Everton defence finally crumbles in abysmal cup exit

But I want him to succeed and I hope he properly gets stuck and takes some shots and makes forward passes rather than sideways and back.

Hopefully with Seamus back in the team, and the squad will rally to the cause tonight.

Looking forward to the match and a good night for all of us.

At least Pogba's playing.

However, I think Gomes has a lot to prove and contrary to the prevailing wind I thought hed played well when he came on in the last few games. Big game for him.

What are we doing?

Midfield is overrun. I'd make that change right now.

We're improving as the half goes on but that first twenty minutes was awful.

0-0 ht

25 minutes of fear. Luckily didn't concede despite Olsen's stupidity.

Finally woke up and realised that we have nothing to fear.

We were shockingly, comically, shambolically bad.

It was if the players had got together and decided: 'Right lads. Let's all play our worst game of the season.'

How United didn't score in that time, I've no idea. Maybe it's an omen.

Thankfully, we finally started getting our act together and had a very good 10 minutes, then wobbled again a bit before half-time.

Just happy to see 'zero' against United's name at half-time. We won't get away with the same for another 45 minutes. Need more - a lot more - of how we played after 30 minutes.

Hold on for penalties!!

Doucoure can't be that player. Gomes doesn't seem to want to be that player. Gylfi is the one dropping from his advanced role but he's crowded by the other two and is then not the next option.

Gomes to Davies helps. Davies isn't necessarily technically great, but he'll find space and try to turn and move forward.

Otherwise, we might as well just throw on another forward and play long ball. Give up on possession, we're not going to have much anyway.

Going to be a nervy ending, lads!

Gordon must have shagged Ancelotti's wife if he can't even get off the bench instead of that lot.

Richarlison another passenger again tonight as he has been most of the season imo. Good player but not the superstar he himself thinks he is. Not surprised about the result.

Utterly shambolic display. Not one player acquitted themselves well. The entire midfield was tragically awful. Sigurdsson back to his usual dross, Gomes rightly hooked, Doucoure invisible and Davies made zero impact. They may not be our first choice eleven but they should be able to pass and move.

I'm embarrassed by that. Could easily have been 0-8.

Still got the FA Cup.

Gomes and Sigurdsson are too slow and the latter's game for taking good deliveries and set pieces is one of the biggest myths in football. We need our better players back and a good January window.

Of course in this day and age Cavani should have been off. Not sure why no response from a referee who watched it happen.

Never had him down as a coward. I challenge anyone to defend him. For me it was as bad as Martinez at Southampton.

Another low point. I just cannot allow my mood to be affected by these cunts for many a long day.

Neither side were great after the break, but most of what little football was on display came from United.

We need to be careful with Dominic. Service to him dried up. He is still being game and running a lonely furrow, but he (and others) looked to be running on fumes a bit tonight.

But then, who do you rotate him with?

Tosun isn't the answer as his stray pass that left us wide open for the second showed.

The trophy wait goes on.

Bugger.

The only positive is surely now that's Gomes never starting in the squad again, and to sell off Tosun, as he's not even ale house.

Did they change the tea bags again at Finch Farm?

The players were all doped and played with fear and no real desire and heart from the start.

No complaints from me, not even piss poor officials, tonight Everton weren't at the races, and the last hope of any desire went when Richardson had to go off.

I hope he's fit for Sheffield United.

Disappointing and sadly another case of not turning up, and this shows the lack of heart aside from Godfrey, Seamus, Richarlison.
Calvert-Lewin is now living off mirages of the previous games.

Now for a recovery in tempo and performance in Yorkshire.

Bernard should never have replaced Richarlison. When he did, he took Sigurdsson out of the game as we no longer had an outlet for him. Sigurdsson was reduced to a passenger, Calvert-Lewin was isolated and we dropped further and further back.

We had a more like for like replacement on the bench who would still have offered us some counter attacking impetus, but we left him there.

This match, and this season, have been here for the taking and I'm afraid that Carlo has not been covering himself in glory at times.

Atrocious from the first minute to the last and nobody or nothing positive. The players played and looked knackered our passing was dreadful. We really have to quickly write this game off and sort it out for Sheffield Utd.

That was the worst and most boring game so far this season.

And I've only witnessed one game (the Pickford looney tunes moment Anfield derby) where he showed the Barca class that he's been living off for far too long.

We just couldn't pass the ball out of our own half and that's one of his main jobs.

Having said that, except for Sigurdsson, the rest of them played as if they were hungover from a heavy bender.

I don't believe that for a second, lad... you'll be back Saturday. Drink it off, lad!

In my opinion, the four players that finished the game playing in midfield will not be at the club in 18 months time. Big changes over next 3 windows.

I'm totally deflated!

The quality of their 6 players from midfield and up front is vastly superior to ours. They are the form team in the country at the moment. We are on a good run of our own and now Ancelotti is a prick because we lost.

Give this man time, wind your necks in and wait until he can get some quality in and get rid of the ones who aren't good enough. We all know who they are.

Agonise over it, this player or that player is shite. Not good enough, too slow or whatever. It's what we' had on the night.

The manager is useless.

But you can't evade the fact that we were second best by a long long way over 90 minutes.

Sometimes, often, that happens, and it happened tonight. Against a better team.

Complain, whinge, criticise. We were a long way behind tonight.

Can I ask why you consider Ancelotti a coward?

We continue to bring in players in their late 20s on bumper contracts.

Ancelotti is a bad fit.

Carlo made a mistake, a cardinal error starting Sigurdsson and Gomes together. Talk about the definition of insanity?! Then why did he bring Bernard on instead of Gordon? Bernard isn't going to offer anything more defensively and Gordon has the ability to be a game-changer.

Just a horrible, horrible nigh.t

We need to find a way to be more creative. Keep it tight and pinch one (or hope for penalties) is a short-term stabilising choice, not a medium-term plan.

The only surprise was that we stayed in the game for so long but, from the start, the game had that inevitable feel to it, a chance or a mistake would come and it would be Man Utd and not Everton who would be the beneficiaries.

So many disappointing individual performances out there tonight, they looked physically and even more so mentally tired. Sigurdsson did his best but, unfortunately, his best is no longer good enough, Gomes is a really frustrating player and another who can't seem to raise his game when it's needed. Seamus, Godfrey - although far from his best performance – and Iwobi were the only players at least trying to get Everton on the front foot.

It could have been all over in the first half-hour, but that wouldn't be Everton so they put us through the hoops and we retained hope, even though most of us watching knew deep down it wouldn't be our night and, to be frank, we didn't deserve it to be.

Bernard, Tosun et al are not good enough and if we can ship them out in January all the better, but what on earth has Gordon done that he can't get a game?

I've given up trying to understand footy.

By my twisted law of Everton sporting averages, that makes it more likely that we will beat Sheffield United. Manchester City? Not so sure.

Who do you suggest should be the manager??

A big blue, an ex blue, a local lad, a passionate blue?

Carlo obviously picked the solid and counter-attack option and it almost worked. If Siggy had put in that diving header in the 83rd minute then we almost definitely are through to the semi.

Not pretty and ultimately not effective but after the initial horror show it was tight and looked to me like it was headed to pens.

The team is knackered and I think if those tired legs had tried to match Man Utd with a more expansive games then Pogba and Fernandes would have been licking their lips at the amount of holes that would have come.

Personally I thought keeping it tight was the right option tonight even if Gomes should never have started.

We are really lacking depth at the moment and good players who can come in to relieve the first team. Gomes, Bernard and Tosun were all shockingly bad while they have the likes of a full fresh Cavani to score a top class goal.

Disappointing night but we move on, my main concern now is who's gonna have the legs left to do it all again on Saturday. Definitely running on empty by the end.

We've had to rely on defensive performances as all of our attacking threats are injured alongside Allan who was a huge miss today.

James, Digne, Allan and now Richarlison are our threat. Nobody else can create chances for Calvert-Lewin and our bench may as well stay at home as our reserve attacking options aren't worth even bringing on. They add nothing.

We still need a quality winger, a forward who can add something different to Calvert-Lewin and a creative centre-midfielder with legs to get around the pitch.

Better team and squad won. The lads had no legs left and Man Utd had a fresh team out. I hope we do business in January or we're one more injury away from sliding down the table with so many games close together.

Why do you consider Ancelotti a coward, Andy?

He didn't look "at it" tonight, there's a good chance he was trying to protect it.

However this shouldn't prevent any team at least having a go on the basis that if you are going to get beat at least go down fighting.

Carlo needs at least two more windows, regular European footie and a bit of luck.

At the moment we just haven't got the players to show a big game mentality depressing as it is.

The only glimmer of light is where we are in the league.

Of course, the players' failure to pass to each other and maintain control of the ball is a large factor. Our woeful ball retention remains a mystery - it's been the case for years.

We need to bring in a striker as soon as the window opens, so we don't completely burn out DCL

Utd pressed and attacked with speed and width, we can't cope with that.

Still... More proof for Carlo that we need to ship out the dead wood.

I can see some spirit developing with certain players, whilst others just show how badly we have been mismanaged for years.

Also looking at United, a squad that is programmed to play weekend plus midweek, and Everton's threadbare squad, that have just beat three good sides on the spin in eight days, but haven't quite got enough numbers in quality just yet, especially offensively.

Who was the ref? Very poor, although he never done nothing to affect the result.

On nights like this I really hate football !! I bet Man U draw Brentford too

We were simply outplayed for the first half hour by passing and movement. After that, something changed, difficult to tell on the telly, but it looked like our midfield consolidated into 5 until half time.

2nd half started fairly even but Richarlison going off was a big blow. After that, I was hoping for penalties. Utd's substitutes were ominous. We were undone by a great goal by Cavani, who perhaps exposed Godfrey's inexperience.

Overall, we were beaten by a team that is more advanced in their re-building, with a bigger squad of better players.

Sigurdsson's first touch is abysmal to say the least. Rodriguez, for all his talent, is a perennial injury problem.

Godfrey does his best but he never will be mobile enough to play on the left side of the back four.

Apart from some bizarre selections and substitutions, I can just about put up with Carlo but he cannot live on his reputation much longer. Having said that, he needs at least five top-class players before we will be anywhere near competitive top six material.

They can turn it on at any given time. We were running on dead legs after 70 mins. Sigurdsson looked heavy legged.

Richarlison and Calvert Lewin always seem miles from each other and until we get a class ball carrier in midfield I think those 2 will always be over worked.

Gomes now a nothing player, we need midfielders and look at theirs tonight. Tough job Carlo.

All the best

Siggy tries harder these days, but he is just too old and slow. Gomez is slow and doesn't even try. Positives - all Carlo's signings are quality, so a few more windows like that and we may be able to sustain a challenge for top four. Also, I thought the goalie did ok, I would give him a run in the side.

We've still got too many passengers, the midfield needs building around Doucoure and Allan for next season.

Gomes, Sigurdsson, Davies none are going to be good enough to move this club forwards.

On the flanks, Iwobi will never be a player that produces end product nor goals, and on the other side we need to find out why Richi isn't producing going forward this season, works his arse off but frustrating me going forward big time.

Bernard has regressed incredibly from the guy that we first seen when he signed two years ago, he's become a poor man's John Oster.

