Battling Blues Batter Vieira’s Bullies

DCL is now fit. McNeil can cross a ball. Grey and Gordon cant. It's not rocket science.

I hope this doesn't signal that he's pretty much given up.

The usual 451 home to Palace, sad... very sad.

Zaha and Eze Vs Coleman is a worry.

A much better performance is necessary.

Vinagre not even on bench? is he a dud?

Still confident we can get a win. DCL to start his comeback and a tight 1-0 will do for me.

If Gordon or Gray play, we need overlapping full backs to put crosses in. Mykolenko is not this type of player, and Coleman hasn't got the legs to do it any more. It's ok playing one of these with Patterson because he will make the overlapping runs, but without him we need McNeil playing.

Took him ages to realise that 5 at the back was awful, still persists with a defensive tactics of inviting teams on, can't make a decisive substitution and doesn't appear to be able to tell when players need dropped.

At least one of that central midfield trio needed dropped.. possibly two, if he is persisting in playing Iwobi in an advanced role ( which a blind man could tell you he's shite at).

He'll make a couple of subs on 60 minutes when we're 1 goal down. Football management by numbers.

Begs

Holgate
Tarks
Coady
Vinegar

Gray
Duke
Garner
McNeil

D.C.L
Maupay

A draw sadly...at best today, methinks.

Phil, I like that. Very relevant too.

today's hope for improvement comes with the fact that Calvert-Lewin should be a little stronger and more up to speed. Beyond that, it really is just about mentality, it's all we can improve.

I also hope some sort of accommodation has been made on our right-hand side, in terms of defensive movement and positioning.

Never a good sign.

What do you mean?

Confident, combative and most importantly offensive.

Special mention for a referee who has completely lost the plot.

And one for our team. If the referee calls for a drop ball and says he's just going to give it to the opposition when we had the ball before the stoppage, tell him to get fucked and you'll contest the drop. We meekly surrendered the first one after the Coady/Milojevic clash. Palace didn't for either. I could see it happening, why couldn't they?

Want to see Dom bully Andersen. Get stuck right into him.

Gana is showing a lot more positivity and the crossing is a lot better and if we continue to play further up the field I can see Palace having to resort to the long ball game. Quite a difference with a recognized striker cum target man out there.

If there was one downside it was Pickford playing the arse when the Ref, who has had a good game so far, asked for the ball for a "drop ball" and Pickford stretched his arm with the ball and then dropped it, bloody pointless.

Keep up the good work on the high press and there's no reason we shouldn't take full points.

That was superb.

Onana, Iwobi, Gordon, and Calvert-Lewin were excellent. The defence was great, Coleman and Gordon working together to nullify Zaha was excellent. Mykolenko had his best performance in a while, and a beautiful goal from McNeil to highlight what potential he offers.

Brilliant. Well Done Frank.

MotM Iwobi, ran close by Onana.

Well done, Blues – terrific stuff.

I thought Onana was excellent, as was Iwobi. But I don't think it's possible to overestimate the difference that DCL makes to us when he's anything like match-fit. Totally different feel with him in the team

It may not be European qualification football but it is what is needed against those down there with us and an improvement over the all fall back into our half and good to see somebody leading the line and the wingers cutting in when we come through the opposite wing.

Last week I couldn't find anyone good enough for MotM while this week seems to be too many to select an individual.
Oh, and finally, a good word for the Ref who I thought had a very good game not least as he didn't want to make it all about him.

Iwobi and Coleman were superb, Onana strong and DCL led the line really well.

I loved being so completely wrong about advocating lineup changes.

I loved watching Gana and Onana put on the most dominant defensive midfield display I have seen in years from this club.

I loved watching Seamus frustrate Zaha for 90 minutes (Okay, he finally got beat in the 91st but he was still great) and Mykolenko block three shots (one with his nuts) and crack a great shot.

I loved having Dom back as Dom, full power. I loved McNeil's flash of class and Iwobi's backheel. I loved Coady and Tark eating people up at the back and Gordon knocking them around up the pitch, and I loved VAR saving his goal.

And I loved Frank getting the lineup, the tactics and the subs exactly right.

Plus, of course, I love Forest.

WHAT A GREAT DAY!!!

Coleman kept Zaha in his back pocket. This is the level of performance required on a consistent basis.

Great performance and further evidence that, although we are not up to the standards of the top teams, we are more than able to hold our own against those around us.

We will be fine this season.

Who gives a fuck. We won.

Gordon played great position-wise though, really helped out down that side.

Coleman used his experience and played well against Zaha, Gordon doing his bit also, let's keep it going.

Which isn't to say that changes shouldn't be considered if the team's on a poor run of form, or certain players aren't producing. But in this case, Lampard kept the faith and was handsomely rewarded. On a different day, he might not have been and the knives would be out.

And regarding my pre-game suggested line-up, Lampard may know a thing or two more than me about football after all.

Onana – what a player we have on our hands. Iwobi – who is this guy? When did we sign him? Gordon was enjoying his football, and what a bastard of a centre-back Tarkowski is! In fact, I can't think of a single average performance today.

So, so good to have Dom back. We played a very decent Crystal Palace team off the park. If we can do that most weeks, I am looking forward to the rest of the season.

Well played, Lampard, terrific stuff!

I was annoyed for Gordon to have the shine taken off his goal with the ridiculous wait for it to be ratified but that is splitting hairs. They barely troubled us and we were excellent.

Liverpool lost too, I am out tonight to celebrate. COYB.

A top-half finish is what I expect and would represent progress. A couple of more windows to bring more attacking options.

Never felt more like singing the Blues!

Absolutely delighted this evening. Can't remember the last time I watched MotD but looking forward to this one. That second goal was superb. Not sure how many passes but from Pickford to the back of the Palace net with no Palace touch apart from the keeper. Lovely stuff we can produce when we try!

There were good performances all around the team with Iwobi again producing the creativity we need when attacking. It was great to have DCL back and scoring the opener. Hopefully today puts to bed the notion his mind is elsewhere.

As for Lampard giving up? What rubbish!

