A Creeping Sense of Inevitability

For the life of me, I can't work out why we bought Jake O'Brien – if he won't play him now, what chance has he got when Branthwaite comes back?

We are getting so far behind in our ability to play football on the front foot; instead, we spend most of the time chasing and defending. We have no game plan on how to hold onto a lead, our defenders look worse than they are due to complete lack of support from midfielders and forwards when they are under pressure.

The thing is it never seems to change, we have no plan for when teams attack us. Our football never seems to improve, and we still can't find anybody who can cross a decent ball consistently.

The whole club, from playing and the running of the club, seem to be chasing our tails while being in the same spot. We were lucky last season due to the form of Branthwaite and James Tarkowski; it looks like we are going to have to rely on them again.

We are in a mess. If it wasn't for the takeover saga, Sean Dyche would have gone by now. If Textor does take over, big changes need to be made.

It was a great feeling to be 2-0 up, with the away fans in full chant, and a team that looked together, but – for some reason only known to Dyche – we started to play deeper with the inevitable consequences of inviting Villa to attack us at their will.

The coaching staff began to question their tactics with Dyche on the sidelines and, even though changes were made, we looked disorganised.

All we can do is dig in and hope we get something from the upcoming Leicester and Palace games.

Dyche has built a deserved reputation for solid teams; that's been shredded in four games.

I got Lampard flashbacks yesterday. Huge gaps in midfield. Huge gaps between midfield and forwards. Huge gaps between midfield and defence. Jittery defending and poor concentration.

There was a complete lack of conviction in our play, even after we went two up against the run of play.

I'm certain the players are perfectly fit; there's a complete lack of purpose in the play. That's why other teams appear sharper, with better movement, pace and crisper passing.

At the moment, we're bereft of all Dyche's strengths and left with a shapeless, purposeless, mentally weak mess.

We had a chance to make our luck yesterday; we didn't take it. It's on Dyche to sort this out quickly.

Meanwhile, Moyes sits by his phone, waiting for that call…

We still have no right-back available and we still have the ineffective Harrison.

It's a complete shambles from top to bottom and from left to right.

It is my solemn belief this is not a good plan.

People are stating that Keane has played well, they're kidding themselves. When he plays, we leak goals at an alarming rate. He hasn't been helped by Tarkowski's erratic form but the fact is Keane is a liability and Dyche can't wait to get him in the side.

I'm not saying Branthwaite coming back will be a godsend but it'll certainly calm Tarkowski down.

Another annoyance was the fact we never strengthened the full-back positions in the close season. Being honest, Mykolenko is a poor footballer and the staff knew Patterson was injured but failed to do anything about it.

Other teams' fans must laugh when they see Young starting regular games – it's a joke, a complete and utter joke.

Surely there has to be someone at the club who can give Dyche his marching orders because, if we keep him, I'm certain we won't get out of this mess.

Young as a full-back, for all his "experience", against the quicker Dixon, is just criminal now. Young as a 39-year-old outfield player should be nowhere near Premier League football.

Mykolenko has never offered anything to this team, whether it is defending or going forward. When was the last time he marauded down the left on an overlap and pinged a cross onto Calvert-Lewin's head?

And now the midfield. Gana at 34 seems to now not be able to last 90 minutes. Tim Iroegbunam looks okay but is very raw after only a handful of games at Villa. Doucoure huffs and puffs but has no real technical ability.

McNeil has technical ability but no real pace so should not be near a wing. Ndiaye again looks okay but no support out on the left and runs into two opposing defenders who get the ball off him. Harrison, well I saw more from Lindstrom in 15 mins than Harrison gave in 75!

And then Calvert-Lewin. If he went to Newcastle or Spurs, he would score at least 20 a season. He has no support whatsoever and that, my friends, is purely down to tactics.

All other 10 players and I include Pickford in this, just basically have no confidence to play a 5- or 10-yard pass and play out from the back.