As for Gordon, he's obviously not ready or not fancied, but if he's not ready now then why was he ready earlier in the year?

Striker wise we have relied far far too much on Dom, and in January we should be looking for an experienced loan signing to help him out up top.

So many conundrums left for our manager to sort out.

Our problem was midfield. Like I feared before kick off, Gomes was a spectator. Doucoure covered every blade of grass, and Sigurdsson had his best game for us in July opinion. Davies was doing a great job for us when he came on - he was basically marking Fernandes. I'd have to see it back, but it looked to me like Doucoure was well out of position, allowing Martial acres to stroll forward and pick out Cavani. Doucoure went off straight after, so I'm not sure if he had an injury. But it was probably the only time he wasn't where we needed him to be in the whole game, and they capitalised. After that the game was stretched, and they got the sugar coating with the second goal. But this game swung on a gap in our midfield after a poor quality, battling performance for 88 minutes.

I'm really gutted, happy we showed fight throughout but amazed at the nervousness at the start. We didn't start playing until 20-25 minutes in. Allan and Rodriguez are big misses. We ended the game with last season's midfield basically, which isn't good enough as we know...

Why oh why does Carlo keep picking Iwobi? He is fucking useless.

As for the unlikely trio of Bernard, Davies and Tosun (our 3 subs) being the ones trying to stop the breakaway that became the Martial goal... well, they might as well have just not bothered such was their ineptitude. Tosun in particular.

The game was obviously gone by that point but it just served as a stark reminder of how colossally bad our fringe players are. Three on three, just track your runner – and make the player on the ball do something extraordinary. Tosun charges at the ball, leaves the flat-footed Davies to move onto Martial, which he cannot possibly do, and the simplest pass puts Martial in on goal.

When players are making those sorts of poor in-game decisions then they need a dressing down from the management, and we made those sorts of mistakes all over the place this evening. The fact that, for the Cavani goal, Martial collects a pass in so much space – with Doucouré up the pitch and Keane tempted to go and mark Martial but then bottling it – is just pathetic.

What alarms me even more is the shoulder-shrugging attitude of the players and staff, and almost most disappointing of all, of some fans who are prepared to accept this dismal display. I can wholly accept they may have better players but the first 35 minutes of that match were an embarrassment to all Evertonians.

So we surrender another precious trophy winning opportunity limply and prolong our 25 years of genuine hurt.

I hold to the view that we saw a typical Everton performance in big games (a game tonight that could have helped us on the way to European qualification) and I think Andy Crooks has the essence of it right: all the signals were that we didn't expect to win. From the referee's whistle.

Maybe they're using the Carabao to increase the popularity of VAR?

But no excuses. We weren't good enough.

I hope Ancelotti has new players lined up next month; if he delays too long, the season will be soon be over for another season.

Calvert-Lewin is getting dreadful service upfront because the bench has no-one who can come off it and change the nature of the game.

Probably because he's got nobody else to play on the right.

Every now and then we look at our fully fit first eleven and think ok that looks good, but dig deep and the squad is still shite.

Just think about that and reflect on how difficult it is to put a team out to beat them.

Disappointing to go out of any competition but it was honestly the first time I haven't felt nervous watching Everton on the telly, such was the gulf in class between the teams tonight.

A brave manager would have got beat by five tonight with Everton's team imo, but Ancellotti was seven minutes from penalties, so I take a different view tonight Andy, we all just see a different game at times mate.

He has an inherited squad. Two of the best players at the club sidelined and faced a club that can play Pogba, Cavanni, Fernandes & Rashford. We have Bernard, Tosun, Gomes & Davies. I'm not sure with a fully fit squad we would have won.

Get a grip, lads. Ancelotti needs at least two more transfer windows to compete against the best in the division.

In the second half, I'd say neither team deserved to win, and with Richarlison going off probably took away our only chance of creating anything. I'd even go as far as to say the foul on Richarlison was fully intended, as Fernandes seemed to give him a little shove as Bailly came clattering into him.

We were definitely playing for pens, and would probably have got there if Cavani had been sent off.

Very good post.
Excellent

Did we get overrun? Did we get stuck in and have a go? Absolutely not.

That was an awful performance; we struggled to even play simple passes. For all the praise on the Man Utd superstars, we made them look like world beaters. No heart... no passion... as poor a performance as I have seen for a long time.

We got what we deserved tonight, played short passes around our area, then Route One to Calvert-Lewin due to no midfield to pass to. We could not even play a 2-yard pass for most of the game.

Not pointing the finger at any one player or personel, but that was unacceptable tonight.

Anyway, onward and upward (hopefully) come Boxing Day... and then the best passing team around (Man City). Not much chance of 6 points from those two games after today's game performance.

I've said it repeatedly but Finch Farm and the boardroom need purging of the culture that never ever fails, year after year, to produce truly embarrassing defeats aplenty.

You accept defeat if there's a full-blooded effort, but not even turning up to compete is inexcusable.

The FA Cup will end the same way.

We need to ditch the "Toffees" nickname to "Gutless Losers" to remedy the debilitating delusion.

Bit surprised some people have singled out Sigurdsson though. I thought he looked like one player who was really trying to make things happen. He's just not good enough. Iwobi also tried, but his final ball is so often poor. Very frustrating.

They deserved to win, despite having some deeply unpleasant characters.

Like you, I don't agree with Andy's opinion of Ancelotti. Imagine the uproar if we went gung-ho and got smacked 6-2?

Ancelotti said recently there would be player rotation because of the number of games coming up, but unfortunately, at the moment we are missing the players we most need – Digne, Allan and Rodriguez – because of injury.

We need a decent striker, two hungry midfielders, and a reliable keeper. Until we have them, we won't win a raffle. Getting rid of the dross might be the harder part. At least 6 players need offloading. We know who they are. So does Ancelotti... I hope.

We had filled in forms, had our Covid-19 test, brought our IDs and arrived at 6:30 pm as requested. Still get shivers when Z-Cars plays and convinced we can play anyone. Then reality set in.

I have no answers for tonight's debacle. I wish I didn't care anymore, but I do.

Richarlison could now miss the Sheffield Utd game due to concussion protocols. He looked well groggy to me.

It's such a dangerous play because the shoved player can take the full force of another incoming player's thigh, knee or hip with very serious repercussions.

I feared Cavani would be the difference tonight and his finish showed why. But I agree, VAR reviewing his stranglehold and shove on Mina and that's a red card all day.

But there is no escaping that, on the night, the better team won.

It's no excuse at all but players like Calvert-Lewin and Doucouré are blowing smoke out their arses after 20 minutes because of the amount of games we have. Yet Klopp is winging about his team.

The fact that they can bring on Rashford and Martial. And there is us to bring Bernard, Davies and Tosun on to try and make something happen. The following players really should definitely not be at the club in the next 12 months:

Cenk Tosun
Gylfi Sigurdsson
Yannick Bolasie
Andre Gomes
Tom Davies
Bernard

Not good enough at any level in this league. And this is not a knee jerk reaction, it's fact.

However, we lost ourselves the game on a big occasion from first whistle to last. More players badly needed next month and in the summer. And especially a few players out.

Btw, we are 4th in the table, so it's not all gloom and doom by any stretch.

Sitting tight has produced good results recently and given injuries it was no surprise that we did it again. After an awful start, we got back into the game after 25 mins. Sigurdsson dropping a bit deeper helped us keep the ball better.

Big turning point was Richarlison getting barged and subsequently injured. If he is concussed, that's us knackered for another week.

The game's only quality moment came from a striker who has done it all of his long career. Bernard AWOL when the pass comes in for Martial, Godfrey gives Cavani half a yard on his weaker foot and Olsen is picking the ball out of the net.

In our entire squad, we only have Rodriguez, Richarlison and Calvert-Lewin that offer a goal threat. Man Utd's team is littered with match winners, that is the gap that we have to somehow bridge.

i thought Doucouré was good again. Sigurdsson worked hard and looked like our main threat. All of the defence did well even the goalie did okay after the first 5 minutes of madness.

I just hope Ancelotti is given funds to strengthen us in January. We have progressed but aren't anywhere near the big boys in this league in squad depth or quality.

You can't play Gilfi and Gomes in the same side! How many times??? He totally fucked up again. He'd better not in the next match against them.

Truly pathetic today. Calvert-Lewin won't stay in this side if nobody can play him in. I'd go in for Dele Alli or someone who can add a little graft and craft.

Brands deserves a lot more stick for the Iwobi deal. Anyone with a brain could see he was average at best in an Arsenal team that scored goals for fun so, in reality, even that made him look better.

Spot on, Jason, I couldn't agree more.

Perhaps, I'm too long in the tooth, but Everton in Gordon Lee's time were no great shakes for his latter years, but none of his teams at Goodison would surrender the tie at least mentally at kick-off because they thought they weren't good enough.

They saw off good sides at Goodison because they showed them no respect; Joe Royle's and Howard Kendall's teams also had the same mentality.

I suppose the constant media attention and 24-hour coverage of the top sides doesn't help when it comes to trying to convince players that they can overcome the odds in any particular game and I suppose the gulf in class between the 'haves' and the 'have nots' is bigger than it was back in the day.

Having gone out of last season's competition at the same stage with a similar performance against Leicester City, when Everton didn't get going until the midpoint of the second half, I expected Everton to put a lot more pressure on United early on in the game but it was not to be.

We'll have to hope that we don't meet any of the top sides in the FA Cup if we are to break our trophy drought, but that's unlikely and we may have to wait a long time to celebrate anything of note.

I think we are badly missing Allan, he gives us a little bit more control over games breaking up play and winning possession. Gomes can't do that at all and it weakens us. The midfield was disjointed and poor tonight with no composure or forward energy.

I felt we were like a chicken on a conveyor belt in an abattoir, trundling along waiting to be put out of its misery at the end of the line.

A win at Sheffield Utd will soften the blow.

I felt for Calvert-Lewin too, as he had little or nothing to feed off. Sigurdsson comes in for a lot of stick, but at least he did try tonight, probably one of the few. I thought the defence were okay, but were put under a lot of pressure through lack of support from midfield.

Gomes, Davies (after he came on), Bernard, and latterly Tosun were so poor, it almost beggared belief. Iwobi wasn't far behind after showing a lot of improvement in previous games. Doucouré tried too, but unfortunately a losing battle.

Olsen had a few heart-stopping moments early on too, but seemed to get a little better as the game went on. I just hope the Transfer Window works for us with many going the opposite way, but some quality coming in too.

Injuries to a few players, although we have 'numbers' who are a very poor substitute and exposes how weak we are in terms of quality in a bloated squad. Hopefully the Window, which traditionally is quieter than a Summer one, will allow us some more decent players.

Even with Allan and James, there is something still missing – maybe a very fit Gbamin – but we can't dominate games.

We can't carry on with this defensive set up as we basically are knackering Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison. Ancelotti seriously needs to develop Nkounkou, Gordon and get at least 2 quality players in this window, with zero cash.

We can't be relying on Bernard, Tosun, Gomes and Davies – they can't do it at this level.

Hopefully Carlo will add depth in this area as Iwobi, Richarlison and Calvert-Lewin is a forward line that will do well if given the supply.