Then somebody pointed out that he was playing with Zaha in his arse pocket - I'd forgotten about Zaha.

Ciaran post 46.

Brilliant response

If ever we needed a performance like this it was today. That third goal was a delight to watch.

Kudos to Lamps. for having the guts to go with the same starting eleven after Wednesday's awful game.

Just hope we can push on from this.

Hard to pick out any one player for M.O.M as they all did well but the more I see Onana the more I am impressed.

Will #53, have you had experience with that? ;-))

Tom #60, me too. Unfortunately we should probably expect to be without him for a game or two. That ankle probably looks like a balloon by now.

A brilliant performance. Most enjoyable game I have watched from us in a long while. Coleman did his usual job on Zaha. Rest of the back four didn't give Palace a sniff.

Gana, Onana and Iwobi were excellent, Gordon and Gray put in a great effort. Man of the match for me was Calvert Lewin. He has obviously been working hard on his game while out of the team as some of his touches today were quite superb not least for his goal.

Enjoy the weekend fellow blues, a brilliant performance.

Worked harder all round the pitch
Passing to team mates
Minimal mistakes

Today sets the bar.

Let's enjoy our weekend!!!

McNeil's goal was a beauty and sign of his skill. DCL's goal was a brilliant goal demonstrating the physical prowess and finishing ability of our no9. But Gordon's goal was something we haven't seen in ages. patient and progressive passing from one end of the pitch to the other. Absolute joy to watch.

Funny reading the slagging for Lampard picking the team prior to kick off on the site.

This should be the minimum standard these players perform too and we really need to get 3 good results before the break

Well done to all today, players, management and fans

But talk about Jekyll and Hyde, they were at it right from the off. Hard to pick a MoTM, I'd go for Iwobi or Coleman for taking Zaha right out of the game.

Excellent win, won our battles all over the pitch. Much better passing too. I thought DCL made a big difference having a bit of presence up front challenging, winning balls and making life difficult for their defenders. Buys some time for the team and some space for the wingers. He took his goal well too.

Gordon was back to what he does best, focussed and committed, thought Zaha should have been sent off for his assault on him.

Iwobi did very well today, best player on the pitch ? The last goal was sublime, a great cameo from Dwight O'Neill.

Gives us a good confidence boost for Fulham, Patterson back too, things are looking up again.

Well done to the lads and the manager, great response.

Maybe we just need to let a lot of new players bed in a bit. It always was going to be an up and down season. If DCL can stay fit we have a decent side.

One of Everton's best signings and someone who can quite rightly be seen as an Everton great and there haven't been too many in the last 30 years.

As my Catholic choir mates would put it, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

And as my fellow Jews would say, "dumb schmuck!"

This is the benchmark for future games and if we become consistent enough top six is a possibility, but we have to keep performances up.

The good times came back today with a determined display, against an alehouse Palace team who looked well up for a punch up.

Maybe some of us including me, got a bit carried away with the criticism after our recent losses, which was understandable after decades of of disappointment.

Today we bounced back in style, with a game we just had to win! Now we can look forward with a bit of optimism for a change. Iwobi and Gordon were outstanding, while Calvert-Lewin looked the part up front. Keep up the the good work lads !

Lampard seems to have a special connection with the crowd which is so important and something to relish.

What was particularly pleasing was to see our midfield working coherently and with strength.

Great to hear the support for Frank towards the end. It might have gone the other way but this fella has a tough mind and stuck fast.

We absolutely must not lose this momentum next week.

It's been a good football day, my wife is from Burnley and she's also grinning like a Cheshire Cat, after their result! Isn't it nice to have a win on a Saturday!

They weren't arsed? Maybe because we WERE more arsed than they were. They were a bag of poo because that's what we made them look like. Job well done. What were we saying about negativity on this site?

A little unfair to pick a MotM but I'm going to go for that man again Owobi, followed closely by Onana.

The defence kept a clean sheet once more, if we can keep them fit they will be our anchor.

I think it must have been big odds on us winning 3-0, I felt we would get a win today but that it would be a close game.

I dare say we will be last on MotD for maybe 4 minutes if we are lucky.

Even though we have scored 3 goals they will dwell on all the media darlings that also played today.

I cant stand that Lineker now, its time they got rid of him he's stealing money.

With all the negativity from the last game it was surprising that the manager picked the same team, but this shows that Lampard has faith in the players he chooses and his game plan. The one thing that did surprise me was his use of the Subs, not only did he use all 5, he made changes at the right time.

Anther observation was it is obvious why England has very little number of officials at the World cup as this latest referee brought in to the Premier, " I don't think he was in last season " some of his decisions were strange and at times I thought he didn't even know the rules of the game, and the linesman who gave the goal as offside was not in line with the last defender that would have shown Gordon was a couple of feet onside never mind by just a toenail.

With results from other games so far it is starting to look like a great weekend but has to be kept up, especially with our G/D that could come into play at the end of the season at either end of the table. '

Best Saturday in a long time!

the bounce balls where ridiculous, he cocked ours up but got it right for theirs,that's what got the crowd riled up.

Is there an agenda?

I'm starting to wonder that these dickheads have got there heads together and decided they just do not like Everton.

We were robbed of more goals as that ref should have shown two reds! We played well from the start and fully deserved that win.

Well done to the players and especially Frank and Kevin. They'll hopefully continue to work this new squad to emulate today's performance more frequently.

It would be nice if the "fans" on here showed a fraction of the spirit and loyalty that our attending fans show.

Everton beating Palace 3-0... not totally unexpected.

Don A posting without referencing Kenwright – unbelievable!

My only negative is why we don't show that determination and commitment more often?

Onwards and upwards, only 3 points behind Liverpool but worryingly only 4 points above the relegation battle having played more games than most.

I've been watching some lower-league football, and although the standard isn't brilliant, I enjoy the honesty. It's very hard when I don't get to watch Everton play, so I'm just very glad that we got a very important three points🙏

He then gets it right 2 minutes later when he stops the game again when Palace have possession, he gives it back to them, basically he bottled it because we had the ball on the edge of their area, terrible refereeing.

