Quality rescues Everton from complacency

Ironically, the area where we strengthened in the summer, midfield, still needs fixing. The current displays of Davies, Gylfi and Gomez are consistently below the standard required, and collectively they make little contribution to our overall performance.

Whilst we have seen improved displays from Iwobi of late, the threat caused by the pace of the Rotherham winger Olosunde, caused us problems all afternoon, and highlited what we lack at times, real pace up front, and a player capable of putting the opposition on the back foot.

We are making progress, but still require some major surgery and the offloading of the many mediocre players still occupying places in the team.

I have really enjoyed reading ‘Quiet Leadership’ by Ancelloti but after being reminded of the superstars he has worked with, I do wonder what must go through Carlo’s mind during another error-strewn, inept performance like yesterday.

Credit to Rotherham. After a shaky start, they dug in and made life difficult for us. But I would defy an uninformed observer to identify the Premier league team out of the two on show.

About 18 months ago I stacked my CBR 600 and in the absence of my pride and joy, I even tried cycling again. It was not a success. When he looks at his current players out on the pitch, I wonder if Carlo also feels he is being asked the equivalent of competing at the Nurburgring on a bicycle?

Still, it is that vacant midfield of Gomes and Davies that boggles the mind again.

I really like Gomes and I do hope he can find himself again. I'm not sure Davies will be good enough for the level we want to be at.

There aren't many good strikers around for purchase, so I wonder if we'll keep Tosun. I see rumours of West Ham going for Sarr and perhaps we should be all over that.

West Ham players where communicating to one another all the time, encouraging, informing and instructing. There players where making sure they where living up to the expectations of their team mates.

There was little communication in the Everton team. Ball liked it, to being on the training ground and definitely not a team challenging for points at the top of the Premiership.

What I have seen of the Rotherham game was a headless chicken performance in midfield particularly and I would say the atmosphere would be similar to what Michael Ball has previously described.

Everton have no leaders on the pitch, a perennial problem I hope they someday will sort out. I hate to say it we need yet another midfielder, who is a 'mouth'.

When I played we had such a midfielder, who we all called 'the mouth'. He also could do a Kenneth Wolstenholme commentary of his progress down the pitch and his on team mates play or lack of it. He was a Leeds United supporters and celebrated his goals like Alan Clark which was even more sickening. He was a good footballer.

Back to the midfield comments, what's interesting when watching us play is that we spend all of our time playing the ball along our back four to retain possession, which puts pressure on us as typically this is done in our half of the pitch and also in the final 3rd for the opposition. We don't seem to have a strong midfield who can retain the ball amongst themselves and move the ball side to side along the pitch. Looking forwards and to the side and not backwards all the time which is what happens at the moment.

We miss Allan yes, and Doucoure alongside him as a pairing, but I do feel we need another strong CM to really make this team tick and allow Richie and James to sit further up the pitch supporting Calvert Lewin. Be interesting to see what sort of player Gbamin is in this current team (really a big IF we ever see him play and what damage the injuries have done to his capabilities).

Davies is not good enough - if he wasn't a die hard Evertonian then he wouldn't get the support from people that he does. He's not good enough - and I struggle to think of any Premiership team who would come in for him should we be selling him.
Gomes - frustrates the hell out of me now. I was one of his biggest fans and was amazed at how quickly he got back from injury last year, but this year he either isn't fit enough or doesn't care enough as he's not imposing himself like he can. Think back to the very first derby at Anfield he played in and he was the best player on the pitch that day - where is that player now? Carlo needs to help him with his confidence and quickly

Gordon - I've said it before on another thread. He needs to go on loan to another club (we'd have to get a replacement in of much better quality in Jan) as he clearly has talent but he's not doing enough at the moment either and getting a few mins here and there is not doing enough for his development. A 2nd half of the season loan out to a championship club playing week in and week out could do him wonders. Ancelotti doesn't seem to trust him and when he's been given an opportunity to start then he doesn't take it and is always the obvious choice to be subbed off. Long term he could be a good player for this club but he could do with some game time to build his confidence back up.

For me - a CM (more box to box than CAM who can drive us up the pitch) should be a priority in the Jan transfer window and an attacker who can play LW or RW. This would give us flexibility to push Richie up to CF if we wanted to give DCL a rest.

There’s more and more consensus about the necessity of getting a midfielder .

We need one younger, quality, tenacious, mobile midfielder with energy and desire to make progress. Allan and Doucoure need some cover from a proper central midfielder. Without this player we will always, without fail, suffer when one of these two is injured or needs some respite.

