Everton paired with City in last eight of the FA Cup

Coincidence I'm sure.

I've almost forgotten what goes on behind the green door.

Bring it on!

Could do with Leicester knocking Manure out

Sure, would have welcomed an easier tie. But the way we are playing now I think 'Why not? Bring it on!'

Check out their fixture list compared to ours between now and then. They're going to be busy boys.

Next Wednesday's league fixture against them will be an interesting pointer.

Bet you’ve never been mistaken for a ray of sunshine

If you want to win the FA Cup you have to beat the best, or close to the best, at some point in the competition so bring 'em on and let's see what happens.

The reality is that you're going to have to beat the best at some point. And as we've seen in "easy" quarter finals in the past: Wigan, Middlesborough, you can't assume you'll beat a lesser side.

Likely we don't progress, but, if we do damn we've got good shot of lifting the trophy!. Reason for hope not fear.

"Another year without a trophy...great."

You're right, Pep is going to be in the hot seat this summer

City are good but not as good as they have been in the past and we are much better

Our eyes will be on one thing and one thing only. Semis here we come.

Inspiration, belief and grit won Everton the game last night.

Same again as last night and let City worry about us.

There’s gonna be some tempo, as we host them next Wednesday and the game that they got postponed, 4 hrs or so, before KO, on 28/12/2020.

Now let’s prepare for Fulham.

Fannying around with a mindset of hanging on hoping to nick one will see us eviscerated. Nothing to lose as every man and his dog will have City as easy winners.

“Victory belongs to the most persevering.” – Napoleon Bonaparte

Yes we have too many matches !
Could be your year 👍

Draw and pens! Olsen the hero.

Thinking back to 1995, our last three ties were against Newcastle, Spurs and United, all three of them were favourites to beat us and riding very high in the Premier League!

Joe Royle, who took over that seson with us in the bottom three, actually advised Blues to put a fiver on EFC for the Cup before even the third round was played. Has Duncan Ferguson got the same feeling this year?

They're very good, but human. They'll know they have a job on.

Watching City dismantle Liverpool on Sunday, I was thinking how much more difficult Everton would have made the game for City, so I won’t have long to wait and see!

Honestly, if we'd drawn Sheffield United, everyone would be tense and terrified that we'd contrive a way to screw it up... this way, we can go into the quarterfinals with no fear.

(Also, I'd like to think that City isn't overly pleased with the draw either)

In the thread after last night's game, many were saying how the mindset of the players had seemed to have changed in the last few weeks and that we now had a team of "fighters".

I would add that, after reading the above comments, the mindset of the supporters (at least on ToffeeWeb) is also changing (if not having already changed), to one of greater positivity - and it is wonderful to see.

I honestly believe that if we lose to Man City in the cup this year, the abiding feeling will be - "well City, enjoy it whilst you can, because it will be different next year."

I do believe that the club, your club, our club, my club, is changing and changing for the better.

Look out world!

Just hope we give them a game.

Fancy us against anyone on our day right now. And in this competition, you have to win every game regardless of who is in front of you. It's not like the league where you can drop points but still succeed.

In previous successful or memorable cup runs, we've overcome the odds; in fairness, against the backdrop of the national media, we did last night. Why not next round?

This is all working out perfectly.

They’re a good team. We’re not bad. It’s two teams over 90 minutes, not an entire season. Far from a foregone conclusion. Let’s see what happens.

It’s a good opportunity to compare ourselves against the best and every time we do that we improve.

If we’re not good enough to beat them then we aren’t good enough to win it and that’s fine by me.

Then get beat by Bournemouth in the semis.

The game is about 6 weeks away, anything can happen injury wise, Will be less so harmful for City, but if we can have our strongest 11 all available, we will give City a game and can certainly go into the game with a very good chance.

We have just come off the back off beating Leeds on their own patch, getting a great result at Old Trafford, and a win last night with a depleted bench, centre forward going off injured, but we dug in, anything is possible with this set of players, we just need Lady Luck on the injury front, to be kind to us.

I often accuse Everton players of being weak minded, not showing bottle, belief etc, the classic 'knife to a gunfight' mentality, and yet there I was a hypocrite exercising the same weak thoughts.