He then fails to send off Zaha for an assault on Gordon, Zaha was riled as Seamus had just put him down on the touch line, he lost it and went for Gordon, red card all day long.

Ayew committed 6 fouls before being subbed, he should have been yellowed after 2.

The ref was awful.

I presume you think I'm correct about the other points.

What a day.

Every Everton player played well, but Calvert-Lewin made such a difference up front. And a special mention for Seamus, I hope he is able to extract Zaha from his back pocket.

Sorry mate but that referee had an absolute stinker of a game. I doubt I've ever seen such a dreadful performance from any official.

I will accept any criticism if anyone can prove otherwise. He was absolutely shocking.

Well played, Seamus.

Well done to Lampard and the gang.

Keep it coming please.

Oh and can someone ask Seamus to take Zaha out of his pocket before washing those shorts.

Players taking responsibility and playing further up the pitch.

You wonder what the previous games were about...

No doubt Gareth Southgate will still pick Maguire and Dier for the World Cup, but I'll tell you this, at the moment I doubt there is a better defensive partnership than Tarkowski and Coady in the Premier League.

We need to get Coady signed up permanently ASAP. The fact that both are 29 years old means sweet FA. To have those two as our central defensive partnership for the next 3 or 4 years, I can see plenty of clean sheets coming our way.

We went forward a lot more today and tried to score and test their keeper. Not surprisingly, it worked. We looked better, played better and the good mood of the crowd going to the game, helped by Liverpool's defeat, was carried on by Everton's display during the game.

It's not too much to ask that they show that intensity more often, particularly when we play away.

Tarkowski and Coady always play with that intensity, today the rest of the team followed their leadership.

Absolutely correct. Gordon should have stayed where he was and kept hold of the ball, instead he kicked it to the referee in the penalty area.

The two linesmen were unusual today as well, both waving their flags, one for an offside goal that wasn't offside and the other fella ignoring constant fouls against us, put up his flag immediately when Onana made a daft foul just outside our area in the second half.

Most referee's are as bad each other they just have different faces; today's was no different but you see them differently depending if you are at the game or watching the match on TV.

I think moving to what looked like a 4-2-3-1 helped a lot. And obviously the return of Calvert-Lewin. If he stays fit, we should be comfortable in mid table.

Gray was okay today but for me is the one who could be upgraded relatively easily. Especially his set-pieces.

Bring in Gakpo (or similar) for Gray with Patterson back to form (though Seamus was excellent today) and that first XI in that formation begins to look like it could be in top-half contention.

Can't normally be bothered moaning about the ref, but today was the worst I've seen for a long time. Absolutely shocking, the low point being the insane inconsistency after the head injuries.

Gordon has possession on the edge of their box... and they get a goal kick? Just baffling. How anyone on here can defend that is equally baffling. But we beat the ref and we stuffed Palace. Amen.

Solid defence, a clean sheet, all players doing well, a raucous Goodison Park, and Liverpool losing – a very good day. And England's rugby league team won as well.

But what a performance. Intensity throughout. And sustained intensity and pressure from start to finish. Team unity. When there was a spat, the players grouping to support each other and Tarkowski laughing in the opposition's faces. Goading them.

Character. We showed real character. A few results shouldn't hide what is trying to be built here.

We wanted it today. You could see it on just about every inch of the grass covered by the players.

Seamus rolled back the years and was a stand out for me.

The centre backs led and others followed or were told.

Mykolenko - love the guy.

Gueye and Onana done their jobs. Be patient with Onana; he's 21 and still learning his trade but he's going to be great.

Iwobi absolutely worked his socks off and is a very skilful player. What a touch to set up McNeil.

Anthony Gordon looked back to showing the potential he can achieve. Gray, as always, was a thorn in the opposition's side.

And Dominic back. Stay fit lad. The way he rolled and bullied their player for the opener was impressive.

Comfortable win, making an opposition and manager that many admire look ordinary. Dare I say easy.

Well played blue boys. You get praise when you deserve it and you deserve it today.

This is a squad that needs time to gel. That desperately needed Calvert-Lewin back — and I'll never understand the Calvert-Lewin haters. That had to face adversity and is still learning to figure out how to play differently against top teams and average sides like today. That had to get Gordon back to his best and the midfield time to play together. And boy was it worth the wait.

We will continue to have setbacks. We'll continue to struggle at times to score, I fear, unless Gordon and Gray and Iwobi can be consistent scorers and polish their end product, crosses and shots.

I will continue to worry that Gana has a potentially big mistake in him every match to go along with hugely impressive defensive displays. Onana is still very young. And Mykolenko still has a lot to learn, but he's very much made me eat my words when I criticized him early on.

But holy hell: Alex Iwobi is a top Premier League player right now, relentless, great vision, assists all over the place — absolute class and MotM nearly every match.

Pickford got his mistake out of him last week and is a beast in the net. Nothing new to say about the Coady and Tarkowski pairing, but it's impressive to watch (will be interesting to see what we do with Holgate, Keane, Godfrey, Branthwaite, Mina).

And another shout to Dom, not least because we need him, but today he showed the kind of goal he's missing in his bag; if he continues that and adds in the headers, we've got an unexpectedly good season on our hands.

Lastly, Seamus continues to cement his legacy, on and off the pitch. If Patterson is one day anywhere near Coleman's top level, and he's showing a lot of promise, we're in good hands. It's all taking time, but patience will win the day.

Up the Toffees.

Perhaps the quality may be better if so many thousands hadn't been driven out of the game at the lower levels because of the abuse they get, including physical assaults. I hear all lower levels of football in Liverpool last weekend was scrapped for this reason.

Could pick from so many today but my MotM was Tarkowski. Absolutely immense and some fantastic passing too. What a bargain!

No mentions of the defenders playing too deep even though they did. No mention of Coleman's age or lack of pace.

Palace lost the midfield battle playing only 1 proper centre mid. Calvert-Lewin makes a massive difference.