The amount of long balls up to Calvert-Lewin is beyond belief. Up the ball goes, Calvert-Lewin, I would have thought, 65% of the time gets something on it for a knock-down but there is never anyone around him as a runner. I lost count yesterday how many times he ran after his own knock-on.

There are also a few players who are really showing signs of "It doesn't matter how I play, I am going to be on the pitch next game anyway" attitude.

Pickford has become very comfortable picking the ball out of the onion bag. Tarkowski loves a last-ditch challenge but looks around when the ball goes in the goal. Young loves a little finger point at the nearest other player about why didn't you pick him up.

Harrison can have a cuppa out on the wing and Keane can look at the ground and let him have it swallow him up after each mistake. Another one yesterday being outjumped and outmuscled by Watkins for their first goal.

But hey, Leicester up next, boys. Usual suspects in the same holes making the same fuck-ups.

Begovic
Tarkowski O'Brien Branthwaite
Lindstrom Iroegbunam Garner Ndiaye
Mangala McNeil
Calvert-Lewin

Why have these players bought or in on loan if you are not going to play them? Something needs to be changed as, before long, it is going to be hard to change around a losing mentality and, with the opponents we have coming up, then we need to be picking points up against these ones.

I didn't watch the game yesterday but when reading Lyndon's report, my view was that the only way to protect a weakened back four is by playing a low block.

Ancelotti got Everton to the top of the Premier League playing four central defenders in defence but this was only achieved by playing a very low block and leaving no space between the lines.

I can't understand why Dyche hasn't adopted the same philosophy right now although I saw a headline on Friday about something Jamie Carragher had said about Dyche and was wondering if this has affected the manager's thoughts since the fans walked out en masse during the Brighton game?

I'd like to give the manager the benefit of the doubt on this (Evertonians respect but will never love Sean Dyche) but he needs to be pragmatic right now, otherwise he's going to be losing his job.

I think most posters accept that, if he was managing a ‘normal' Premier League club, Dyche would have gone by now.

In your opinion, how bad would things have to get before the club decide to part company with him?

In a couple of football score predictors, I put us down for a 2-0 and a 3-0 defeat – when money is involved you think with your head and not your heart. So imagine the joy and surprise when Calvert-Lewin put us 2-0 up.

I thought to myself "It's too early to be 2 up" and Villa had plenty of time and a lot of quality to get it back but I had hope. Even at 2-1, I thought, come on lads hang on in there and stick together and get a much-needed win for yourselves and the gaffer.

With previous Dyche's teams, that would have been a good bet to win it with defensive stability and a rock-hard resolve to hang on. Where has that gone? When you play with Keane and Young in your back 4, you should know it will be hard to watch.

At 2-1, you just knew what was coming – you could feel it, watching and waiting, it felt like a matter of time. It came as no surprise when Villa went ahead and that would be game over. The media and the keyboard warriors are loving the drama. Bloody Everton!

I'm in the camp of giving Dyche the credit he deserves for what he has taken on in our club, the circumstances are utterly insane with everything that has gone on under Moshiri's ownership (that's for another day).

I think he's doing an impossible job keeping us in the Premier League given what he has faced, he's strongly hinted at it, he'll know much more than we do about the reality behind the scenes. You could see the exasperation on his face at various points yesterday as the win slipped away.

Buckle up your seatbelts folks, this is going to be another bumpy ride. I genuinely think 40 points will be needed to stay up, the bottom 3 will be stronger than last season, so something has to change with the players – if you can't win with a 2-goal head start, then the writing is on the wall.

I can't see Everton scoring 4 every week to give us a chance of winning. It would be very "Everton that" to finally get relegated after what, 60-70 years, in our last season at Goodison.

The noise around Dyche about his contract being up, the new potential owner already undermining him and this being Goodison's last year, the financial constraints… I could go on and on. It's never easy being an Evertonian – it just finds new and madder ways to knock you down and humiliate you when you start to feel a bit optimistic.

But we'll hang on in there in the hope for better days. It's all we can do.

Orel Mangala, who has hardly had a day's training with his new colleagues, looked well short after he came on. Potentially he will offer more creativity breaking out of deep positions, make ball retention a more reliable feature of our play and link play more effectively through the middle.