I would love to see James in the Sigurdsson role when fit, I think that could add another dimension to our play

In contrast, Man Utd were able to make nine changes and were still able to outclass our players. That illustrates the chasm between the two clubs and how far away we are from seriously challenging for trophies.

That said, it was disappointing to start the game so poorly. The players looked extremely nervous, bereft of confidence, and anything but up for a battle. We were lucky not to be 4-0 down in the first 20 minutes.

I'm angry tonight, angry at the manager for his lack of foresight regarding them 2 useless twats. He keeps picking them.

Several players look knackered and in need of a rest. However, they won't get it because our squad depth is so shallow. Reinforcements are needed.

We woz crap and they weren't much better. Gordon on for Richardson might have made a difference but I doubt it as the entire team played like they couldn't be arsed.

Embarrassing for me as I talked my mate (in Thailand) into putting on his alarm clock and watching the game. Hope he slept through it instead.

I don't get your argument. Who should have played in your opinion?

Quicker we can get to January, the better, and freshen the squad up with a couple of players. It's work in progress, the next two windows will tell us a lot more going into next season when I expect a much-changed midfield and final third with some level of depth off the bench.

Moshiri will provide all the tools for Ancelotti to succeed and go again stronger on all fronts next season.

Can't expect to win a game if you don't score a goal. Worse still, not even look like scoring. Fundamental.

I was wanting to throw Niasse on!

I get where your coming from about showing the opposition too much respect but the game has changed. Gone are the days of getting your revenge in first!

Pogba dives over Bernard's leg for a free-kick. Godfrey dives over Pogba for a free-kick. The game hasn't got an honest bone left in it. Shithousery is the new king.

I loved Big Dunc last year playing 2 up top and fighting for every 2nd ball. Maybe we should have gone that way tonight but that only gets you so far. The game has moved on.

We were poor overall, the Mancs not that much better, and another chance at ending our trophy drought goes begging.

Never mind, it's only a Mickey Mouse Cup according to some of the 'expert' Evertonians out there.

But considering we would've got Man City in the semis (no chance we would've beaten), I'm suddenly less arsed about this loss.

We desperately need more attacking threat. That was a pathetic start because, as usual, we lack the mentality to actually compete.

In fairness, after 20 minutes, we grew into the match but basic passes seemed beyond us. Very disappointing but totally expected... Very sad.

Please can we get some attacking reinforcements in January?!!

I know you're right and the pundits such as Gary Neville don't help matters as apparently he thought it was funny when Richarlison got his head injury. I also know that the majority of our players are just too damn honest and haven't got that 'cheating gene' implanted yet.

The minute that the FA thought more of the money it could make rather than about the game itself was the time that traditional football fans were robbed of the game that was enjoyed by millions – now, it's a game enjoyed by cheating millionaires.

I can see why you think that. Gomes is a more accomplished midfielder than Davies. He lacks the energy but his distribution is better (not tonight obviously).

Gordon is a head scratcher. He mustn't be showing enough in training. Ancelotti has said he picks players who show up on the training pitch. I think we could have had Iniesta in his prime and still come second best tonight.

Shit, just forgot I flounced off the site in a rage a while ago. I mean it this time. Ancelotti has ignored my advice for the last fucking time.

Yes, it would have been nice to stay in the cup but it didn't mean we were going to win it if we got to the semis, there is another couple of strong teams already there.

The league is what we need to concentrate on and, as we need a couple more players, the transfer window opens in about 8 days, where we may be able to get rid of some players and pick up a couple more to improve the squad.

I just hope we haven't picked up any more injuries after tonight and get back to winning ways this weekend.

And those of you that are blaming Ancelotti for tonight's performance, can you honestly believe that he told his players not to try, or put any effort into the game? Plus when you get the ball pass it to the opposition?

We all know we need to improve the squad and the starting 11, and I believe we have the right people at the club to do it, but there are still the FFP rules to follow, and getting rid of some more of our unwanted players is the way to do it.

After 3 wins in a row against good quality opposition, our confidence should have been sky-high and it should have been us putting them under the cosh, looking for an early goal... but no, there was no fire, no determination or fighting spirit, in short, no anything when it really mattered.

We're level on points in the league with Man Utd, but there appeared to be an enormous gulf between the two sides out there tonight. I love Carlo, but somehow, he failed to get the players fired up and motivated to go out there and do it for him, and for the fans tonight.

They were like the bad old Everton: no drive or inspiration and I couldn't believe that in a one-off game that would determine a semi-final place, we didn't manage a single shot on goal in the second half.

Admittedly, Cavani shouldn't have been on the field by the time he scored. Both he and Fernandes committed red card offences that were completely ignored by the very poor referee.

In short, we were abysmal and the sense of disappointment I'm feeling tonight is made worse by knowing that we could have at least had a go at them in the second half, but the players just didn't seem bothered. They looked as if they just didn't care.

Hopefully Carlo will read them the riot act in time for the weekend or we could end up as the first team to be beaten by Sheffield Utd this season. Would that really surprise anyone?

He's done fuck all to show he's an accomplished midfielder since he joined us. Injury or no injury, he's the same player I watched in the Euros in 2016. (Yes, I've watched him for a long time.)

He hides, disappears, he's a coward, and our manager cannot spot that, but knobhead me can! (See post #1.)

So what was the point? Because the failure to have a strong 25-player squad at the beginning of the season is the reason why Everton are struggling when there are injuries, loss of form, and suspensions.

But I'm assuming his brain still works? Too often he's hiding behind the opposition when we need a player to get free and receive the ball. In my opinion, he's offering nothing and just needs a new start somewhere else. He's offering nothing to Everton at the moment.

I'd much rather see us invest game time in Davies. Then there's the fact that we don't really have any other options. He should be a regular in Allan's absence.

Iwobi can't cross and makes poor decisions. But I'm assuming we can work on that? He is still relatively young and does some good things. I'd keep him around.

Bernard can go. I don't think he'd disagree.

I've never been in the Sigurdsson hate club. He's underperformed... in some poor teams. But he does have a bit of quality that's lacking around the club. If we replace him, fair enough, but he's the player most likely to do something with the ball right now. And I thought he was amongst our best again tonight (low bar, admittedly).

I look at the praise that will be heaped on Man Utd's world class match winner. How many chances did he have? Compare that to the guy in 9 for us.

I admit that seeing 'loose' instead of 'lose' is one of my pet hates; however, in defence of those who post, the autocorrect on phones is likely the real culprit. Merry Christmas and happy 2021, don't loose any sleep... (Joking) – lose any sleep.

I like Davies's attitude. He gives everything. The problem is, he doesn't have the ability. Gomes, Sigurdsson and Bernard all have more ability but rarely show it.

If the squad was at full strength I doubt any of the aforementioned would start. Ancelotti would play a midfield of Allen, Doucouré & James. We need to find 2/3 replacements but they are as rare as hen's teeth and generally cost a fortune.

There are still 8 or10 players to move on before we can reinvest in the squad. Besic, Bolasie, Tosun, Bernard, Kenny, Sandro, Gomes, Sigurdsson. All need to be moved on. I don't think Davies or Gordon will make it in the long run either.

Keep telling our boys that losses like that are understandable because they're inferior and because some of their mates are missing and they will happily agree.

I was wrong: Ray Wilkins's 2-yard side passes actually got to a teammate.

It's not the end of the world and let's hope we get up against Sheffield Utd and we'll all feel better.

Off topic but I hope every ToffeeWebber has a fantastic Christmas and keep safe wherever you are.

Unless and until we can build a squad able to compete across three fronts in the winter we would be better advised to concentrate on the Premier League and field a second string in the League Cup.

Think what will happen if we get a place in the mighty Europa League next season? Away at FC Fuckwit of Latvia on Thursday and away at Man City Sunday afternoon...

Graham # 156. Yeah, I was convinced it was heading for penalties as well, and I was thinking who would be taking ours? There was Sigurdsson, Calvert-Lewin, and then I got stuck. Maybe Iwobi, Doucouré, and I suppose Tosun, as didn't he take one against Leicester last season? I'm convinced like you though, we'd have probably lost on pens.

A too defensive lineup and mindset tonight. There's was no way we'd catch them on the break (or, for the under 25s, the transition). Their midfield was far too strong and, after 20 minutes, we should've played Richarlison up front in a 2 and sacrificed a poor Sigurdsson for Gordon on the left. Then just bypassed the midfield to turn them round.

Anyway, I'm not too disappointed: our season won't be defined by missing out on a cup we've never won.

Let's push on and look to the next transfer window to improve our squad and to move poor players on. The real issue tonight was that we've clearly only got a good first XI and the rest are not up to it.

The Ref was rubbish, Fernandes and Cavani should have had red cards. Richarlison out with concussion?.

My nice pre-Christmas buzz ruined. Pleased for Brentford though, but the semi-final draw wasn't the biggest shock ever was it.

Roll on Boxing Day and try to get this out of our systems – or are we going on the 'bust' phase of our 'boom or bust' cycle again???

The one I was watching, Sigurdsson was the best player in a blue shirt by a country mile. But sure – it's all about perceptions.

'Blimey, Feyenoord are reportedly interested in Tosun.'

Big Turkish community in Rotterdam, Rob.

Always be a job for him serving the tables in a Schwarma bar.

Does his best but just not his game. I think he is now the back up for James as a Number 10 when fit.

Rob @ 159 – I was also struggling! Thinking Sigurdsson, Calvert-Lewin, Tosun, Coleman???

He knows his time is running out and that the League Cup represented a real chance for him to mark his Everton career with a medal. It showed in his performance. Clearly few others in the side had a similar personal agenda.

Once again, I blame the boss. Stop picking Gomes! Also, League Cup games should always have 2 kids in the side. I actually think it should be mandatory to have 3 U23 players in a side for this cup for top 2 tier sides.

Just a thought. The Premier League is priority. Kids can always do a job and probably would have played bettter than anyone out there tonight. He only trysts them against lower-league opponents though. If you don't play ‘em, they'll never learn.

'Running on empty', 'One game too many' -- nonsense. Last night's performance was a result of sheer ineptitude, from the manager downwards.

We were very poor... in fact, the first half-hour was dreadful, but I still don't think Man Utd were particularly good either. I don't care how much we have spent – we will still need to spend a lot more if we are ever going to be a challenging team.

Considering the early onslaught I thought the defence played well. We always seem to get players who are constantly injured. Siggy made some poor passes, but he did put in an effort and added some skill to the team. I rarely like to be critical of young players but, as willing as he may be, Davies just does not have it.

Cavani may have scored a great goal but he should have been sent off. Personally, he is the sort of overseas player that I despise. Sly, creepy, complete with the theatrical over-the-top gestures and responses that should be left on the stage. I just wish Big Dunc could spend 5 minutes with him... actually he would only need 30 seconds.

When I watched football in the fifties and even through to the nineties, such ridiculous rolling around would never have been accepted by any team. If rolling 15 feet is a cure for injury or illness, then hospitals should have beds 15 feet wide so sick or injured people could roll around all day in order to get better. What has happened to "Grit your teeth, put the pain aside and get up!"

Okay, you're right: Gomes and Sigurdsson who've stunk out the club for years could've easily run rings around Man Utd with a centre-back at left-back etc. It was all down to Carlo.

Another dismal cup run comes to an abrupt end. The only decent team we played in this competition and we get fucked. What more can one say? Get used to it, it ain't gonna get better with that team.