The ref was out of his depth, if they all reffed like that, at least it would be consistent but having just watched the Man Utd game, both refs have totally different approaches to the game.

My MotM, Coleman, kept their danger man very quiet.

Never felt more like singing the blues.

Big well done to McNeil, long been the whipping boy after only a handful of games.

Bit of patience, Blues, don't be too eager to write Coleman and McNeil off just yet.

The ref is the worst I've seen in a long time. How Ayew stayed on the pitch without a red is unbelievable.
Two identical incidents of a clash of heads in the area; Palace get a drop ball, even though Gordon had the ball, when the game was stopped, then 5 mins later he gives Palace a drop ball! How the hell can you give two different decisions on them?

As for the linesman to give offside, wow… wasn't even close, for once the VAR came good.

Anyway let's keep this run going. Apart from the Spurs and Man Utd games, I think we have played decent all season, just lacking in the final third.

We simply have to keep Calvert-Lewin fit, he offers so much in the final third, just a pity we never had him from the start of the season.

Still, none of this detracts from the feeling I had when leaving the ground. Hasn't been like that for a while.

To all the referee critics, I'd echo not just how hard it is to do the job, but also how abuse at the lower levels knocks so many people out of the profession early on. Out here in the States we lose about 50% of young refs each year, despite good money for teenagers, because it's not worth it to them. And now we have many of our games without 3 referees. I also wish we could stomp out the play acting among players when fouled (looking at Gordon and Onana), because it makes it very hard for referees to know when something has actually happened or not. I know players can take a beating, but they develop reputations that are hard to shed.

The criticism today should definitely go to that assistant, who was just off his game. You have to be incredibly sharp to get those calls right, and he missed an earlier one against Zaha in addition to the Gordon goal, both of which he should get right fairly easily at that level.

I know we wish every call were right and players do deserve to be protected, but we shouldn't moan every single game about how poor English officials are. Referees make mistakes in every country, at every level, every game. That will never change. Nor will the endless debates about it.

I'm sure many people were surprised/frustrated to see Frank picked the same team. Was he proved right with his selection? Absolutely. Was I looking for changes to the line-up before the game? Absolutely. Am I delighted I was wrong and Frank was right? You bet I am.

If you want to wait until the end of the game to point out who got the team selection right or wrong, knock yourself out.

Coming onto this great site before the games start to see what fellow fans think of the team selection is all part of the matchday experience. It would be pretty boring if we all waited until the game is over to give our opinions.

Lets all enjoy a great win.

But…the referee got some very straightforward decisions very wrong today. How were Palace awarded possession in both drop ball situations? The VAR decision for our a second goal took around 2 minutes, the melee late in the second half delayed play by another 2 minutes, there were 2 second half goals at 30 seconds each minimum and numerous subs yet only 3 minutes added time?

As you say, he lost control of the game early on when Ayew should have been given a yellow. Add to that the assistants poor performance and to me the overall performance of the officials was very poor.

As I stated at the beginning, the job of the officials is very difficult but they are performing in the best league in the world and need to be the best also - which they are not.

I can only assume the offside took two minutes as they were saving the linesman's blushes by pretending it was a close call? Or were they looking for some other excuse in the build up?

Anthony Gordon. Fucking shite. No Passion.

As for the officials today? Overall a good game. The offside given was incorrect but that's why VAR was brought in for, thankfully. Such a difficult role as linesman or referee. Respect for them, most thankless job in the world. Hopefully the team can press on now. Mid table by the world cup break will be excellent. Some great football played today!!

That offside call on Gordon was so bad that the Spanish-language commentators were laughing openly. How a professional misses an easy call that badly is beyond me.

My point generally is that when I think of referees as being particularly poor, I think of whether their bad day affected big moments in the match and thus the outcome. In this case that didn't happen. The only call like that besides whether Zaha should've been sent off that I recall was actually Garner with a few minutes left where I think he nicked the ball and instead got a yellow and gave them a good shot on net. The drop ball issues are straight forward: team in possession when whistle is blown gets the ball, unless the ball is in the penalty area, in which case the keeper gets it — which the ref I think incorrectly judged to be the case on the first one. And as for time added, when a game is out of reach at 3-0 there is an understanding that they cut off several minutes of added time because no one wants to risk injury to keep playing.

So all in all, not a great showing. But there have been plenty of matches other than this one where I felt aggrieved at the end, and today I just felt like it was an average ref who didn't manage the game well and an assistant who looked hungover from the night before.

Onward my friends.

I have Peacock but not USA so I've been streaming games like todays but all the English language ones freeze constantly. I found this one site where this Chinese kid has the English commentary faintly in the background but talks over it loudly in Chinese. I don't speak one word of Chinese but his stream never freezes. He also sometimes gets distracted and answers personal telephone calls while “commentating” or what sounds like his Mom interupts his broadcast. But all of that being said he is much better than that bloody melodramatic Peter Drury or Martin Tyler. I don't think he's an Everton fan as he doesn't sound too happy when we score but so far we've never lost when I've watched his stream so he's my new favorite

Iwobi with 2 assists and have been running and running both ends. My MOTM.

Gray, still choosing to go solo and shoot most of the time while a pass maybe a better choice.

I still feel DCL is under-serviced. The poor man has to win the ball back himself, pass to Iwobi, make a run and finally have an opportunity to shoot. Anyway, a great win. A winning streak must be close?

An excellent performance yesterday, you have to laugh at the anti-frank boo boys, where are you now? Why do some of you have to have a toxic focal point? Get behind them and they do better, its not rocket science!

Good performances all over the pitch, with Patterson to come back too, I am excited. I would be over the moon with a mid-table finish and a continued rapport between the team, Frank and the fans. Let's not forget the depths from which we have had to claw ourselves from. COYB.

I watched back and although difficult with highlights as they can paint a different picture, it confirmed what I saw.

Lampard's comments at the end about Coady and Tarkowski having "revolutionised the dressing room". Very telling considering the lack of leadership we've demonstrated in recent seasons. It took two "newbies" to come in and do that. The pundits picking out their partnership and understanding and the potential of being considered for England even though Keown put a damp squid on Tarkowski. Good; I don't want him going anywhere!