It was noticeable, not to mention alarming, how easily Villa players were able to receive and turn in midfield, immediately running at our defensive lines. Both Tim Iroegbunam and Gana like to ‘get stuck in' which appeals to many fans but they do not complement each other. Neither reads the game well. Until Mangala gets up to speed, I would prefer Garner in midfield alongside either Tim or Gana.

A linked issue is the inability of the back line to push up to a high line. Lack of pace at the back means we sit 5 to 10 yards deeper than the optimum, making the pitch bigger and leaving more space for the opposition to create attacks. The return of Branthwaite will help with that.

In contrast, Villa had Pau Torres with enough time on the ball to write his autograph on it. He was able to move forward in possession, sometimes 10 or 15 yards into our half. Our players sat off him, wary, presumably, of leaving midfield even more open than it already was. Consequently we were unable to mount a consistent press which might have exposed Villa's own weaknesses in defence, as evidenced when McNeil robbed Onana to create and score the first goal.

Another feature of Villa's attacking play was the way their wide players, notably Ramsey, drifted into the central areas, taking their markers, notably Harrison, with them and creating huge gaps for the full-back, notably Digne, to attack with impunity. It is of course easier to do that when the team enjoys controlled possession with the potential to deliver a goal threat from several positions.

Moving a midfielder across or telling Harrison stay in position to cover our right flank was an option but would have left us even more overloaded in the middle. Alternatively, instructing the full-back, Young and later Garner, to push wide to pick up Digne would have left Tarkowski with two opponents to deal with.

Dyche's thinking that keeping the team shape narrow to defend the central areas is heavily dependent on the central defenders and keeper being able to deal with crosses. That's when we return to Branthwaite and his greater agility, height and pace. Let's hope he is fit to return soon and stays fit in the coming months.

I still think we have enough quality players and the right manager to climb out of trouble. It is glaringly obvious, however, the longer we wait for a win, the harder that task will be.

For the fourth season in a row, we start the season with the weakest financial position of any club in the Premier League – with an owner who simply doesn't care whether we are relegated having pulled the plug financially at the end of the 2020-21 season. In all honesty, it is incredible we are still a Premier League side.

I did think that this season would be better, but the injury crisis and failure to sign a right-back (which would have been top of my priority list this summer) has caught up with us.

And in all honesty we have not had much luck. Had we scored an easy chance when well on top against Brighton, things may have been different. The capitulation against Bournemouth was astonishing in a game we might have won 5-0. Duran's winner yesterday was a shot of brilliant quality – with the odds of scoring from there being extremely low. Even despite that blow, Calvert-Lewin came incredibly close to securing a deserved point.

You can absolutely argue about some of the selections etc, but it is not as though the alternative options are particularly good. They are just other weak alternatives. Which means a new manager is not going to come in and remedy glaring errors with clever new tactics or formations. We're really just waiting for Branthwaite to recover and bring some solidity to the defence.

But unless we pick up points, and probably three points, against Leicester, then – as the article suggests – it does feel like we're getting to the end of the line.

We're probably just one or maybe two games away from having David Moyes as our manager again – with the task of rescuing us from relegation for the 6th time in the last 8 seasons. With 30-odd games left to secure about 40 points, and the return of Branthwaite, he'll probably do it.

The reason for the massive under-performance is a lack of cohesion, a lack of confidence throughout the team, and the mental strength to get over the line.

That is the manager's job.

Even at home to Bournemouth, you could make a decent case to say that not one of our First XI would have got in their First XI. And Kerkez, Araujo, Zabarnyi and Semenyo would definitely have improved our First XI. On paper, they had the better players.

Although we are underperforming, it is hard to describe it as massive underperformance – especially given the injury crisis robbing us of our one outstanding outfield player.

The damage done during the last 10 minutes of our last home game may prove to have long-lasting consequences. We are a mentally weak and fragile team and everyone knows it!