The last 2 games have shown that Carlo is slowly turning that mindset around in the players and that needs to permeate throughout the whole club, including the fans. If we believe we can beat City, then the players will too. Carlo, you have made me a believer, no more knives, we have got AK47s!

Fully fit squad for us and Citeh requiring a result against the Gladbach in the second leg I'd say we've got a chance. Keep the faith, gotta believe 👍

It was hardly unexpected... no Bournemouths for us... plenty, me included, called it right after the Spurs game.

Our record against ‘top teams’ this season is good. Why not?

If that's kind of possible, I believe we can get through them all the way. If not, I believe as well we can do it.

After last night, I really believe we can do anything we want. These players have shown how much they want to succeed.

COYB!!

I'd much rather face City in the 6th Round than in the Semi or Final. On our da,y and with no VAR cock-ups, we can beat anyone, including City.

Let's really go at them!

We have a key player in Richarlison potentially returning to form, Gomes, Davies and Sigurdsson are much improved. Godfrey and Keane looking superb at the back and we seem to have discovered some fight, let's get behind them and have a real go! Something seems to be clicking into place.

Nicholas Pinon – I've been meaning to ask good sir and as you've just posted I'll do it now; what can you tell us about the River Plate player De La Cruz who we have been tenuously linked with, isn't he going to be out of contract soon? What is his preferred position and can you see us being in for him?

No fans allowed!... Everton that.

Bring it on. 100% effort gives City a tough game.

We struggled against the teams that we are supposed to beat, but have held out against those who dominated the play against us. Nothing else we can do, other than cheer the team forward.

No need to be intimidated by Man City though, we have fighters, flair and quality. Add to that the burgeoning desire and team spirit and we can get through.

Winning and knocking out the ‘current’ best team in the country will then give us complete belief that this is our year to win the FA cup and that no team is going to stand in our way.

Our away form is better than our home form. Being drawn at home puts more pressure on you but you don’t have the fans to get behind you. I would rather have been drawn away.

I haven’t heard anything at all about BMD but I’ll make something up if you like.
It’s how it usually works on ToffeeWeb when BMD is mentioned.😁

To beat City, you’ve got to have a bit of luck, and watching them lately, (they’ve just broke the record for the most consecutive top level victories) John Stones, had been absolutely brilliant at making football look easy, so I’d say he’s the player that needs to be ruffled first?

COYB!

Worst possible situation would be to go in to the league match full blast, like with the Spurs game, and get soundly beaten. That way we'll go into the cup match nervous and it takes us long enough to get started in a game as it is these days.

Also I love nothing better than playing a team who have just broken the record for the most consecutive wins in the Premier league. We also know that Pep like Carlo likes to rotate lets hope he gives Sterling and Foden a break against us. I know he wasnt happy to the clubs reaction to the late postponement to this game due to City having players contact Covid, and he did vow to beat us when the game would be played, but he also said he would rather Everton had adopted Carlos reaction to the postponement.
So he just might play his strongest side against us and make changes to his side to play Spurs this weekend.

So please don't denigrate the cup competitions as irrelevant. They might be to the likes of City, RS, ManU, etc etc but they (particularly the FA cup) retain some real magic.

Would I prefer the FA cup or the prem champions? - Prem every time 4th in the prem to FA cup ? No contest FA cup every time.

I do, however, appreciate that top 4 is probably a better business proposition but these are the times we live in.

Sadly

But then I am a fan of football.

Martin #162 "I really don't understand the pot hunting mentality. domestic pots are verging on irrelevant...,Pot mentality is so 1980's."

The whole competing in the Champions League is above everything else, even the World Cup now is huge con that has been pulled off by the money men.

Martin, go onto a commerce website mate, your logic makes a lot of sense financially, but not to humble football fans, who just want to see their team win some cups!

I think there is actually logic to both sides of the argument. Personally this season I’d prefer a trophy given the 26 year drought.

However in the long term regularly qualifying for the CL probably brings you more trophies. The TV rights, the sponsorship opportunities, the ability to attract top players comes with it and puts the club in a stronger position.

Doing both would be nice though

Andrew. I would say that you have to weigh up the the importance and effect of each competition, both on the club as a whole, and the finances, would have.
Winning the FA Cup would be amazing in the short term, but qualifying for the CL has a much bigger chance of growing the club's success.
It would increase our profile Europewide and make us a more attractive club to play for.
If we were to reach the knockout stages then the financial gain would also be big plus!