Dominic rightfully praised for the first, but Iwobi's feet to make space and his pass to create the chance. His splitting pass in the build up for the 2nd and his cheeky touch to set up the 3rd; that was all about awareness - he wasn't even looking, he just knew. He was involved in all 3 goals.

The move for the 2nd was sublime. From keeper to centre backs (I know that freaks out many!!) through the midfield into the back of the net in the space of less than a minute. I haven't timed it, but it wasn't long.

McNeil made his own goal. Great feet and skill cutting in from the flank to beat a number of players. Clever lay off to Iwobi, but didn't stop and watch, followed up and got his and our reward.

Aside from the result and how well we played on the ball, it was the off the ball sheer hard work that impressed me yesterday. Mention for Anthony Gordon who seemed to be off sorts of late. He worked very hard yesterday. Great awareness and follow up for his goal and very nearly got one in the first half had it not been for a good save.

Final mention; I know he's more of a conventional full back and his lack of attacking nouse get's justifiably questioned, but Mykolenko in the box taking a shot that led to a goal!!

I'll be one of hundreds of thousands of happy global Evertonians who can go and watch the Sunday football with a smile on my face.

Spirit. There was plenty of that yesterday.

Up the Blues !!!

The big question now is, have we turned the corner we thought we had negotiated three matches ago? Only time will tell, but that injection of belief and confidence gained yesterday, will go a long way to securing a result at Fulham.

Who I must hasten to add, have done reasonably well since promotion. Marco Silva has them playing attractive and effective Football. Maybe Steve Ferns was right all along! Hope there is a blip next Saturday though for him. (Silva, not Steve)

I thought Gordon played well today and showed lots of passion and tracked back a lot to cut Zaha's service.

If he can work on his crossing to put more of them in the danger zone for Dom, he will go to the next level. Give him a chance – he is still learning!

You cheeky monkey for calling out the experts on here, what were you thinking!?

Very good post by a very honest man. Of course, plenty of us were shaking their heads with the team selection – especially after the complete non performance at Newcastle on Wednesday night.

Let's hope Frank continues to get more performances like today's out of this squad.

Marching onto Putney Bridge.

Dave, after the Newcastle game, I was one calling for a formation and player change, so poor it was, but.. where did that performance come from? Is it tactical or motivational? Must have been a great win bonus!

I think Iwobi was given a free reign with this one, rather than stay covering Seamus... who, it has to be said, must have had 3 Weetabix for breakfast!

Can they keep that form together? Hope so...

Frank didn't make them and the team repaid his faith in them with an excellent performance and 3 glorious goals.

We are getting better and there will be setbacks but boy was that an enjoyable watch.

UTFT

Great effort and spirit, skill and fight. Before the game, I'm sure many feared Everton getting bullied, but they held their own and scrapped and looked after each other on the park.

Focusing on the game rather than the officials, a very happy day and night, beaming Evertonians in town last night to celebrate and rightfully so.

But now for Fulham, and in a similar vein over the last decade, Everton have gone down there in good form, and failed to show, other than the odd game.

Silva will want to make a point. But show the same mentality and who knows, football is a funny old game.

Hope eternal, UTFTs!

I don't tend to get involved with it other than suggesting formations or where individual players might be better suited. I think. Call me out if otherwise.

It's all opinions and the only people that matter are those at the wheel and making the decisions. But there is absolutely nothing wrong with discussion and opinions amongst fans. We do it in the pub when the App or email notifications of the team come through.

The problem with football is that you can't predict it. That's why we're hooked.

We won. They got it right. Forget the selection. It was the attitude and desire.

When I saw the team selection, I thought we would again struggle to create or score. But obviously Frank and his coaches have had a complete reset and changed completely from a very cautious approach, to a side who pressed higher up the pitch than ever before and even had midfield players running ahead of our forwards –something I have asked for, for a long time.

You could tell from the first couple of minutes that we intended to play front-foot football: from Palace's first goal-kick we had 3 players on the edge of their box and, only 3 or 4 yards behind them, we had Gana and Onana.

This surely has to be the template we have to adopt going forward; we showed that, against a decent Palace side, we could be very aggressive in attack and it didn't lessen our backline or leave them exposed.

All 3 goals were quality, Calvert-Lewin winning the ball back deep in their half and a quick ball from Iwobi and, in a flash, the finish was quality.

The 2nd goal was like watching Man City at their best – we moved it from Tarkowski to Coady to Coleman to Iwobi to Calvert-Lewin to I think Gordon onto Gray who rolled it to Onana, who was now our furthest attacker, who rolled it into our fullback Mykolenko to shoot, only for the keeper to save but Gordon was on hand to tap it in.

The 3rd goal, McNeil ghosts past 2 Palace defenders and plays the ball into the box for Iwobi to do a supreme back heel and McNeil finished the move, another great piece of football.

I have banged on for many months about our lack of goals and our lack of attacking intent, but yesterday Frank and his coaches showed a side to this group that has been lacking for months. A high line and not like the Man Utd and Spurs game where we retreated into our half before engaging the opposition.

Previously, midfield players were 10 yards away from our forwards; yesterday, they were running past our forwards which helped with our passing as we had more options in the final third.

I have to say I was there at Leicester last season and obviously the Palace game last season were both great victories but yesterday was a great performance. Let's hope that we now take this new attacking game into our next few games and banish any thought of another season battling relegation.

He knows exactly how to play him, gives him no time or space and manages to wind him up beautifully too.

Zaha nearly always loses his rag and gets a card. I don't think any full back in the league plays him better.

This is exactly what we have been craving for god knows how long. And yet we have been criticised by some on here for having "unrealistic expectations" – how abhorrently negative can you get? Yet some people stand behind their disgusting predictions of defeat before each game.

Given the poor performances in terms of attacking football that preceded yesterday's excellent performance, it's understandable that posters offered possible solutions for fixing the problem.

