester in the next round, Burton in the semi-finals, beat the Shite 3-0 in the final. Arise Sir Marco.

We'd better batter these Z-Cars-thieving con artists. How we managed to end up compensating them for a manager they sacked is a mystery, but it can be put right as they can have him back anytime.

If we can't beat an outfit like that at Goodison Park under floodlights, then someone will want shooting.

Some of the Sky babes are going out in the next round, it's not beyond possibility that Man City could trip up on the south coast also.

This all presumes of course we can hold our end of the bargain up and get past Elton John's poodles.

Benjamin and John. I'm pretty sure Watford no longer play Z-Cars when they come out. I might be wrong though. Has anybody else heard this?

One thing we can guarantee for this game is that Watford will probably have next to no fans at Goodison, going by their attendance last night at home to Swansea. They had less than 9k.

Nathan Broadhead seems to be doing well for Burton. A goal tonight + John Lundstram’s killer pass for Sheff Utd’s 2nd against us last weekend = Unsy’s stock continues to rise.

Rob,

Man City are at home, mate. The way our defense are playing, we will struggle against anybody who can put a decent cross into the box.

Good Winnable Home draw for a place in the quarter-finals.

No excuses.

Absolutely horrendous mistake from Joao Virginia for the Wolves goal tonight. The prospect of him getting more minutes in this loan spell with Reading pretty much evaporated right there. Be interesting to see how he bounces back.

I see Premier League clubs are still indifferent to this competition. West Ham have had a decent stat to the season, but dropped most of their first XI for tonight's game vs Oxford.

No doubt Pellegrini has been given clear instructions as to where his priorities lie.

The RS fielded a couple of (approx) 12-year-olds in their game. Jurgen probably a bit pissed off they are still in it.

Easiest competition to win, only need 4 wins to get to the semis.

We've had luck with the draw so far, Watford at home should be winnable as they‘ll be focusing on the league given their start (as should we, you could argue). Spurs already out and at least another 2 of the top six will go before the quarters. Beat Watford and get a friendly draw in the quarters and we may well be on our way to Wembley.

However, the game is not for a few weeks so let's focus back on the bread and butter.

Great draw.

Don't "pull a Southampton" Marco! Get to the final 8 and let's start dreaming of silverware.

Rob (13), as a local, I can assure you that Watford do still come out to Z-Cars, as many of my neighbours can confirm (at least the ones not supporting Spurs, Arsenal or the RS -- yes, even here).

But you're spot on about their support. They only just about filled the Lower Bullens for the first home game this season and Swansea had 1,700 of their 9,000 last night.

Rob @13,

I also thought that they got rid of Z-Cars. At least they have not nicked the siren... well, not yet.

Michael #15,

Misread that one, wishful thinking about Man City.

Defensively we're wobbling in open play and set pieces.

We'll naturally raise our game against Man City on Saturday and lose, but lose valiantly; the real test is against Burnley, when we switch off and can't quite get the adrenalin going.

Burnley will give a truer indication of where we are.

John Kavanagh, I consider myself more of a realist, as opposed to an optimist these days, yes! On paper, we should be able to fashion a win.

Watford are a funny side, they are capable of beating almost anyone on 'their' day but are equally susceptible to be beaten by an embarrassing score.

Do I have any faith in the Manager?

Do I have any faith in the players?

More so, than the Manager, but do they have a coherent game plan?

Sorry, forgot to add that, thus far the draw has been reasonably favourable to us, there are still a lot of Prem sides left in the competition, have we become more reliant on the 'draw' than our ability to beat anyone?

I know it can be a bit of a Lottery, regarding who your opponents are, and whether you are at home, or away, but no matter who we play, we HAVE to beat them to progress!

Andrew just saw Virginia's mistake. It's a shocker and you are right — he won't play for their first team again. Broadhead had a hip injury at Burton so I think he has scored 3 in about 6. Noticed Lookman has hardly got off the bench and Jonjoe is fast becoming a fans' favourite according to his manager.

With a few referring to the Z-Cars theme, does anyone know how come Citeh have adopted Hey Jude?

Going to be tough. Get through this, which isn't a formality and there's still likely to be the RS (given their record against Arsenal), Chelsea or Man Utd, Man City and Leicester left in. Best we could hope for is to beat Watford, get a favourable home tie in the next round and hope the fancied teams are drawn against each other.

I think as soon as we get an away draw against a decent team, we'll go out. We'll also have to win matches over 90 minutes because our penalty shoot-out record is atrocious.

It's probably the best chance we have of winning a trophy but it's gonna be difficult.

Very good draw although never easy. Hope to move through and receive in the next round Crawley or Colchester.

Good home draw and all to play for now considering at least 3 of the top six will be out of it for the quarter finals.

Great chance of a good QF draw and going all the way to the final.