Yes, football finances are now as important as they ever have been. Yes, to compete at the very top end you need loadsa money. But THE key ambition of any sports club or individual sports person is to WIN. Win competitions. Win leagues. Win cups. Win medals.

Getting on the honours board matters. It raises the profile of the club (and individual sports person), which in turn can improve its finances, which in turn enables the club to attract and finance the purchase of better players, which in turn...you get the rest.

I've always been bewildered by comments saying that they DON'T want European football (in any given recent season) because the squad couldn't handle the fixture workload.

You simply cannot cherry pick these things. You have to grab what you can from the tree when the opportunity arises.

So for me it is a case of not prioritising one over the other, but simply observing the tired old cliche 'take one game at a time and see where it takes us.'

I'm quite sure that with 17 PL games to play and possibly 3 games to land the FA Cup Carlo and his team have not prioritised one over the other, but are simply working towards both goals: a top 4 finish and an FA Cup victory.

We may fall short of both. But for the first time in many a year there is a buzz about the club that we really could be on the cusp of something here.

The thought of Arsenal players going a decade without a trophy but ending season after season dancing on the pitch liked they'd won the treble because they'd just nicked 4th place is not what it should be about.

Yes, another important consideration - profile and pulling power - Carlo ditto.

I am of the same mindset as you: a top-four finish is good for the club financially, but doesn't guarantee success in a European tournament. As many have stated, the idea of attempting to win both the FA Cup and accomplish a top-four finish is something the club should strive to achieve but, if it's a choice of either/or I'll take an FA Cup Final win every time.

I agree. Not only that but, the more progress is made in one or more competitions, the more able Everton are for further competitions they may get in to.

No particular reason, just confuse them for the cup game and keep the pros fresh for the derby.

If we win, great, if we lose, meh. All about the cup now.

All I say about my position is that, if there was a choice and if we had to concentrate our resources on one or the other, then the one that gets top 4 finish in the Premier League would get top priority, even if it meant fielding the U23 side in the FA Cup. I think historically clubs have always followed this philosophy?

As I say, it's probably a choice that we won't have this season. It's just a wonderful situation now in that we can talk of one or the other with hope for both in the not-too-distant future.

I would love us to beat Man City because they are the best.

We have been here before... many many times!

Totally agree.

I don’t post vey often as there are a lot of negative posts which to me is not what being an Evertonian is about.

Regrettably I’ve had to give up my season ticket (health) but when we do get back to some sense of normality (whatever that is) I will really miss it.

I’ve sat/stood through 57 years of joy and pain, but never wavered in my loyalty.

Probably won’t post again for sometime to come.

Just get behind the team and be positive, there’s too many other problems going on around us.

Stay safe everybody.

I remember the joy as a young lad of being in the Upper Gwladys at Goodison to see us dispatch Arsenal in the Third Round, that great Kenny Samsom own-goal and the second which I don't think was over the line!

I remember listening to the radio and 'kicking every ball' as a kid as we beat both Liverpool and Southampton in two tight games and the joy of victory.

I used to take my tiny pocket Aiwa Transistor Radio into school every lunchtime to listen to the FA Cup Draw being made and really hoping it was going to be the year when we finally won something! A big huddle of kids around the radio as the draw was being made and me relaying each tie to the others verbally because the signal was pretty shit and the volume on the radio poor too!

Probably my best school mate (he had come over from Manchester) was a big Man City fan so that made defeat all the more painful, both games were around the time of my birthday so added pain. We battered them at Goodison and McDonagh certainly didn't cover himself in glory, should have won it at home, another painful missed golden opportunity.

Elaborating on your points, the financial benefits of a top four finish are meaningless until that money results in some tangible benefit. Case in point; Kevin Keegan. He is viewed as ultimately a failure at Newcastle because while he got Champions League football, he won nothing, and they wasted all the money they earned, as they did again with Bobby Robson who also got Champions League football.

Their trophy cabinet has been bare for 50 years and that is what fans focus on. There isn't a cabinet for receipts from Champions League games.

I respect your view but I would suggest that your statement of "I think that clubs historically have always followed this philosophy", should be amended to, "I think that for some time now, clubs have followed this philosophy."