Frank did the last thing anyone on here expected him to do – he stuck with the same line-up that had been so toothless against Newcastle, who really were no great shakes. So you have to ask: Why didn't we show even 20% of that attitude and desire on Wednesday?

We've all been watching football for an awful long time, and we get sucked in to the idea that an analysis of current form allows you to predict the outcome of the next game. But countless examples should show us that is far from the truth.

The best team in the country lost to a lousy pile of red shite last weekend, and this weekend, that pile of red shite lost to the team at the bottom of the Premier League!!! What sense does that make in terms of form and expectations? None at all.

Every game should be an opportunity for either team to secure a win – if they are the better team on the day. But even that simple formula does not always work.

Possibly the most puzzling trait on here for me is the extrapolation trap: some posters glom on to the last game and then extrapolate the result and performance to the next game, the next month, and even the entire run of games for the rest of the season! Surely watching football must have told you a thousand times that it just does not work like that!

I'm afraid it's the old cliche for me: One game at a time.

To quote Jimmy Greaves…….”It's a funny old game”.

Amazing how I got slated on here when I published the stats of Tarkowski last year, and was told on here this would be a terrible signing. Got berated that he was at Burnley so that's why etc etc

Nice to see we now have an excellent Centre back.

It's why league predictions in September and October always bemuse me, apart from some of the obvious ones.

The league usually settles at the end of December That's when you get an idea for where you will be challenging. It ends in May.

This year will obviously be different, but I don't get carried away at this stage of the season. As you say, we've all been watching football long enough to understand that.

David @175, totally agree. He got away with one just as he did last season. Nasty player. There's a difference between being hard and being a shithouse.

At least we stood up to Zaha's whining and bullied him back into submission. He's another one. Good talent but his constant complaining when he get's the slightest touch winds me up. Well done for getting in his face and taking him off his game and well done Seamus for marshalling him like an experienced Texas Sheriff.

I never really liked Greavsie and was spared watching him every week, thankfully, but he was right in that regard.

Brian's great description of each goal triggered another thought on yesterday's game. Perhaps someone can explain to me how you can have those three very fine passing moves leading to goals – along with three more shots on target and three others that were not too far away – yet some faceless 'expert' somewhere decides that Everton's 'Expected Goals' rated a paltry 1.45???

What utter fucking nonsense is that?

While you are absolutely right that each game can produce a totally different result than what was expected, it still doesnt mean that form guides can be thrown out the window for every game. the teams at the bottom are there because of their inability to win games on a regular basis and the teams at the top are there because they do win on a regular basis. I understand your thoughts that every game is a one off but generally the top 6 teams will 9 times out of 10 beat the bottom 6.
So while there has been and always will be upsets to the form guide I think they are a better indication of how a game will pan out so taking what has happened in the previous games are a good guide, and I don't agree that to use those guides as a prediction is a poor way to asses how a game will pan out.

Team and plan in progress. Let's enjoy the ride and accept the bumps along the way. We've been here before. Perseverance rather than panic will get us to the promised land.

For me, that notion goes completely against the fundamental intent and purpose of playing the game. It works directly against and eats away at the spontaneity and competitiveness and uncertainty that are the very heart and essence of the game.

Unless you can watch at least the start of each game with some belief that today, we are going perform, play well, and win – then honestly, what's the fucking point? That's why any prediction – but especially the negative nellies who say we are going to lose – are abhorrent to me.

It's facile to look at current form, table position, and predict the result. Anyone can do it. No-one gets it right – except by sheer fluke.

But at least someone has got it well figured out – the bookies – which is sadly ironic for me when you look at a supposed working-man's sport to see so many punters sucked into this con-trick and throwing away their hard-earned... Meanwhile, they look to the government, demanding the next handout.

Yes, it's a funny old world...

I see you're still having dig, your argument that we have the same chance of success whoever we play or wherever we play is nonsense.
Sure we always have a chance of winning any game, but it's not the same chance.

If you don't want us to give our genuine thoughts on our chances of a result if we think we might struggle, that's okay.
Next time we play Man City on their ground, do we say I think we will win instead of it might be difficult to get a favourable result?

By the way, I forecast we would win yesterday along with everyone else as far as I know. They are only opinions they don't change anything.

Irrationality is fundamental to footy fandom the game exists on myth and legend; logic and rational decision-making are at the same level as that expounded by disciples of ISIS and other mad cults.

We need more vehement disagreement and people offering each other "out" because it reflects the match-going experience. When people post on here clearly under the influence of something, it's a joy.

The idea that supporters are negative if they question team selection and must repent if proven wrong is ludicrous. Support unreservedly at the match, vent on ToffeeWeb.

I think the difference between the two performances comes down to getting that first goal early on. Forces the other team to make the running, they leave gaps, are more tired quicker, and so make mistakes.

One aspect where Everton will have suffered over the last few years is that so many of their games they were not able to coast at any point. Imagine how many games where a good team can start taking it easy at 65 minutes, we've been able to do that maybe once or twice. a season.

I don't think for one moment that Frank Lampard came in and managed to keep us up. You and the rest of us kept Everton up, we were the ones who made the players perform with the magnificent support before games on the streets outside Goodison Park, at Finch Farm then inside the grounds when the matches began.

Frank never gave them the spirit that kept us up – we did, the very young, the teenagers, middle-aged and pensioners urged these players to strive that bit extra and sweat a lot more.

Frank learned to love the crowd, knows how responsible we were in getting that extra out of them and created the absolutely wonderful atmosphere throughout the last few weeks and games of the season.

Without that support and atmosphere there is no way we would have seen the Premier League football we are watching this season. That support played a big part in the win yesterday as well.

The reason we are on this site is because its our love for our club and our desire to do well. But that shouldnt blinker on how we asses how the team is performing, and as you yourself have described on many occasions pretty abysmally at times. So while every poster wants us to win every game we play, to point out some of their believed deficiencies is not negative but actually positive as they are saying we have belief this player or team can do better.

I would also suggest that most of us go to the game and back the players to the hilt but that doesn't stop us offering criticism after or before the game kicks off. In all the years of going the game I have never booed at the game or left early another pet hate of mine. I wonder if the people who regularly leave early do they do the same when they go to the theatre, get up 10 minutes before the end and leave to catch a bus or train home.