A lot of fans assert the League Cup is the easiest trophy to win. I disagree. Yes, you only need four wins to reach the semi-finals. But you only need four wins to reach the FA Cup semi-finals. The difference is that the League Cup semi-final is played over two legs in January, often against a team from the top six of the Premier League table. The chance of causing an upset over two legs is less than in a one-off game. Also the clubs with less strength in depth, such as our club, usually find themselves in January stretched by injuries, fatigue and suspensions after the busy festive fixture schedule.

For me in terms of reaching a final, the FA Cup is slightly the easier of the two. By the time the semi-finals are played in April the top Premier League clubs are usually prioritising either the League or the European competitions or both.

The Swansea v Bradford final from 2013 was the last example of two small clubs reaching the same final but the top clubs have pulled away from the rest since then. Not for one moment am I saying Silva and the players should not make every effort to win the League Cup. I just think we need to be realistic about our prospects once we come up against the teams which usually win it.

Beware Watford. Those players will raise their game against their old coach and that whole club have an axe to grand with us. I Hopefully Marco will also be keen as mustard to beat them. This competition is there for the taking.

I get that a home draw is favourable, but winning it, us? Come off it, we're an absolute shambles at the moment and with City, the RS, Utd, Arsenal all still in it, we're a very long way from winning it.

Can any of you seriously see us beating any of those mentioned? I can't even see us beating Watford the way we're playing at the moment.

John #31

Good points and I can see where you're coming from.

When winter comes and the Sky babes are in the Champions League and Europa League, something sometimes has to give and it's usually the League Cup, sometimes the teams they put out just don't get up for it (sometimes?).

That for me is where it gets its reputation as an easier cup. Although if you look at the cup's winners through its history, who's winning it is no different to the FA Cup.

I agree with you John. You're echoing points I have made in the past.

I would also add the following: as the FA Cup really gets going, the Big 6 are involved in other competitions at the "business end" ie securing PL league position, progressing in Europe and so the FA Cup is the bottom of their priorities and can see weakened teams.

The Big 6 may go out in these early rounds after fielding weakened teams due to priority reasoning, but most scrape through with reserve sides and then when it moves into the semi's they are able to prioritise whilst the CL is on a break. Then they take the final seriously as it's a chance to win silverware and build momentum, something Mourinho made a great play of in his early days in England.

John and Steve, the slight problem to middle of the table teams such as Everton is that it is still mainly one of the top 6 teams that win the FA and league cups.

It's a bad stat that we haven't won this one in it's near 50 year existence. Something Oxford, Swindon and the mighty Luton Town have done. It's about time we put it right.

We've beaten them at home already, time to do it again. Some top teams will be going out in the next round, we need to capitalise big time.

Matthew, it was hardly a convincing win then, so not a foregone conclusion that we will do so again. Watford are capable of pulling off some amazing results, but are also susceptible to embarrassing defeats. So it depends which Watford shows up on the day.

James @33, not sure how you class Utd as potential winners after their performance last night?!!

Derek Knox regarding the draw -

No one should care if we draw Sisters of the Poor FC, as long as we win a damn trophy!!

Tony (37), the league cup started in 1960.

Sisters of The Poor FC? Gang of cloggers with a holier than thou attitude them lot. All smiles and God bless you to your face but they've got some nasty habits I tell you!

Is that right Dave.

I would have sworn it didn't start till the '70s but old timers is starting to kick in.

Jay (44), I remember we played Accrington Stanley in the League Cup in 1961 because it was around the same time (If not the same day) we signed Alex Young and George Thomson from Hearts.

Thanks John @7, for the draw details. 👍

https://www.smoothradio.com/artists/elton-john/watford-z-cars-theme-im-stll-standing/

Hi Dave [45] you are correct in stating that the League Cup was first contested in 1960-61, in fact the first final took place on August 8th, and September 5th 1961, Aston Villa beating Rotherham United 3-2 on aggregate over two legs.

If memory serves me right, the signings of Alex Young and George Thomson, were announced over the tannoy at the Accrington Stanley game.

Everton have just confirmed the fixture against Watford is on Tuesday 29th October 2019. The match is not on TV. Kick off is at 7.45pm.

Thanks, Dave

59 years and no win.

We have had some good teams through those years too. Maybe players were being rested back then as well.

Mike Connolly (47), many thanks for that link. So much for my 'local' knowledge I posted earlier (21). I always wondered if my so-called Watford-supporting neighbours ever did go to Vicarage Road... I think I know now.
Apologies to Rob Halligan (13) for doubting him and you.

Michael Spear "47

Hope you have not had a go at your so called Watford mates. Watch MOTD last night and Watford were running out to Z cars. Do Watford really know what they want to run out to. Probably THE Bill theme tune next week.