We have three games before the next International break and we have to turn the tide in those games or else we will have a new manager in place when we start back after the next international break.

Given that it's an absolute must that we stay in the Premier League at the end of the season, the powers that be will be looking for someone with a record of coming in and keeping teams up. It won't be a case of looking for a bright young coach; no, this will be a job for an experienced operator.

Losing to Villa is no disaster and if the score was 1-0, it would be a case of moving on to the next game without more mental damage being done; however, to go 2-up and lose yet again is a hammer blow.

It never ceases to amaze me how fans like Rob Halligan and Danny O'Neill have the mental fortitude to pick themselves up and go again; we especially need people like them now both on and off the pitch if we are to turn this around!

It's not the defeats per se – it's the manner of the defeats, it's the lack of cohesion and confidence throughout the team that really hits home to me.

Without Dyche, we would have had 4 points imho.

Patterson is injured and is defensively not as strong as he should be; Dixon looks to have the making of a potentially good full-back, and is certainly better than Coleman at this stage of his career and the disaster that is Young.

Mykolenko is simply not up to Premiership standards. He is never aware of the whereabouts of attackers.

Barry Rathbone, like many of us, wonders why we don't select O'Brien. Tarkowski and Keane both lack pace and both look as though time has caught up with them.

Dyche has his favourites and has a distinct preference for experience over promise. Things are not looking good.

Christopher's second paragraph @17 is so true but because I don't want to sound like a scratched record picking on certain players, I will just say that this wasn't the case when Branthwaite was in the team, so we will see.

I think the manager's position will depend on the ownership issue.

But for those who like the plucky little Everton and People's Club tag, once it happens, expect a shake-up and culture change.

Other than Ndiaye, we have mostly signed players on loan with an option to buy them, so you do wonder how we have ended up with O'Brien, with the manager so reluctant to play him?

Dyche has done about eight or nine seasons as a Premier League manager, and has a lot more experience than any fan sitting in the stands or watching at home, but sometimes when you see the Everton line-up, you do wonder.

He's right, football is the only job in the world where everyone seems to know the job better than the manager does with regard to tactics and team selection. But I'm certain that about 75% of Evertonians would disagree with the teams he has selected so far this season because shipping 13 goals in four games is both unacceptable and disgraceful.

Reading that last paragraph, Danny, then all's I can say, is fingers crossed, mate.

He never dominates his 6-yard area, is weak on long-range shots, and apart from being a decent reaction stopper, is a keeper very few teams in the Premier League would want. His agent played a blinder getting him an extension and pay rise, when it was clear that no-one was interested in signing him.

The only thing to hold onto is that we're only a win away from jumping out of the Bottom 3 but Dyche is going through the motions. He knows he won't be at Everton next season and, when he gets relieved of his duties, he will have his contract paid up and can claim he saved us twice and was sacked without a relegation on his record – the same as when Burnley fired him.

The back 4 performed well last season but…
Young is a year older
Tarkowski is showing signs of age now
Coleman a year older
Mykolenko looks lost this season.

They all know, if fit, they play (Coleman & Young swapping).
You can't expect these ageing players to keep up the level of performance of last season. Sooner or later, their levels will drop off — it looks like it's sooner!!

I liked O'Brien's aggression when he came on, he deserves a shot next to Tarkowski, if 2 games losing from 2-up doesn't get him a game, the lad will be wondering what's going on!
Garner will probably have to cover right-back if Coleman is out.

Sometimes you can stumble on a line-up when you're forced into changes; he's going to need to stumble onto something quickly…

That is the root of the problem. All those starting eleven yesterday were capable of passing either 10 or 20 yards, but were clearly not coached to that degree.

Villa are a half-decent team, but they're not feckin Real Madrid. We simply stood back and watched them dictate, because our manager believes that is the best policy.

It's simple this footy game.

Previous game: 2-goal lead. Sorry, the work rate to close down is poor and protect the lead is worse.

Get back on the training field!! It's not good enough from the players. We are not that bad! However, we are in a fight for survival.