Finally not sure of your comment at the end of your post Michael is very fitting, were you say they are waiting for the next Government hand out, dont know why you made that comment.

I've always rated Tarkowski. Not only is he a class player, he's as hard as nails. We are not a team that can be intimidated anymore, with him, Coady and Onana and Gana.

As well as Seamus played yesterday, I feel that we miss Patterson. He gives us an extra attacking dimension that we have missed since he's been out.

Only good can come from the game and we have now 3 games which are all winnable.

The Fulham game is probably the most difficult as they are on a roll but we will see.

Played without fear and on the front foot. Learned their lesson of the past few games even though there was some tough opposition in those; not including Newcastle in that.

The challenge is can they sustain that level and achieve consistency?

Absolutely, Dave Abrahams. And that support will also respond to what it sees. I can't vouch as I couldn't be there yesterday, but it sounded like the crowd responded to the effort I saw and they were seeing.

Very difficult to pick a Man of the Match so I'll just give them all a 9 for effort alone and making a good weekend for us Blues.

Every opposition throws up different challenges but, with that kind of energy and passion, then we should be climbing that Premier League table. Having a focal point up front allowed us to play the way we did.

On the subject of the referees, I agree that the standards are not great. I also firmly believe that a lot of players are shamefully playacting and making it harder for refs to control games. This is a topic that needs to be discussed and eradicated from the game.

Players who are diving around and rolling in agony when it's proved there's been no contact should be sent off and banned as it's disrupting an already VAR-induced sport... just a pet hate of mine.

Special mention to Seamus who, despite his weary legs, is still giving everything. I think he's enjoying having Tarkowski and Coady next to him as they are all of the same old school breed of toughness.

Like most of us, I'm totally amazed in that, in less than 12 months, he's gone from being a player that shouldn't have been anywhere near the first team to one that's virtually the first name on the team sheet.

He's now one of the best, if not the best, midfield players in the Premier League. It won't be long before Man City are sniffing around!

Firstly, if you are scathing towards the manager's selection and its ability to create chances when the team runs out comfortably winners, then I think you open yourselves up to a bit of ribbing.

Secondly, and more importantly, as with a lot of my posts, my main attempt was to add a little humour to the site. I maybe should have added that my comment should have been read with a Norwegian accent. If necessary, google Bjørge Lillelien.

Southgate was watching. For me there is no doubt that he should take Calvert-Lewin, Tarkowski and Coady to the World Cup.

In our hour of peril, the crowd rediscovered its love of the club and the impact it can have on the team. Imagine if the crowd's passion was matched by the performance and intensity of the team?

We could really be on to something.

Nothing staged. Nothing false for the Sky cameras.

Just pure outpouring of love, desire and passion that has been passed down for generations.

Iwobi might be good for us. But he's nowhere near the level for Man City. Never will be.

We need pretty much everyone to be on song for the manager's plans to become reality, and even then we need to hope we aren't simply up against better players playing their best.

The posts I just don't really understand are the team sheet ones. It's not a democracy so what anyone other than the manager has picked is irrelevant (and proves absolutely zilch).

Similar to the formation ones; it is how the players find space off the ball, deny the opposition soft options, etc that makes the difference, not a simple series of numbers written down.

None of the comments matter in real terms. The line-ups and formations are just a bit of fun. People pretending they're 8 years old again and playing make-believe as to how they'd get a better outcome.

In fairness, some have pretty well argued points but yes of course it's meaningless in real terms.

I couldn't sleep the last few games of last season, and that is nuts, but true. So, I think our emotional investment entitles us to, now and again, be ridiculous.

I totally agree, mate.

Caring as much as we all do is because as humans we're deeply tribal and often insanely competitive. Everton is our tribe and we all lost a bit of sleep worrying about being knocked down a notch last season, because it meant we were losers on the pitch.

It pained us that much to be losing and to have our identity be one of such pitiful football. It was natural to feel that way, and then also to recapture ownership and leadership of the club and lead us to non-relegation glory, as others have posted above.

And along the way, all the hilarious and passionate and insightful and often banal banter on TW or at Goodison or in our living rooms is part and parcel of membership in the tribe. (Or at least I tell myself all this to justify how Everton makes me feel and how much time it occupies in my life and mind.)

I'm treading a thin line here, but Everton means more to me than just about everything in life. Just about. Family first obviously.

But Everton are family. They've been with me from the cradle and since I can remember. They'll be with me to the grave.

Once we get that 10th league title.

The esteemed Garth Crooks' Team of the Week includes Mykolenko. That will have him buzzing to above the clouds.

City, are exceptional in their consistency's,, the last 15 years, but are beatable, and Everton, and other Teams, beat them, when they work hard and execute their game plan, but Everton are changing for the better.

Over previous Centuries, go for it. Only one Winner! It ain't Cit.

Iwobi had a great game, v Palace, has had very good start to this season, and as we all know on TW, football success and failure is built over seasons, and moulded by managers, players, grit, belief, character, and transcending negativity.

All Evertonians, can, could, and are qualified to be cute, if they wished.

A great day, so what's the works, worth on Iwobi? Why so negative?

I'm saving the poker..

Watch Everton, and yesterday and based on this season, literally, Alex Iwobi, is a reborn player, and the pulse of the Everton Squad.

The general negativity of late on TW, in a transition season, takes the pits, loads to play for and who knows, but writing off so early, in this season, is madness.

UTFTs!

“ Whats Our Name?”

But you of all people should hold out hope of seeing Everton at the top of the league. If the Vikes can lead the NFC Central, anything can happen, right?

Please try to keep this forum on point to professional sports even violent ones with a weirdly shaped ball where men beat the crap out of each other without Legion of Doom shoulder pads like rugby.

Fortunately he still loves playing the real version of football, but truth is he'd probably now take a Vikings game over Everton on a Sunday afternoon.

