I hope your next trip is much more rewarding but Silva seems to be a very stubborn man and it doesn't look like he will change his tactics, which are not working and his substitutions seem to puzzle most of us including the players, and they rarely alter the result, except maybe to make it worse.

Glad you got home safe.

It was a long day yesterday not helped by the blip by our coach operators on way home. I have raised this with their management team and hope for a resolution of sorts or an apology at worst.

I got in just before midnight having been up since just after the time you fell asleep at 3am as it happens as I have to walk my dog before her indoors lets me out the door. He hates it and tries to snuggle deeper into his basket when he sees me don the headtorch!

It is a bloody long day travelling from the West Country to Goodison and it is made even worse by such a display.

48 of us will be on our coach next Saturday again full of optimism. how will our journey home be.....you will decide that EFC!

Mike Williams
Tkt Sec Westcountry Blues

Link

There well may be trouble ahead unless Silva has a good look at himself.

His tactics, team selection, substitutions and demeanour leave a lot to be desired. His reluctance to change what is surely a defunct system is not only pathetic but amateurish in the extreme. You wouldn't see substitutions like that in the park on a Sunday.

I mentioned during the Martinez and Koeman reigns and I believe it is even more apt with this present idiot...… losing like winning becomes a habit.

Having no obvious leaders on the pitch and a manager who can't motivate himself let alone his players, is a recipe for disaster.

I would probably take 1 off most of your player marks, but that was pretty much the way I saw it too.

Just one thing; "A good pint of Carling" ? are you sure ?
I suspect you are letting the price go straight to your taste buds

Yes, I remember how we finished the season and the signs were good that Silva had sorted himself and the team. But in amongst those good results were the capitulations at Newcastle and Fulham and that's the form we have brought into this season.

Silva seems incapable of changing so the poor team selections and chaotic substitutions (which never work) will continue.

I'll be there on Tuesday, as I was at Bournemouth last week, but I'm done with this manager. He's nowhere near good enough.

Consensus was that we were too one-dimensional, predictable and moved the ball much too slowly to unduly discommode a well organised defensive set up, who had little interest in committing numbers forward. Our tactic of moving the ball from wing to wing, often back via the back four to swap wings is very tedious. A better solution would be to mix it up with movement up the middle from time to time and move it quicker. At one stage in the first half Richarlison moved smartly up the middle, was confronted by a Sheffield player about 30 yards out and rather than press forward by taking him or or trying a one two with Kean, he elected to play wide left to Bernard. Then, as with most crosses, we are vastly outnumbered in the box when the cross eventually arrives and the ball is cleared. This is Plan A. I didn't see a Plan B. Plan B is when we are playing a top club who commit men forward and we can hit them on the counter.

I would agree and disagree with your evaluation of Sigurdsson. I kept a close watch on Sigurdsson when we had the ball at centre back, full back or midfield. Yesterday, he made several little runs into the 'hole' finding himself space to do damage, but the ball never came as the passer was anxiously pursuing Plan A. True, he didn't have much impact on the game, but he was trying hard to influence matters. This is the kind of movement that's hard to spot on TV.

In Richarlison, we have a Brazilian international. He was up against Enda Stevens who was playing for Shamrock Rovers a few years ago. Richarlison should be able to put Stevens under constant pressure, but it never happened. I'd like to see him move infield or through inside right channel more and leave more space for Coleman on the wing, or move wide later in the move rather than reduce the space as he seems to do.

I see your comments on delivery from Coleman and Digne, but we were outnumbered two to one on most crosses. If it's going to be all about crosses against these cautious teams, we have to play DCL up front, with a man playing off him and make sure we have a forward getting across the first defender. No point in having a No 10 as he is starved of possession no matter what positions he takes up. In fairness to Sigurdsson, he is by far the hardest worker in the side, now that Gana has moved on.

Interesting your observations on Siguardsson and suggesting his disappearance is unexplained, I thought he was denied space by the opposition backline pushing up and failed high press , but that might not be the case, Also interesting comments on ineffectiveness of Tosun and Walcott , Three players missing during a game isn't good , I wonder if stats of a game are discussed with players and are they asked to explained their performance,

Thank you for your informative analysis,

The Bab used to shut at 1am so we used to then go to the Beachy which was open until 2am.

I would much sooner reminisce about them than when we were a successful club as it pains so much to see how far we have fallen since Sir John passed away.

I thought Torquay was over developed, whilst Minehead had not developed as much and maintained it's traditional nostalgia, Southport would beat both of them,

Torquay isn't the only place where the nightlife is rougher, most places are now, I use to worry about my daughter who is 9 st, until she told me she had to sort out some guy and bring him to the bouncer to throw out, She is a teacher now and as no trouble with class discipline,

The Supporters Club do get work and deserve better,

The worrying thing is, virtually everyone in the ground could see it, except our highly qualified, experienced, UEFA certified manager.

I'm just not sure he has the ability or perception to change things, £319m spent in last three season's and we don't seem to be anywhere near our objective of challenging for a 'top six' position.

I'm not sure where we go from here.

I take my hat off to you and the rest of the coach party in taking in a massive day trip in terms of time and mileage.

Keep the faith.

We often stay in Dittisham (not far from you) and still love the dwindling number of 'old hippies' who frequent Totnes market on Saturday.

Ooopps, getting all misty eyed just thinking about it.

By the way, think your a similar age to me, did you ever get to the Martin's Inn on a Sunday night? Top totty night.

It was an old pub right out in the sticks between Ormskirk and Scarisbrick. Failing that, we used to go the Sands opposite Pontins in Ainsdale, now I'm pretty sure you will remember that, all around circa 1977.

We used to have to disguise our 'scouse' accents to get in

An embarrassing call to the AA ensued and he never made that mistake again!!