Now watch us get stuffed at Sheff Utd. Embarrassing.

What team would you have picked then? Broadhead? Some other gem from the Under-23s?

Why was Cavani not red-carded for this hand at the throat assault on Yerri Mina? And, why was the assault on Richarlison not treated with a red card? – total intent to get him out of the game IMO.

Beyond that, we didn't deserve to win the game. That's for sure.

But, well done Godfrey, Coleman, Iwobi and Sigurdsson for great effort. Unfortunately, almost every player in the side failed on the basis of the final pass (maybe even the first pass in some cases).

Billy @ 174. We will beat Sheffield Utd.

That was an error-strewn cowardly display and Carlo has a lot to answer for, bringing Coleman back and dropping Holgate. The defence looked solid up until tonight and the less said about Gomes and Sigurdsson the better.

It's a disgrace we've never won the League Cup. Another disappointing night.

Recently, we've been controlled rather than defensive. Last night, we seemed to think we could go backs to the wall and defend in a KITAN1 manner. Either that or, and let's credit them, Man Utd just played as well as their obvious talent suggests they can when they turn it on.

A perfect storm of United hitting top form and Everton not showing up meant we were startled and under the cosh. Sometimes you can carry the odd passenger, but when all 11 fail to show up... I'll stop there, not even worth analysing individuals, that was just a poor team performance.

Players we have been crediting for the past several games just froze last night. Conversely, United couldn't put a foot wrong, especially in that first half-hour. They played as though they were a Klopp Liverpool team and hit us at 100 mph. I thought we'd weathered the storm after half-an-hour but, in reality, we never did enough to win the game and the result was inevitable and deserved.

I too was scratching my head over the prospect of penalties. One of the most glaring tactical faults I noticed was our failure to deal with Pogba, who, yes, was "cheating" (in football terms, not that he is a cheat), who floated around in midfield with acres of free space. Tactically we failed to identify that, or if we did, do anything about it.

Aside from my frustration at Everton (players and manager), I challenge anyone to question VAR. Even though it might not have affected the result or performance, my biggest gripe last night was that the player who scored wouldn't have been on the pitch if that was a Premier League fixture. In recent weeks, even when it's gone against us, VAR is getting it right. Give me VAR over incompetent officials any day.

That doesn't distract from a dreadful performance and yet another League Cup disappointment. I am resigning myself to this being the competition I will never see Everton win.

I'm not too disappointed as United are as good as any team at the top on their day. Like Everton, they are inconsistent but they have a much stronger squad. We're having to make do with Sigurdsson and Gomes in key positions and they don't have that burden.

The crux fixture frenzy is with every club now, and high stakes.

I hope Richarlison is able to play and the team that started vs Arsenal is selected, and last night's stink out was just a bad day at the office.

Chrimbo Greetings to All, enjoy and stay safe.

The actual issues, in my opinion, lie in three areas:

1. Lack of athletic ability and physicality in the midfield without Allan. Doucouré is not enough; I'd get Holgate or even Godfrey in there alongside Doucouré till Allan gets back.

2. Lack of overall movement in central midfield to progress the ball. A player with the ball at his feet needs others to make runs so that little overlaps and triangles can be created. Otherwise, it's very hard to progress the ball. This is something that can be taught and trained.

3. Iwobi's spot. He's got great attributes but Richarlison is so good and less of a crosser and passer, so it's good to have one of those on the other flank. Iwobi, however, isn't crossing or passing that well at the moment.

On that note, I think once gets James comes back, I would actually drop Iwobi and not Sigurdsson. With Iwobi, Richarlison and Sigurdsson in the front three, we'd have three top quality technical players who would not waste the ball once they got it, and Sigurdsson and James could have some great creative and incisive interplay with Richarlison and Calvert-Lewin being outlets. I'd either put Sigurdsson in the No 10 and James and he can move in and out often, or I'd put Sigurdsson on the right and he can interplay with James but also whip in crosses.

Using Tom Davies works a little bit better and looks the better alternative whilst Allan recovers or Gbamin can somehow get healthy.

Unfortunately it is looking likely that a) Gbamin will struggle to stay fit with the unrelenting physicality of the Premier League. b) Carlo does not rate Davies as a long-term first-choice central midfielder.

So that leaves us with needing to sign a central midfielder to replace Allan like for like when necessary for injury and rotation if we want to remain strong and keep Allan strong for the duration of his contract. This means one or both of Gomes or Delph will have to be moved on... if possible.

For now, we could loan out a player or two and counterbalance that with bringing Gana or similar in on loan for 6 months. It will be a more considered plan to reassess and act in the summer window to address this after monitoring Gbamin's rehabilitation and his performances.

The rest of the team just doesn't function without this quality ‘Allan' type of midfield player. We suffered when Gana left, and we suffer when Allan is out. Carlo and Brands need to address it.

Manchester United could have and should have scored 12 against the master's team on Sunday, yet in our last 3 league games we've been breached once, and that was from a penalty.

Ancelotti inherited a complete shit-show of a squad yet, with a couple of astute signings, he has got us in the mix league-wise. Injuries have decimated us and said injuries proves we haven't got the players to come in and cover.

I'm not making excuses because last night was dreadful and we were really lucky to be in the game as long as we were. So let's cut Ancelotti some slack because he is now paying the price for the previous managers' shocking purchases.

And I really am sick to death of hearing how Moise Kean going out on loan was a mistake. It wasn't – he's fucking useless. He had enough chances while he was here and proved he wasn't up to it, so forget him.

That said, we do need a proven striker in the next window (a big ask) because Calvert-Lewinlooks wiped out. Calling the manager out is ridiculous because no manager out there would do anything with that squad. In Carlo we trust.

Having said that, he can only pick from what he has available and when his 3 best players are out injured in Digne, Allan and Rodriguez and Richarlison goes off injured, what's he meant to do?

André Gomes is a fuckin disgrace and I don't wanna hear about his injury anymore. It's happened and it's unfortunate but the injury hasn't caused an inability to show effort and desire. He's a lazy shithouse who just wanders through the game, always moving (very slowly) but getting nowhere. He doesn't show for passes, he doesn't track the game, he doesn't tackle and when he does it's to give away a foul in the edge of our area. The lad is finished in the Premier League now. Get rid.

Ancelotti has had one window and he'll improve us but we need to start getting young quick players in now.

This season must be the last for Coleman, Gomes, Sigurdsson, Tosun, Davies and Bernard. If they're your options, what do you expect to happen? Our first 11 gives anyone a game but our squad is embarrassing.

Iwobi is no more than a squad filler and I just hope January sees some youth, pace and quality to pack the squad out with.

Also, finally, Gordon is twice the player that most of that shite above are. Start involving the lad. Same goes for Ellis Simms. You can't tell me he's not better than Tosun.

If you're going to sit back, then you really need some pace and energy to counter. Both Tosun and Bernard were woeful and, although Kean and Walcott seldom looked like world beaters with us, they are both fast and can run with ball or in behind.

When we moved both on, I assumed it meant that Gordon would get more game time to develop, or that we'd buy a replacement. Neither happened and now we are short of alternatives.

As others have said, our first XI when fit is very decent but the drop off afterwards is severe. The likes of Bernard, Gomes and Tosun, Delph and Bolasie have proved extremely disappointing signings who between them are paid over half a million per week. I read this week that not a single substitute of ours has scored a goal this season and that speaks volumes for our lack of depth currently.

We severely missed Allan and James, who I would like to see play in Sigurdsson's position. The January market will be interesting.

Merry Christmas under the circumstances to fellow Blues and wishing a progressive New Year.

At around the 60-minute mark, Man Utd brought on Martial and Rashford. We brought on Bernard and Tom Davies.

The gap in talent on the field was gigantic. Carlo needs at least one more summer window before we can start to blame him for that.

That said, I go back to my point. Last night wasn't about poor individual performances or one player. It was a poor team performance. Every one of them – including the dugout.

But realistically, even with Walcott and Kean, we'd have had a job on getting something out of the game other than penalties.

We are 𧶲M behind Man Utd in squad value. That's DeGea, Fernandes, Rashford and some squad depth. It really showed.

I used to think a manager could make all the difference. Maybe they once could. But, in this era of very expensively assembled squads, you just can't compete unless you have the players or a hell of a lot of luck.

We need more pace & variety from the forwards, a Fernandes in midfield, better midfield subs, an heir to Coleman and a new goalkeeper. That easily accounts for the 𧶲M too.

Sickening, because I had a sneaking feeling we might just pinch a cup this year. We still might, but last night really put things in perspective.

Sometimes you've just got to admit that our players played poorly and made mistakes.

It would have been brilliant if Carlo Ancelotti would have changed 9 players (we could have changed 8: Olsen, Coleman, Branthwaite, Tosun, Gordon, Bernard, Kenny, Nkounkou). But then Carlo would have been slated for not going for it as we surely would have been walloped.

I have only two gripes: 1, we never pressed from the front, we let them play up to the halfway line all night.

2, Richarlison (before his assault) was absolutely piss poor. People saying he's our best player need their eyes testing. He never takes people on or whips crosses in. Always powder-puff shots, falls over with every touch, and has for ages now looked disinterested. I think his nose is out of joint because Calvert-Lewinis getting all the plaudits.

We had a break on last night where Iwobi broke down the left. Calvert-Lewin and another on our right sprinted into their box; Richarlison was actually furthest forward when the play began and just trotted, was overtaken by Calvert-Lewin and the other player – not good enough for me.

If we had a top winger, say Saha, I don't think Richarlison would play as much as he does.

Sigurdsson's back legs have gone. He does try, but that's not enough. He's always half a yard short.

Iwobi, awful passing and crossing match after match. Again trys hard.

Gomes, flatters to deceive. Has the ability but doesn't try hard enough.

Then we have Bernard, another poor buy. Rarely has any impact on a game,

Davies, I don't know where to start with him. I'll be polite, he's not good enough.

We've got some decent defenders now though.

United pretty much put a second 11 out against us last night and were by far the better footballers. We need at least 2 more quality midfielders, another striker and a new right back. Until then we are only better than average. I'm sure Carlo will know this and hopefully will be given more funds to sort it.

Which is why we need to replace players who may have the talent but don't have the legs or the heart. That's where the £250m comes in.

Man Utd made nine changes. So, not only were they a lot fresher, the players that came in also had a lot more quality than we possessed tonight, and I think it showed from minute one.

The most patient fans in the world are gonna have to be patient. Always tomorrow or tomorrow never comes? I'm sticking with my team and have to agree with Stan's opening paragraph @117; taking anything away from our best starting eleven, there just isn't enough quality in depth, especially for an attacking game.

At least 2 windows on, we hopefully will have quality in depth that allows us to cope with 2 or 3 key players missing. Even then, to compete consistently at that level, we need to keep bringing in better quality to the squad than we have now.

Massively disappointed with last night. Not just the result, the performance.

But, the season isn't over. League position looks healthy and we have the FA Cup ahead of us. Lick our wounds and look forward to the weekend.

The mistakes made by previous managers will take time to rectify.