It's my opinion that the decision to increase the number of qualifiers for the 'misnamed' Champions League, and the money available, was instrumental in causing clubs to field weakened teams and the subsequent short-changing of fans. I know that my outlook on football may be dated but that's the way I've 'always' been historically.

Then again, no fucking Everton supporters would probably get to see it, that would be just typical!

So just for this season, let's go all out to win the cup and make top four a greater priority next season!!

Then we hammered them.

Then according to everyone who knew anything at all about footy, including my mum god bless her, said we had no chance against Man Utd.

Then we won the Cup! Oh fuck me!

A cup all day all day I tell you.

Maybe we could have both in this the strangest (shittest) of seasons but if I could choose one, it would be Seamus lifting the famous old pot for the 6th time in our illustrious history.

Up the Toffees.

So I'm not the only one who noticed the ceasefire? I have a sense it will end about two minutes into the Fulham game. The officers will be back in the trenches blowing their whistles driving us to return to our pro-Carlo/anti-Carlo, Pro-Tom/Critics of tom, Pro-BK/BK is the antiChrist, usual tactical positions but it has been nice to have a bit of a lull in the hostilities. Funny how a single humdinger of a game can raise all our spirits.

It was a statue of the greatest game ever played (imo) and it made me happy and proud, that it was remembered so fondly in our football mad city, mate!

They beat Ipswich in semi-final and then lost to Spurs in the Final after a replay when Ricki Villa scored that goal.

If any of this is incorrect, sorry... but it is all from memory. But I cannot draw on any comparisons good or bad.

I tend to lean with Kieran, Graham and Rob in preferring the Cup to the CL at this point. In the cold light of reality, we are not yet equipped to compete successfully in the CL -- we don't have the midfield quality or depth in attack -- and I don't want to make it in just to go out at the group stage. I want to hit the CL like a bomb going off, and we're a good 4-5 players away from that.

The Cup, however, is something we can cherish forever. I've only seen us win one, '95, and I still remember every detail of the day, including what I ate for breakfast in that ManU pub.

I've only watched us win it once too. The first football game I ever watched -- just through happenstance was the 1985 European cup final -- Heysel stadium... I don't remember many games after that until the 1986 cup final which I thought we had in the bag once Lineker scored...

No wonder some players have struggled with confidence i.e Tom Davies, but look at him now, and it's the same with Dom etc. Carlo had given these players self-believe and we as fans need to be doing the same.

So let's get behind the whole team and proclaim that we are going to beat Man City and, if not, we are going to die trying. :) COYB

We deserved the win at Goodison, and we were doing alright at Man City, until he replaced Deulofeu with Kone and left Lennon on the bench, which was a balmy decision that totally exposed John Stones.

In the first game at Goodison, 0-0 — Mike Summerbee dropped his shorts to the Gwladys Street!! 60,000 crowd.

Replay at Maine Road: 0-0, Harry Dowd with an incredible save from Alex Young's great header! 63,000 there – tickets were like gold dust

Of course we got to Wembley without conceding a goal.

Happy days indeed!

My uncles, Phil and Tommy, told me that the mounted police were handing tickets out to those who had travelled ticketless to Bedford. The attendances were 63,034 at Maine Road and 60,349 at Goodison, the attendance at Molineux was 27,948 (apologies for being pedantic).

You're dead right – sorry, must be old age creeping in!! – seemed just like yesterday.
We went to Man City one Sunday to buy our tickets the queue was halfway around Manchester!

I seem to remember going to Manchester on my motorbike, one Sunday, to get a ticket.

The only time I remember a price rise was for Brian Labone's testimonial, they put the ground price up one shilling, don't know about the stands.

What a pity Oxford utd back in 86 did not have the same attitude as some on here.

I get City are a class side, it will be tough, no doubt about it, but if we turn up, city will face a sleeping dragon that has been poked, and awoken and hopefully hungry.

That"ll do me before bo bo"s

👍

Motivational? Inspirational? Leaders? Fighters? Believers? You ain't.

Bring it on !

Man City have been on a fantastic run. But runs come to an end!

If we can get our best 11 on the pitch with a strong bench, there is no reason not to believe the lads can do it. No more knives to a gunfight!