We will not break the top 4 or 6 without this player. We’ve got to find him, don’t spare the horses. Realistically it will be the summer, but sourcing him needs to be happening way in advance. The cover from the squad we have got now is plain as day not good enough.

The sixty million dollar question is : what can JP Gbamin bring to the table . After som many injuries , being out so long and playing in a new league it’s almost a complete unknown . Hopefully we get the chance to have a proper look at him over the next few months . It would be a massive boost if he came good for us but with all the variables it is with hope rather than expectation.

Gomes still looks only 80% fit to me and looks like he still has anti gravity footy boots on. This is not going to change. He and Delph need moving on in the summer if it is any way possible and why can’t Besic find a club to go to?

I’d keep Tom Davies as a squad player because of his comparative low wage unless Newcastle or similar make a big offer for him. Same goes for Sigurdsson keep him for he squad as he is effective in certain games and has improved a bit lately, but if China or the MLS make a big offer for him, take it.

Not going to criticise individual players as it was a poor team performance, but we got a result. It does expose the limitations of the squad beyond the likely first 11 - 14 players regardless of who we were playing. The last few matches have demonstrated that, certainly in terms of creativity.

Until Doucouré came on, we had no-one in midfield to link with the forwards and make forward runs / moves. Mina gave us some sort of presence and also calmness on the ball.

I was interested in seeing Gordon. Looked lively for 20 minutes then faded, but let's cut him some slack as he likely suffered from the gap between our midfield and the front 3.

A seemingly routine game turned into a potential (and deserved) giant killing. I wouldn't say it's the worse Everton performance I've seen, but I certainly was alarmed at how many poor individual performances there were out there yesterday.

Looking forward to the draw tomorrow.

Bad though it sounds, I shall still seek odds against us finishing 7th in the Premier League which I continue to believe is the target set of Ancelotti by the Board.

Has any bookmaker's friend put their money down yet and am I being optimistic?

Skinny odds for that.
9/4 to finish top 6.
Be around 6/4 for top 7.

You'll never get rich backing Everton to finish 7th as generally that's where the bookies have had us finishing for most of the last 15 seasons or so.

Having said that, at the beginning of this season we were predicted to finish 9th with Leicester & Wolves along with the usual suspects expected to finish ahead of us. The last time I checked, Everton had re-emerged as the team most likely to finish in 7th place.

What has become clear since is that, once again, we shall be struggling to reach Moyes territory (seventhish) which is a great improvement on what has been achieved in Moshiri's time. To get back there would be the first step of recovery after all the disappointing managers we've been made to suffer.

Some no-mark says it refers to a Far Right Turkish Organisation and Cenk says "Who?"

Problem here is Cenk can't publicly condemn the organisation. He has to be careful in his statements.

Tom has gone on to score another 4 goals for Everton in over 100 appearances, yes many as sub, but does this not tell me how wrong I was. There is no future for him at any Premier League club with realistic aspirations.

I'm so desperate for Ellis Simms to make it, but at 20 it's not looking good. The Academy isn't providing enough quality for the first team, and we need it to.

Unsworth has been there a long time now, and other than talking about the 'Everton Way' (whatever that is), there doesn't seem to be any outcomes, objectives etc.

I won't go off on a tangent about the state of grass roots and the English game's focus on pace, speed and power as I could talk all night and I'd bore you!

It pains me but if we compare Everton with our neighbours, the key difference in my opinion is that Unsworth is left to do his own thing which is not necessarily aligned to what the first team are doing.

I hate using them as an example, but in my opinion, the Liverpool academy feeds the first team and serves them so well because Klopp has installed a system throughout the club. The Academy coaches are implementing Klopp's system and philosophy. It is a top to bottom, bottom to top system. The Academy will train and play the same way as the first team.

So their young players aren't necessarily better, they just know exactly what is expected of them when asked to step up. They don't care who they are playing with, they just know what to do. The transition is more seamless.

We have arguably equally talented individuals who are being coached by left hand (Unsworth) and then having to adapt to right hand (latest Everton manager).

And to your point on the other thread Tony, it doesn't help that there has been 4 managers in as many years.

That's my take.

I also thought that, when Liverpool's second string beat us, it was partly due to the extreme physical nature of the Premier League, because the speed in which the game is now played definitely affects most teams around the Christmas period.

I thought the Brands-Silva relationship was awkward and they didn't seem in synch.

I thought maybe the Brands-Ancelotti relationship might provide more direction and clarity for the DoF, but in honesty he seems to have taken even more of a back seat and I understand fans who question what he is doing.

I agree with you to a degree about the speed and pace of the game, although Liverpool are a freak in that sense. I look at City and see that it is still possible to slow the game down and control it but the trick is, when you do go forward, do so with purpose and intent.