With regards to last night's performance, well, if you consider the form Manchester Utd were in and the way we had to play against an awful Arsenal on Saturday in order to scrape a 2-1 victory, then the result was predictable. I was hoping against hope that, with a huge defensive effort we might scrape a 1-0 but knew if we took them on that we could be on the receiving end of a hammering.

We are where we are but there is some light at the end of the tunnel.

In hindsight, knowing the result, I wouldn't have minded Carlo giving some of the senior players some rest and keeping them fresh for the Sheffield United game.

Pickford
Coleman Mina Branthwaite Godfrey
Doucouré Holgate Davies
Gordon Tosun Nkounkou

A solid defense, decent pace on the flanks, 4-3-3 in attack, resting some of our key players (Keane, Richarlison Calvert-Lewin, Iwobi, Sigurdsson) – I am sure that side wouldn't have let us down too badly. Almost certainly we would have lost, but maybe given Man Utd a few headaches as well. Anyway, hindsight is neither here nor there.

Now, I would go one step further and ask if TWers would be okay to 'sacrifice' the Sheffield United game with a similar set-up to the above and give a much-needed breather to our key players? Personally, I would take a draw along with our key players kept fresh for the tougher battles coming up. Who knows, a new star may burst forth?

Best post on the thread.

If this performance had come under Moyes or any other manager since, they would have been rightly criticised. Carlo seems to be surviving on charm and background.

Very disappointing but sadly somewhat typical gutless collapse of the last three decades.

I know, this morning, fans won't want to hear about being patient; this squad is still a squad that is mainly what Allardyce, Koeman and Silva brought to the club.

Last night, Cavani scored a brilliant goal but, in all honesty, from the first whistle, we were mainly second best. If they had have gone in at half-time 3 or 4 up, we could have no complaints. Why we started so badly, I don't know... but the first 30 minutes was the worst we have played all season.

Despite Carlo making us more solid at the back, we certainly lack being able to make the transition from defence to attack. I am sure he doesn't need me to tell him, and it's always easier to devise a system to try and stop conceding goals than it is to create a system which also allows you to attack more than we do.

I think it's really sad watching Gomes, and you wonder if he will ever get back to his best. It seems it's a mental as well as a physical problem. Somebody described him as a Rolls-Royce without an engine, and that sums him up perfectly at the moment.

There are players in the team who will need a breather in the coming games, but the problem is the lack of quality in the squad which makes it a real headache.

Calvert-Lewin has played in nearly every game and he definitely needs a breather, just felt the last couple of games he has been nowhere near his best. But the only other striker is Tosun, who wins virtually nothing in the air and has no pace so we would have to change the whole system to accommodate him.

Iwobi is a really frustrating player: he does something really good then immediately follows that with something equally bad. I thought Sigurdsson put a shift in last night but he isn't the answer long term.

Why Carlo brought on Bernard, I don't know – the man has done absolutely nothing in all the time he has been here. His goal tally for a forward is awful and his assists aren't much better.

I can only presume that there has been a falling out between Carlo and Anthony Gordon, as that can be the only reason the lad isn't getting more game time.

But as I said earlier, Carlo needs to keep the solidity at the back, but he has to devise a system which allows us to get players going forward with the ball rather than backward, and he will need to find the solution for us to compete more consistently.

In a year and a day in charge, he has taken us from 15th in the league to 4th and to the quarter-finals of the League Cup. What else do you want from him?

Do you really expect us to be top of the league with our current squad? Did you really expect that we would beat a very strong Man Utd side in a cup quarter-final?

Happy Christmas Andy, to all other posters, and particularly Lyndon and Michael for keeping things going this year.

Iwobi, Richarlison and Calvert-Lewin offered nothing. Gomes needs minutes and he might need a few weeks yet because he is better than that... surely!

Mina, Doucouré and Sigurdsson were all excellent and l hope they have something left in the tank for the next couple games. It's hard to come on as a sub when the formation is all bent out of shape.

The reason we conceded was the hole in midfield as both Doucouré and Sigurdsson ran themselves into the ground trying to do their jobs and all the attacking because Richarlison and Iwobi were spent, and just when it looked like they could do something, they trip over their own feet.

The subs? Well, they brought on Rashford and Martial. We can't do that. We gave 2 attackers away for nothing in the summer.

I don't know what the plan is for January but we need a couple more off the books to be able to bring in another forward with legs.

Without Digne and Allan, and of course James, we are a different team. Anyway, it's back to the league. Coyb!

We need a midfield that does not just play defensively but supports attacks which they set up. If we are to play men wide on both sides of the pitch, then it is important that the player on the opposite wing gets into the box as support for Calvert-Lewin and something else for the opposition defence to think about.

Then again, posters on this site have in the past insisted that we should have gone for Arteta or Bielsa or Emery as manager, which puts it into perspective.

Last night's performance was woeful for a one-off competitive game that could have got us to a semi-final. If the manager cannot motivate for that sort of game, he should rightly be examined just as much as the inept players.

The fact Carlo is not is down to our mutual desire to see Everton do well. I wish him well in that endeavour but that should not include a free pass on matters for which he is responsible.

What would have been your starting eleven, mate?

Yes, last night was poor, but so we're Man Utd, an awful game all round. Let's wait and see where we are at Christmas... well, it's here and, as it stands, we're qualifying for the Champions League. Some perspective please – something that will resolve the frustration from last night, I promise.

Merry Xmas, one and all.

Newcastle got lucky by drawing the second lowest rank club left in, but still messed it up. It took Spurs a good while to finally beat Stoke, needing quality players from the bench to do it.

When the draw was made, what, about 10 weeks ago, we were still on our unbeaten winning run and we all felt we could beat anyone. However, we've picked up a few injuries, while Man Utd have gone on an amazing winning streak away from home.

I agree, a bit more effort from a few last night would have been nice, and if the referee had done his job properly, the scorer of the first goal wouldn't have been on the pitch.

When Richarlison was deliberately taken out of the game, my choice of replacement would have been Anthony Gordon, but I'm sure Ancelotti knows better than anyone on here... after all, I don't seem to remember seeing any names on here sitting in Premier League dugouts!!

Shit happens, though it's been a bit too long for my liking. We'd have probably got knocked out by Man City anyway, and had to put up with all this moaning after that, rather than now.

We've had the money to build a competitive squad, but too many of our bigger signings have fallen short of hopes and expectations. And while transfer misfires are not a problem specific to Everton, to have so many over the last three or four years has left us with players (including Gomes, Bernard, Delph, Bolasie, Tosun, Walcott) who currently bear little resemblance to the player we hoped we were buying.

Couple in the reality that academy graduates like Tom Davies and Jonjoe Kenny have not really progressed in the way that the club would have hoped and it places our squad a long way short of where it needs to be.

Strap in, everybody; until we offload the chaff and then strike unlikely gold in the transfer market, we're going to continue to find pockets of decent form here and there before we inevitably capitulate against the also-rans.

It was an honest performance but we're a level below the Mancs. They bring on Rashford, we bring on Tosun. Enough said.

The same people screaming about a defensive approach are those that have praised the same gameplan for the last 3 games.

In my opinion, that faith will be rewarded.

Going into the second half without an early goal was always going to be a challenge, but the game luckily was not over yet. Everton resorted to their usual second-half display and would be lucky to get to penalties, with forward options disappearing to nothing with the substitution of Bernard and Tosun. They did not make penalties, the result being assured quicker for Man Utd before the end of 90 minutes.

A return to sloppy play was Ancelotti's nemesis and jeopardise his first-half tactics with limited attacking options was always going to be a problem. At least two more transfer windows needed to strengthening attack.

Brands's deadwood disposal policy needs to continue. Whoever suggested that Everton's midfield should be built round Gomes was having a laugh.

That wasn't the game I watched.

Don't worry about Andy and his volcanic doomsday post-match declaration.

You know after a fig roll and a strong cuppa he'll be in the trenches with us at the weekend, kicking every ball and being as delighted and exasperated by Everton as we all are.

The boogers better not give your Sheffield relies any reason for Yuletide cheer!

Last night's result was on the cards with them being the form team and us suffering injuries to key players. Unfortunately we just don't have quality throughout the squad.

Having said that, in the end, it was only Cavani's flash of brilliance that separated the teams. Their second goal was inevitable so that really wasn't the deciding blow.

Until we have quality backup for Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison, games like this will pass us by.

Though playing out of position, in the absence of Digne, Godfrey appears to be the only trusted left-back option – so Holgate would seem the sensible option (while Coleman remains fit).

On the right side, Iwobi deserves credit for the effort he's putting in but he rarely scores (rarely scored for Arsenal) and his final ball is terrible. The search for a right sider remains a priority.

God help us if Calvert-Lewin is absent for any reason.

Walcott, Kean et al were not the solution, neither are the other huge list of never going to make it in the Premier League players we have in the squad.

This is why some fans question Ancelotti and how he chooses his squad from game to game. Surely Gordon or some other players should be given a chance to show what they can do from the bench when we all know that Bernard, Tosun, et al will add nothing to the team when called upon.

Apparently this season, no Everton substitute has scored when called into the action, of course, if most of the substitutions are defensive ones then that isn't so surprising, but it is strange for Everton not to have somebody that can come on and grab a goal from time to time.

Some say that Everton is overachieving by currently occupying a top-four spot, and given the evidence of last night's performance and the players who were available, it would seem that they have more than a valid point.

I dislike intensely watching Everton sit back and soak up pressure for almost the entire game, I dislike it even more when so few chances are created or shots are taken by Everton. I understand that on some occasions that might be the only way that Everton may emerge with a point or three, but it isn't sustainable long-term and over time it will damage the morale and confidence of our front players

If Manchester United came calling for Dominic Calvert-Lewin would he turn them down, given the number of chances that they created for Cavani last night? If a major European club offered Richarlison a place in their squad, would he turn it down? Both players are young and hungry for success and they are unlikely to be happy chasing shadows for large periods of the game as it doesn't bring the best out of either player.

Everton's anthem should be Orange Juice's "Rip it up and start again" which, despite Moshiri's money, is what Everton have done for so long.

This can be rectified and surely Carlo will be as keen as the rest of us to bolster the quality in the squad. Certain individuals failed with weight of pass or with poor control last night. Calvert-Lewin needs service, while Rashford, Martial, Cavani and Fernandes can all make chances for themselves. We only had Richarlison in that category.

On the subject of Richarlison, he took a bit of a thump and looked winded but so often the fight is taken out of him too easily and then we see him back a few days later. He didn't get anything for the blatant thuggery because the ref has seen him rolling round on the deck on TV like the rest of us.

As for Mina, he was trying to get Cavani sent off and the theatrical fall to the ground was gamesmanship or cheating and I'm glad that he got nothing for it. Indeed Mina would do well to forget the wind-up stuff and concentrate on his defending.

Then we have Iwobi: no end-product despite his willingness, and he is shit-scared of getting hurt in a tackle.

We had one decent attack in the second half when Coleman turned back the clock and cut into the box. Why did he not have a pop? If you don't shoot, you don't score.

I would say that we do need some fresh blood in January because otherwise we will be fighting it out with Wolves and Villa for 6th place.

Serial failures the lot of them starting the game and on the bench. Spurs got shut of Sigurdsson years ago to those giants of Europe, Swansea City, and Everton came in with 㿙 million. It's shambolic.

24 league games left sitting in 4th, 5 points off the top of the league – what's not to be positive about??.