Too bad he's stuck with me, which means I maul him when we score a goal, he knows what to wear on match day, and we're going to Goodison before I ever step foot in US Bank stadium a few miles away.

Haha tough love is the way to go

Kieran, for many years you could have lorded over us the inferiority of the gridiron grunts, but no more. England has prostituted itself to the American game. Jonathan's son's Vikings beat the Saints this month in front of 60,639 at Spurs stadium -- barely short of the 61,812 they drew to play Everton.

However, somewhat off topic, but echoing Peter Clarke at 203, just on the subject of simulated 'career ending' injuries, I've said it before, but if it was to be obligatory in the event that an injury (or not) requires on field attention then the player should have to wait say a couple or three minutes before returning to the field of play.

Call it a treatment/assessment break or whatever but in the case of a genuine injury it may be quite necessary. A forced substitution would be immediate of course, but it may discourage some players from their simply amateur dramatics intended to waste time or worse in my opinion, get an opposition player carded when subjected to the slightest or imagined touch.

The human body is not as fragile as many professional footballers would make out (take 10 mins to watch some of the Rugby League World Cup even if you do't follow the game to see what I mean). The physical contact has been massively reduced in our game (football) in the last couple of decades and I get that the footballer's physiology and the nature of impacts can therefore be exacerbated and genuine bad injuries do occur, but to get back to my point, if they were forced to depart the pitch for a couple of minutes, maybe the simulation might drop off.

Iwobi I have to say with Onana absolutely ran the show. I can't speak highly enough of Iwobi, he controlled the game and tempo for me. I had slight concerns over Onana but on Saturday he showed the player he can potentially be, not only with his presence and tackling but he was everywhere and his passing was fantastic.

Calvert-Lewin lead the line brilliantly. I don't think people realise the impact it has when the ball does go up top it can be held up and bring other players in, instead of coming back everytime.

The substitutions were great and I have huge faith in McNeil, I think he will be a big player for us.

Things to improve on are crossing, we got more balls into the box but needs to be better quality and first time. I thought Gana was largely anonymous and slightly off it again. Hopefully he will get up to the pace which I'm sure he will be more of a benefit for this squad than not.

Surely Fulham can't win 3 Premier League games in a row. Good time to go and show them what we can do on Saturday.

Maybe push him bit further up. He's has a knack like Fellaini of getting into good positions. Just needs that first goal and watch him go, hopefully

I thought on Saturday he showed good signs in all those areas and also showed some skill and sprayed some quality balls around as well as dropping back into left back to pick the ball up off the defence and fill in for Mykolenko.

He is pure potential at the moment and each game will be monumental for his improvement even when he doesn't play well. Having Iwobi next to him on this form and Gana will be benefitting him hugely. But I see a great player there hopefully in a few seasons.

Usually a player with his height could be a bit slower or less coordinated. But he's very good overall. His reach of his tackles must have caught a lot of players by surprise, eg he won the ball off Casemiro in the Man Utd game that lead to Iwobi's beauty.

I'd like to see Doucoure being match-fit again to compete for those starting spots.

My tongue-in-cheek response was to label them as failed footballers who resorted to picking the ball up with their hands and running with it.

Yes, there is more direct contact and impact in Rugby. I don't dispute that.

But the nature of football is that a leg-on-leg impact is potentially way more dangerous than a coming together of the upper body.

I'm hugely over-simplifying there, but that's how I've always seen it.

I respect Rugby, especially the way they officiate the game, even if it confuses the hell out of me. For what is at face value a simple game, it is actually very complex in terms of rules. I just enjoy watching it, totally oblivious to what is going on!!

Then again, football has made a complete dog's ear of the offside rule. Even though they fortunately got it right on Saturday.

My point really was about simulation and somehow reducing it by forcing a short "recovery period" or some such. We do get traumatic injuries in football for example Gomes which was not really an impact injury per se but injury caused by the body's own stresses exacerbating the strain on the joint caused by the first tackle and follow up - the ankle in his case. Indeed, having played a lot of both rugby and football (to decent but not particularly high standard) in a previous life, I have suffered worse injuries playing football.

In rugby the body is generally more "relaxed" on impact so absorbs punishment more easily. In football the nature of the game and physiology means that ones body is tense or stressed so can to all intents and purposes work against itself.

Anyway, I take your point 100% but refer back to my frustration at simulation. How do we deal with it?

Offside? Don't start me. Too much to contribute but on Saturday I was not remotely worried, bar blatant abuse, that the goal would have been disallowed. Fortunately VAR did it's proper job identifying a clear error. Not sure what the linesman or whatever he's called these days (still a linesman to me) was thinking, but maybe he's from SE25!

On simulation, it's simple to me. but then I'm a simple person!

Punish it, don't just wave it away as the officials tend to do and tell the player to get up. If they are proven to simulate, then book them.

I do also think there is a place in football for the sin bin approach.

My blood boils when I hear Alan Shearer and others say "If you give that, you'd be giving them every week".

No. Once you start dishing out punishment for wrong-doing, be that simulation and shirt-pulling (pet hate), it would soon stop or become less frequent. So you wouldn't be giving them every week.

Consistency. That's all we want.

Calvert-Lewin got a great goal and showed what a key player he is up front. Need to wrap him in cotton wool now! Iwobi awesome again, as was our defence. Gordon's best game in my opinion for a while too.

Although the fact the linesman thought his goal was offside is very worrying, seeing as it was so obviously not?! Can't see why he would raise his flag when Gordon was so clearly on. I know the standard of Premier League referees now is poor in general but are the officials really that bad?!

I think it's difficult to prove simulation if there has been on-field treatment, so carding is probably not the broad answer. Obvious diving, as opposed to simulated injury, to win penalties, free-kicks etc is different and works to some extent already. Cards are seen.

Obliging an "injured" player to leave the pitch for a couple of minutes recovery or assessment could work. I mean in the case of genuine injuries, that is often the case anyway – a short period of off-pitch treatment and then returning, or even a forced substitution.

Meantime, I'm looking forward to a further 3 points on Saturday evening.

A great team performance all-round but why can't we show that level of commitment in our away games?