Great start to the season by Carlo and the lads. We have to move on from this match and keep fighting hard in the league – that should be our main focus, the Premier League.

Sheffield United next – bring it on. UTFT

It was a cup game! Just for a moment, think back to the league game: we went toe to toe with Man Utd in an open game, that ended well!!!! Did it not? No: 1-3, I seem to recall. Now setting up to not concede is not pretty but, despite our worst performance for some time, we were still in the game at 82 minutes.

A ref with balls would have sent Cavani off. Small margins. Man Utd made 9 changes, yes 9, and everyone was an international for their country. Everton have rinsed our players over the past week to get 3 wins and 9 points.

I would say we are running on empty and without any creative supply for Calvert-Lewin. Let's have a touch of reality, people.

As Patrick has eloquently put it, the subs bench seems to be begging for Gordon but he does not even make it that far. How can he be behind Tosun or Bernard in the pecking order? That is a reasonable question to ask given such paucity in threat offered by the senior players coming on.

Gomes's continued selection also seems to be in the hope he may have a good game – I cannot remember his last good game, even before the injury, let alone a consistently good spell. Games such as yesterday should be made for players like him to be motivated towards a semi and final position but sadly, like many at Everton, such thoughts seem lacking and we end up watching moribund football.

The introduction of Coleman was a mistake. I understand the thinking behind his selection in that he would provide an attacking option which has been missing of late. Recent results were achieved by having a defensive wall of four but Coleman's attacking instincts left gaps at the back and, as a consequence, the space between the two centre-halves was too great as they moved across to cover. Coleman also occupied the area where Iwobi had recently found his form.

Gomes was given a role to which he is not suited and his lack of pace was exposed time after time. Gomes and Sigurdsson in the same team is a disaster waiting to happen. Doucouré was left to do far too much. Iwobi had his worst game for some time, he gets into good positions but he passes to the opposition or his crosses are either blocked or over-hit.

I noticed last night some were giving MotM to Sigurdsson but, for me, he is the major problem. I recognise that he ran a great deal but what did he actually achieve as a midfielder??? To be honest, very little. He didn't make a tackle, win a header or make an interception. He didn't spot danger or follow runners. I've noticed that he is constantly the wrong side of players when defending. As a No 10, he was ineffective as he created few chances if any. As our 'deadball' specialist, he failed badly as his corners and free kicks, apart from one, were delivered without conviction.

Richarlison worked his socks off but goals are drying up. He was the victim of a cowardly act by Fernandes and should have been replaced by Gordon not Bernard. Calvert-Lewin ran and ran but got very little service or support.

It was a truly pathetic team performance. I couldn't believe how poor the team was in the first 30 minutes. Had Man Utd scored 4 goals, it would have been a fair reflection of how the game was going. I am so disappointed that we couldn't get a result against Utd. I don't buy this "In Carlo We Trust" crap and I will reserve my judgement until the end of the season but anything less than 6th place will be a failure when the so called Big Six have been so inconsistent.

Yes, we were crap;
Yes, we were second best;
Yes, we need to sort out the deadwood;
Yes, we need new players;
Yes, we are riding fairly high in the league;
No, we do not need to get rid of the best manager Everton have had in years... and finally
Yes, Man Utd really did put things in perspective. They showed us that – despite our current league position – there is one hell of a lot of work to do before Carlo can be satisfied with HIS team.

Yes, perspective is important.

Wasn't Gordon on the bench last night?

A great post from Ian. Full of common sense.

So to anybody I have ever offended, my apologies. I know that like me everbody without exception is desperate for this club to get back to winning ways, it's just that we disagree on how we get there.

I'm so disappointed that James was “not available” for last night, our biggest game of the season, when we needed our magician to counter the missing Allan.

Not in doing anything remotely like Allan does but giving Man Utd something to think about, a player to fear, double up defenders, allow us more space etc.

I actually don't give a shit if James is fit for the Sheffield Utd game, we should dispose of them with the team that lost last night, but last night was our most important game and James was missing. The Everton players of the mid-80s would have to be in traction to consider missing a big game like last night.

Now of course I don't know the extent of James's injury but I do know that we were told it was a minor injury and he'd miss one game; we are four games in and he's a no-show – and no real explanation why.

I'm not going to blame Carlo because we all get things wrong and this rant is also me holding my hands up and admitting I was totally naive to have invested my trust in believing Gomes was a quality player who would repay the faith the club and fans have 100% shown in him.

Look at a kid like Maddison who can dominate a game and pull all the strings and a player with just as much talent (more experience) such as Gomes who literally contributes zero creativity, constantly takes the easy sideways or backwards option, and is a liability in the tackle.

I would rather Carlo had pushed Mason up instead, at least we would have had commitment and some forward movement.

I know our squad depth is shit, I know Carlo will get in better options, I know we are 4th but man I just can't resist spewing out my toxicity regarding last night.

However, I do believe Carlo should apologise to Abdoulaye Doucouré for making the poor guy play with such a dog-shit midfield.

Now I can move on, COYB.

Wow, really Ken, we are surely not that bad???

Ken, we are all pissed off but, as someone on the thread said, no team wins every game, not even Arsenal invincibles who actually drew 12 games that season...

Not my point.

You give the manager stick for not putting Gordon on the bench when he was on the bench.

First minute, Maguire got the ball from his goalie and ambled unchallenged to the half-way line. There was no pressing. It was park-the-bus tactics and try to hit on the break.

It was shithouse cowardly tactics. Ancelotti was frightened of them. If the fans don't call him out on it then you accept it and deserve what you get. I still believe in the motto: Nil Satis Nis Optimum.

Negative rubbish! If he can't lob a ball into the box from 30 yards, then what is he doing wearing an Everton shirt? His uncle may have been a bit-part player in the 1969-70 team when Jimmy Husband was injured, but Davies is living on the Man City goal he scored like Lookman was – and he's gone.

Either way, we definitely need some more attacking alternatives. Richarlison and Calvert-Lewin cannot play every single game covering as much ground as they do. And we need a few subs who might actually get us a goal occasionally.

I may write a little transfer piece which I know you will have interesting thoughts on.

Spot on!

Best wishes to all followers of the blues over the Christmas period. Hopefully, Liverpool will stay at Tier 2 and some of you can go and enjoy the games over the Christmas period. Looking forward to crossing the Irish Sea at some point in 2021 to take in a game.

Smith would run him close but he was of a different century when money was tight, not burning holes in the DoF's pockets!

Adrian, Milner, Gomez, Lallana, Origi — these aren't youth team players who played in that 1-0 win; also the same 5 players played in the win against Barca.

The FA Cup game was decided by a wonder goal (or our keeper having little arms).

It's important to have facts to justify the context of your response.

The real villain in all of this is the mismanagement that left us with such a mess of a squad after quite a few years of unprecedented spending. There's quite a few people to blame for this although of those only Brands and Moshiri are still at the club, and both seem to have been helped by the presence of a very experienced manager.

We're making progress under Ancelotti (and the shitty players are gradually departing) but we're not watching a miracle unfold. Until we've got a better playing squad we're going to have patchy form and disappointing results.

It's not just a question of, say, buying Zaha or Dele Alli and it all comes to together either. We need about 3 first teamers and 3 really good quality second string players before we can be a more consistent force to be reckoned with.

Ian Horan, well said.

From what I saw, he dug his hands into Mina's throat and then pushed him backwards. The ref saw it, everyone saw it, yet nothing was done.

You just cannot do that on a football pitch and no action taken.

I'm as frustrated as anyone. But we lost without Richarlison for the last third of the game, without James, and without Allan on the pitch, in a quarter-final against Man Utd. We sit 4th in the table at Christmas.

I'm not going to toss a fit over yesterday's game, considering what we've accomplished thus far. We're making progress, and will continue to do so over the next few seasons under Carlo.

Best Footballers in the World 2020

Wigan in the FA Cup was as disappointing as last night, but yes Man Utd are a better team than Wigan. It's just disappointment, year after year.

I promised myself I wouldn't bother as much and go walking on the moors, but that's easier for a weekend game – I wasn't gonna walk over the moors at 9pm at night on 23 December. I suspect the unlucky sods on the top balcony would have had a similar experience.

Do we have any Madisson or Grealish type players?

Mind you he wasn't alone last night which highlights again, as if it needed to be, how poor we are in depth of squad, numbers yes, but quality, very limited.

That doesn't mean, of course, that Ancelotti should go; but it does mean that a lot of anger at the performance is justified. It doesn't make such fans “reactionary” or anything other than “good Blues”.

I think, for what it is worth, that's a perfectly reasonable and understandable stance and reaction.

Fair comment.

Interesting list but as you say, "Subjective" indeed.

Last night looked like similar tactics to the previous 3 League games where we beat 3 very good teams in the Premier League.

Our players just didn't execute the tactics well, particularly in the first 20 minutes, where we looked totally switched off and could quite easily have been 3-0 down.

We did grow into the game after 25 minutes or so, but our passing, crossing, pressing and general play was way below par from what we've seen from previous games. I'm positive Carlo did not instruct his players to do the basic fundamentals so badly. You can't solely put the blame at his door.

The players looked fatigued to me and I do worry about the hectic fixture congestion coming up. We just don't seem to have the squad depth to cope. I worry Sheffield Utd will finally come good against a very tired Everton.

Ian, I much more enjoyed the flamboyance we played with in the first 4 games of the Premier League season, which had us top of the table and scoring plenty of goals. But, since the Merseyside derby, we were wide open at the back and conceding goals for fun. A combination of that and injuries and suspensions, Ancellotti has had to show flexibility in tactics, which he has done quite well... getting us into to the top 4 in League.

He hasn't got everything right but he's got more right than he's got wrong IMO. I was disappointed he started with Gomes last night and thought Gordon should've come on when Richarlison went off. But I think Carlo's done enough so far to earn our support of him – and constructive criticism of some of his selections and tactics is okay from people on here.

“That is an excellent name, but not for Feyenoord. We really can't afford him. Those are guys who earn seven, eight, nine million gross. We can't think of that.” (Source: FC Update)

The number of squad players that we have in similar situations to Tosun is truly frightening and it could take another 12-18 months to put things right!

I hope the coin has dropped for the management and coaches now in terms of the players who can be relied on, called upon, and trusted. That gives a very bare squad.

Time will tell but I'm hoping last night will prove to be the turning point. How many times... but if the squad is knackered and over-burdened in body and spirit, then there's a few questions to be asked about the game plan for the next match, and who's capable of playing a game every 2 or 3 days across three weeks.

I'm angry and annoyed at the lack of fight and desire, but I'm immune to the pain as it's been the normality for the best part of 50 years, bar a few golden years in the mid-80s.

Let's hope for redemption and a proper performance on Boxing Day. Win at Sheffield and the anger is erased.

But which Everton will turn up?

In relation, to VAR, how can competitions be fair and equivalent if VAR isn't used in every match and tournament?

The Mancs have got the street-fighting shit-tricks to a tee, with diving, feigning and shit-stiring on the pitch. There should be retrospective action against Cavani, as he got away with the same tactics in the league game at Goodison Park.

I wish we had a Reid, or Pat van den Hauwe, Barry Horne or Joe Parkinson out there last night. But it's shown the real ability of many of this squad who are frauding a living off Everton FC.

That alone suggests that it's gonna take some time to get the strength in depth needed, but until so-called world class or proper professionals can be added to this squad, games like last night will be part of the journey.

Sheffield United and let's see which Everton turns up.

All have a good night and enjoy Chrimbo.🍀🍺👍🙏🏼🥃🍻☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️

A suggestion: after an innocuous tackle, roll over once acceptable. Twice, a yellow. Three or more (I've seen it happen), straight red. Obvious dive, straight red. Pulling jersey, straight red. Harsh I know but players would soon get the message.

Another gripe: Why do refs waste so much time when a free-kick is awarded anything up to 30 yards out? Why does he have to have a long chat with the kick taker? Then another chat with the wall. I once timed this procedure take 2 minutes. Five of those and the game is shortened by 10 minutes.

Finally, why does he still have a long chat with the keeper when a penalty is awarded? Surely all goalies have heard the new rule about staying on the line.

I like many question why Gordon is not used more when we bring on what we did last night – he seems overlooked an left on the bench regularly and on occasion is not even included in the matchday squad. On ability alone, my view is he would have benefitted last night with some energy and directness towards the opposition goal.

I would like to know the reason why - the only answer I have seen from Carlo was full of riddle and mystique.

Ian @243 – I remember those sadly all too well – the point I make is that on those occasions, the potentially better team was overrun by well motivated team play – we should have attempted the same last night and given it a real go. Instead, too many our players cannot raise their game.

"As Patrick has eloquently put, the subs bench seems to be begging for Gordon but he does not even make it that far."

Is that a legitimate question from you?

I've been a blue too long to not become punch drunk by this latest glorious failure plus all I want is quite moderate compared to some. At least try and compete against the top four and in a game like last night not just hope to catch them on an off night.

A sobering thought, let's be honest, a lot of clubs would've bombed him out after getting humiliated by your rival's youth team, but we are if nothing else a very forgiving and hospitable club.

All that being said, I hope he is not as blinkered over youth as he looks so far. C'mon, Carlo, you are our best shot. Prove it.

Let's be honest, with 9 changes, Man Utd had the fresher players, and the only surprise was it took 85 min to score. The only 2 changes we made were the keeper (that didn't affect the previous formation) and Coleman, who was expected to provide more attacking play than Holgate. Apart from that, we have had nobody to replace Allan, and the use of Gomes failed.

Let's look at the subs: Man Utd bring on 2 subs and end up with a front 3 of Martial, Calvani and Rashford. We bring on 2 subs and end up with Iwobi, Tosun and Bernard. We bring on Davies for Gomes; Man Utd bring on Shaw.

The disappointment: it seemed that Everton players did not seem to have the desire and effort to win this game whereas Man Utd's players seemed more up to it. Was the difference that their players were playing to keep in their first 11? While Everton's players knew they would be in their first 11 next game.

We can all offer various excuses, but the blame for lack of desire and effort is strictly on the players' backs. It does not matter who the manager picks, they are expected to give 100% effort on the pitch and, if they don't, it becomes the manager's fault for playing them again.

We have a major problem, not with the first choice 11 when fit or not suspended, but with replacing them when either injured or suspended or even being replaced for loss of form. This was highlighted with the 2 teams last night with the starting 11 and the players on the benches.

If we have the ambition to finish in the top 6 this season, Man Utd have shown the type of squad you need to maintain this position. I understand that Everton will have to spend big and get rid of a number of players to make space to improve the squad and this will take time, and I doubt if Ancelotti will panic over this performance.

I would still like Ancelotti to give some of the younger players in the squad a chance in the team, even if it means giving some of the regular starters a rest. The problem that may arise from that tactic is, if we lose, the manager will get the blame for dropping the regulars. We have to maintain our league position.

Thanks for sharing that list of the top 100 footballers. All harmless fun and of course highly subjective.

I clicked on a couple of links from the linked article to see who voted and how it worked.

It's actually quite broad and comprehensive. There were 241 judges from 71 countries and every continent, including former players, coaches, broadcasters, reporters, correspondents and editors. Full list of judges by category here:

The Judges

They were each given a set list of 300 players to pick their top 40 from. Their first choice got 40 points, then each successive choice got minus 1 point until their 40th choice picked up one point.

There is a VERY detailed and complete spreadsheet available so you can see how votes were cast. I was interested to see how many voted for our Everton boys and how highly they ranked on an individual vote.

From the spreadsheet, you can see that Dominic, who finished 80th of 100 in the overall vote, received 24 votes and his highest voted position was 25th. Richarlison finished 82nd overall, received 15 votes in total and his highest voted position was 28.

By contrast, the overall winner Lewandoski was the only player to be voted for by all 241 judges with 201 making him their number one choice.

100 Top Players Spreadsheet

Harmless fun as I said, so thanks again, Patrick, for flagging it up.

For all the talk of Man Utd's spending and squad depth ,they also have Rashford, Greenwood, McTominay etc all free and homegrown.

What is David Unsworth doing exactly? Where are our good youngsters? Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal have them but our lauded academy produces no-one of quality. That is a big problem because even wealthier squads rely on a handful of quality homegrown as opposed to mythic “maybe he is secretly good” jokers.

I think the lad has a chance.

One question I would have for posters advocating he plays.

How many times have you seen him play?

Pickford will come back and, if fit, James; the rest will pick themselves, either starting, or coming off the bench.

Nearly always the same players coming off the bench.

Now I know you can say, apart from Man Utd, we haven't played anyone in the cup. We gave Gordon and Nkounkou a runout and both attacked with intent, seeing off Fleetwood, Salford and West Ham with ease. In my view, both deserved to continue in the cup games, but one was left with splinters on his backside, while the other did not even make the squad.

When Richarlison went off, either of the above two mentioned could have filled that spot but, for whatever reason, neither have been seen.

Now if anyone mentions about how they perform in training, I swear I will scream. It is how they perform on the pitch, week after week, the same are picked; if it is down to the training pitch, then surely the penny must drop. Can anyone please tell me when Nkounkou and Gordon have played that they have been poor, apart from the Newcastle game where everyone was poor?

Anyway, like I say, the team will be the same Saturday, with either the same 14 getting some part of the match, either from kick-off, or coming on.

So much for rotating the team, when it is the same players, week-in & week-out.

We will never know how good he is, if we are only going to give him a small run out every so often.

You mention Rashford, Greenwood; there are also others out there, Mount, Foden, Curtis, all given run outs. We however do not seem to have the same belief of giving these guys a run out, apart from when we play Fleetwood, Salford and the likes.

If the regulars were outstanding every week, then there is a case for not being able to force into the team. However we never seem to freshen it up, the players coming off the bench are normally the players that played the previous game.

An amusing post covering a very important aspect of present-day football. Yesterday's game was generally disappointing from any Everton supporter's perspective. However, the game also displayed many of the things that are wrong with the Premier League and football in general:

(1) All of the factors you so astutely pointed out regarding time-wasting.

(2) Far too many "fake" injuries where players who seem almost at death's door suddenly resurrect and get back up and are perfectly fit. If a player is so badly injured, they should stay off the field for 10 minutes.

(3) Blind refs who somehow don't see a violent attack. Cavani on Mina was a case in point.

(4) Cavani is the histrionic actor / so-called player who overacts to everything as though he was in some cinematic drama. Unfortunately, we have far too many of this type of player in the Premier League.

Everton players are not guilt-free (eg, Richarlison). I agree someone has spoken to him and he has improved. Seamus is a great example of what all players should do: "Grit your teeth" and get up.

Carlo seems intent at changing certain players around who under-perform, so why not throw someone different in and give the under-performers a kick up the arse?

We have some young lads chomping at the bit to get a game but all we see is the same players being put in different positions and not settling in their own positions which will cause us to put performances in like this one.

Surley we can mix it up with a few younger players – or are we going to become a buying club trying to find the little gems that we may already have???

Maybe a slight exaggeration but he did get more involved; before that, he was non-existent. Any improvement in that first half was welcome.

Kind of what I've been saying about Finch Farm — how crap can Gordon, Nkounkou etc be?

They're only coming up against the likes of Gomes, Bernard, Iwobi, Sigurdsson et al, so if they can't shine in training against the likes of them, then they maybe don't deserve a place in the team.

I can't see it though, even I'd shine against that lot and I'm 57!

Unless he has no choice, Carlo does not like youth, end of.

I reckon the goalkeepers will reverse and I reckon Holgate for Coleman, Davies for Gomes, and Gordon to replace Richarlison, if he can't start. I don't think we had the cohesion, balance, etc from the start, but Carlo will know.

I don't expect (bar a player fitness crisis) to see Gomes or Tosun close to the matchday squad again. No more blasts from the past for these spent players to keep them in the frame.

As likeable as they are, both are not Business Houses League or Zingari League Standard, in my view.

I'd prefer if Richarlison can start, and for Iwobi he was amongst many who got lost in the Goodison floodlights last nights and who showed arguably the most shithouse Man Utd team I've seen, far too much respect. Iwobi was bad but no worse than most of the team last night.

And I think a discussion about leadership on the park is another thread. Seamus is the only player but there's potential I'd start to consider in Mason Holgate. Take the Mike Lyons heart, the speed craft of Rats, the reliability of Wag, and there could be a succession plan.

All The Best of The Seasons Greetings.

We have some on the bench, but it seems to be the same subs everytime. If you played a game the previous week and stank the place out, do not worry, you will still be on the bench and come on at some point in the next match.

Why can we not try some of the others?

We get the same old argument: if we are winning and playing well, do not change a winning team; if we play bad, do not put the youngsters in as it will hit their confidence... so when do we play them?

I just hope Saturday we have a couple of additions, even on the bench, and they are at least given a chance.

Come Saturday though, you know if Gomes or Davies start and the other is on the bench, they will replace each other at some point in the game. If James comes back, whoever's place he takes will also come off the bench.

Like I said in an earlier post, it is nearly always the same 14 players. Time to be bold and give some of the others a go.

"With 9 changes United had the fresher players" -- but also presumably, a weaker line up than for their previous game. There's no point searching for answers when the obvious is overlooked -- manager and players were poor and failed our support miserably.

Everton suffers from institutionalised defeatism and unfortunately, after years of failure, that has now spread to much of our support. Witness for example the following question asked by Scott Minetti (206) responding to a poster's warranted critique of the performance of players and manager alike: "Did you really expect that we would beat a very strong Man Utd side in a cup quarter-final?" Oh dear.

Utter cowards. They are no team of mine. I sometimes wish Segers had saved that shot in 1994... I really do.

I believe I said the same thing about the players and manager in the paragraph starting with "We can all offer various excuses...."

I know I've raised this before but it's a perception of the game of football that seems at odds with its entire ethos as a competitive sport. The fact that he's so obviously proud of the foreknowledge he boasts, at the expense of the club he presumably loves, and its myriad of fans, I find rather sickening.

Does he expect the players to go into the match with the same astounding mindset? The same fatalistic conviction? I guess the fact that they appeared to play from the outset as if they really did believe that could be cited as something of a giveaway, but doesn't it bring into question your whole life purpose as a professional footballer once you start to think like that?

And then what does it say of us as fans? That we should expect only defeat in certain games, before they even kick off?

Scott, what then is the fucking point of playing?

Olsen
Coleman
Keane
Holgate
Small (it's time for this lad to shine)
Doucouré
Iwobi
Godfrey
James
Calvert-Lewin
Richarlison

The only thing keeping my interest at the moment is the caliber of player Carlo is attracting. As, if the standard of signings made under Carlo continues as such, it's inevitable we'll have a top side capable of winning something.

However, my patience is fast running out (a slight contradiction). I've had enough, after the initial Moyes' years of stabilisation, of seeing this club crumble to pieces and shit itself whenever anything is at stake. Even the relegation fodder sides we had in the 90's displayed more consistent fight than these turds in blue.

I term some players as Instagram players. Players who will show up occasionally to make their social media accounts look pretty and interesting. There's some at this club now. I have no affinity for these guys.

Barry Horne was a limited player (very nice guy off the pitch and very intelligent too), but I don't think I ever saw him not put a shift in, be it a relegation scrap or otherwise. Definitely not a player who shit himself at the sight of a second rate Man Utd team at Home! I expect this attitude as a fucking minimum, nothing less.

Are these players stupid? The last three games have seen almost universal praise from us blues. The common denominator? 100% effort! This 100% effort stops and the result changes! Fucking clueless. Fucking shite!

I have said all season that Everton are one of the poorest sides playing the passing game out of defence and yesterday they hit rock bottom.

When you come up against a team that works the high press well, Everton flounder as they did against Leeds and yesterday again.

Iwobi and Sigurdsson just couldn't get going on the flanks and it's obvious they don't have the speed to match up in those positions against certain teams.

However, somehow they survived and had a chance but the Bruno Fernandes deliberate push on Richarlison basically put paid to winning the game in 90 minutes.

Had they held on, they may have sneaked it on penalties... but I am not so sure.

I think it would have been difficult, even if they had advanced, to get by Man City, who they would have been facing twice in a just over a week.

What we don't want to happen now is to become the first team to be beaten by the Blades. Heaven forbid !!!

I honestly believe, now that I'm over five decades a Blue, football has changed and Carlo's ability, or lack of it, will never be enough on its own to see us even challenge the other crowd. Even a derby win would have to be a fluke.

Hate being so negative and really try to block EFC out of my head, even for an hour or two.

I am not knocking Carlo for his preference for older more established players to steady what has over the past few years been a very unstable ship.

I do wonder though whether this has anything to do with the length of his contract and the need to have a half-decent team to present to the fans at Bramley-Moore Dock, if and when it opens to the paying public. Again, if that is his and Moshiri's intention, and it works, who am I to argue with it?

However, in that period after his contract expires and we are looking for a new man to replace him and the 'old brigade' who by then will be ready for replacing, decide they have done their bit and start to react like the majority of today's lot, 'can't be arsed' and need shipping out. What then?

Will we suddenly find some hidden gems in the Academy or will we be starting all over again with no accession policy or plan but with a half-full state-of-the-art stadium and a team fighting to stave off relegation; and a 100% shareholding owner who just wants to cash in his chips and sell to the first mug that shows up – something like Kenwright did!!??

We can't afford to float about for another few seasons and transfer windows, as though the rest of the league is going to wait for us to do our thing.

We need to believe in ourselves right now, find some serious courage when it matters and keep winning. Fits and starts won't cut it. Three victories are not enough. Injuries or not, we have to push on and stop finding reasons why we're not quite good enough at the moment, if you don't mind.

Shitty Sheffield United in the mud and cold will be a good place to start. And then Man CIty and then West Ham and then every other game. That's the awful thing about winning: you have to do it.

Olsen Godfrey Nkounkou Keane Onyango Simms Calvert-Lewin Richarlison (if fit) Iwobi Gordon James (if fit) Doucouré Mina (notice I'm struggling to add anyone who, if I had my way, would never see a first-team shirt again and will be gone in January.

In an ideal world obviously. That lot would be a start, albeit probably disastrous, but we have to stop rinse and repeat every week.

Our injury list has nothing to do with a lack of fight and we have fumbled to victory in most of our wins. But God bless Dom.

No I am not impressed with us this season and cannot wait for more funds to be supplied so we can add more midfielders bereft of pace. In Carlo we are still out.

Pace and work rate is an essential in all the best sides. We have little of either and grit and determination is non-existent.

Feel like Ebenezer Scrooge but so screwed up by last night's no-show. Fed up with excuses for them.

The key word is “expect.” Scott never said he was happy or had no hope. But “expect” indicates a likely outcome. I expect the sun will come out tomorrow as logic dictates that. I hope Cameroon with two men sent off somehow beat world champions Argentina in 1990 - they did, great I am happy.

Were they to have played the Comoros I would have expected rather than hoped for a win. Logically Man Utd were expected to win as they have better players but that doesn't mean Scott or anyone else wasn't watching hoping for an upset.

Barry Horne was shit and that's why the team he was in generally floundered. Man Utd had the luxury of “resting” 9 players and replacing them with world stars. We couldn't freshen our team as Barry's old mate Unsie blows a lot of hot air but churns out shit players and the last several managers signed shit players.

Godfrey and Co are probably knackered and yet rest of the squad are shite. But if you'd prefer some muppet like Niasse running around “trying”, then go and support MK Dons, mate.

Rooney has been the only success story of the past 30 years, a once-in-a-lifetime player, sold without any benefit being gained on field.

The other contenders, Ossie & Hibbo, were players (with respect to them) of ability that could have been purchased from lower leagues.

Calvert-Lewin & Stones were bought as potential from lower leagues.

Where are our Madisson, Ward-Prowse, Grealish?

We should move to the sponsored feeder clubs system, at least one in each potential market worldwide that we pay a season retainer plus an appropriate fee plus bonus for every first-team ready player they supply.

We need tangibles not promises.

To win this competition we were realistically looking at having to beat Man Utd, Tottenham and Man City. A huge ask for this current squad. City have won 5 out of the last 7 finals!

Man Utd have a dense squad full of quality. They were able to field their best players against Everton if they wanted to.

We had some of our key players unavailable. Digne, Allan and Rodriguez improve our starting XI immeasurably.

Carlo obviously looked to grind out some kind of result here and almost pulled it off. He is slowly building something at Everton and I'm massively encouraged by the first 12 months. Every player he has brought in so far has improved the team. If he can do this over a 5 or 6 transfer windows then we are in for an incredibly exciting journey.

On this subject (and I know it was a case of premeditated thuggery from Fernandes), do we have any news on how Richarlison is? Was he simply winded or did he sustain a proper injury?

For me, he hasn't been quite right since his red card. Now he has his wrist all bandaged. Is it fractured or is he a Keith Lemon fan?

He may well work hard and have the ability to do what none of the others can but I am worried about his mental state. He makes a meal out of nothing knocks, writhing around, and thus the gobshite ref had a preconceived notion that he was doing the same on Wednesday night.

There are many lads who would have gone off for a few minutes and come back on to get stuck in. He seems to be happy to go off whenever he gets a clonk. He can expect more of the same on Saturday.

Did you watch the game? If you did, you'd have seen Richarlison's stiff outstretched arm when he hit the deck. It was a classic involuntary reaction to a knockout blow. Watch it again, it was horrible.

Richarlison tried to come back on, was staggering, and obviously seriously affected by what could have been a very serious injury due to that little shitbag Fernandes's push which was really dangerous.

Richarlison does go down easily but you're way wrong on this one.

Richarlison wanted to carry on during Wednesday night's game, I think Carlo also wanted the player to come back on too, but the Doctor advised against it and both the manager and player accepted the doctor's advice.

Richarlison will likely miss tomorrow's game and possibly Monday's match too, which will be a major blow to the team, but perhaps Gordon will be able to stake a claim for a place because it looks as if James may not be ready either according to some reports.

That's a fantastic idea and I am sure it would reap benefits. Wonder would it be allowed to have so many feeder clubs?

I got only booze this Christmas. That Santa knows his stuff.

What I do want and expect is 100% commitment from ALL of our players, regardless of ability levels.

Barry Horne, incidentally, scored an absolute worldy to keep us in the Premier League. Dogshit he might've been, but his contribution is greater than a lot of the current players today.

I agree, players are tired. There's been many games played recently, and to a high standard, so you'd expect the ‘fresh' players coming in to bust a gut, but they don't, do they?

A Merry Christmas, Kieran.

It is not his fault that United are a better side than Everton just now. The fault is 100% the fault of Martinez, Koeman, Fat Sam, Silva and Walsh.

Man Utd have won all 6 league away games this season. Scoring a minimum of 3 goals in each game.

In the past, we have been the feeder club and are now a rest-home for retiring gentlemen footballers...

The Man Utd team, took the pee, the other night and coupled with rank atrocious officials, got away with modern.

Tomorrow is a massive test of character for Everton, it would be great to get a win, and boost morale, ahead of Man City.

Here's to hoping you all have a good Chrimbo.

They may have more balls.

Have any of them won 20 trophies in their managerial careers?

Dominic Calvert-Lewin will once again be asked to run his socks off, but hopefully he'll find the way to goal for these two matches. Ancelotti says he will only rotate players for the City match!

Concussion and Injury

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/dec/25/richarlison-doubt-for-sheffield-united-tie-as-everton-observe-concussion-rules

Would be nice to see a few fresher legs in the team.

Not sure how much longer Calvert Lewin can carry on leading the line, with very little rest time.

But it's not an abysmal result or performance. It's a tired team, lacking at least 3 of its best players, 4 by the end of the match, playing a team that has talent to spare.

The squad is short on quality, and it shows. The early season success, to me at least, was largely built around getting quality balls into the 6-yard box and ensuring Calvert-Lewin didn't stray too far outside the box too often. It worked. But without Digne, James and then Richarlison, those balls dried up.

Now it's down to Carlo to basically get the same players Silva had, all 2 years older, to do what Silva couldn't do.

It sucks. But it was hardly a match that showed the unravelling of a season! It was just a bad result.

1: Attacking Intent. We appeared happy to sit back and counter-attack. Nothing wrong with that, as we have proved with recent wins. But it will only get you so far if lacking genuine attacking quality.

2: Attacking Quality. Calvert-Lewin has improved each season for the last 4 seasons and I've always been a big fan as I could see his development and ability. But he isn't a natural forward or striker. Once Richarlison went off, we lacked a key threat.

Man Utd have the youth of Rashford & Greenwood, the experience of Cavani & Martial. Massive gulf in genuine attacking quality to lead the line. All more natural finishers and attacking quality.

I want us to add a genuine top-class winger with pace and can add goals to help resolve both of these issues.

Apart from the ‘comedy' first quarter, I thought there was nothing truly abysmal. Gomes seemed to do little wrong to me but did far too little, full stop. Tom Davies was more involved but overall was ineffective.

Gylfi and Iwobi seem to get both praise and condemnation on this thread. I thought both did okay but the end product wasn't there. Gylfi was the ‘nearly' man on a few occasions where an extra 6 inches in height or leg length (or the athleticism to compensate) could have made a significant difference.

Today against the Blades will be a completely different game but the players will have to be up for a battle. If Richarlison is out, I think Carlo could do with giving Gordon a go to keep them worried about leaving too much space in behind when they commit players forward.