Dyche knows the score. Everyone must work harder.

3 things Dyche can do right now that are just sensible:

a) Play with a midfield 3 to make the team more compact;
b) Change the Keane-Tarkowski pair as it isn't working;
c) stop picking players out of position at right-back.

I would also switch Harrison over to his natural position on the left but let's not be too revolutionary.

If he crossed in those circumstances he would be getting criticized for that and now he has both McNeil and Ndiaye on that wing albeit McNeil is usually slightly infield.

The problem with the defence this season is mostly Tarkowski as he doesn't seem to mark anyone, seems to continually back off, and with both full-backs tucked in and they and Keane taking position off Tarkowski, the defence continually drops back leaving gaps out wide and between them and the midfield.

Perhaps the full-backs should be wider and the midfield fill the gap between full-back and central defender when it is played on that wing, that is the full-back wide to take on a winger, a midfielder between him and the central defender and another midfielder slightly in advance to cut off an inside pass or overlapping full-back.

This should then leave two other midfielders to cover in front of the central defence and move to the other side should there be a long ball to the other wing. And then one of the two remaining players (strikers?) should be inside the forward midfielder of that group to delay or stop an inside pass.

I'm sure this is probably not original and somebody will have the name for it, mini diamonds or something, but Tarkowski must start playing as the defence's central lynchpin.

However, I think you are absolutely right about Tarkowski. He has hit that stage of his career where the decline has set in, where Coleman was 3 years ago when he is aware of his declining powers and ends up in no-man's land because of being indecisive.

Ashley Young is simply awful, he knows what he should do, but his legs won't do it and so he gives away foul after foul. A total liability.

Yes, definitely Harrison on the left and let him play a bit more as a winger instead of being an auxillary full-back for most of the game.

We'll disagree on Mykolenko but I think Patterson suffers the same problem, instructed to play tucked in, a narrow, short defensive line and then looking like they've been caught out of position, in no-man's land reliant on a back tracking winger.

If I do have a problem with Mykolenko it is that he sometimes seems to be hanging back a yard or two behind the rest of the line particularly when moving out after an oppositions attack has broken down.

Oh, and Rick, without using numbers, I think we may be of the same generation indeed, my father used to say he was a friend of boxer Nel Tarleton.

It just so happens that, when Harrison played on the left for Leeds, the left-back was Ezgjan Alioski, who is now a free agent. He played for Leeds for 4 seasons, including in the Premier League. He left to join Al Ahli in Saudi Arabia and went on loan to Galatasaray in Turkey.

He was a bit of a cult hero at Leeds and they were sorry to see him go. Sounds like a sort of Bryan Oviedo figure. In his career he has played left-back 211 times, with 19 goals and 26 assists.

He is a current international for North Macedonia - 76 caps with 12 goals. Transfer Market value him at £2M. Surely a 12-month contract with an option of another year would be worth it. He can also play LM. He has played 456 career games, scoring 62 goals with 58 assists.

As regards Mykolenko, when it comes to defending, he's very good. Every time we play the RS, he has Salah in his pocket. Last season he was part of a defence that was one of the best in the Premier League.

Having Branthwaite, alongside him allowed him to play with confidence and just like Tarkowski he is suffering by having Keane in between them. Neither trust Keane and are having to keep an eye on his positional play as well as do their own job.

I also think Mykolenko is still carrying the after-effects of the injury he got in the derby, Tarkowski is also carrying an injury and both of them, plus Pickford did not have a proper preseason, when it came to gaining fitness and being match sharp and boy does it show.

Years ago (not so long ago) wearing the skipper's armband was status to dish out a bollocking, drive team mates on and re-organise to plug the gaps/double up etc.

Clearly we don't have anyone capable, or times have changed and no-one wants the responsibility, or needs the kudos.

It's painful seeing games thrown away, but I'd forgive any player who looked as if they were trying to stop the rot (ie, giving Keane a bollocking for being caught out yet again).

Call me old-fashioned but I like to see some passion on the pitch, even if it's two of our own players fighting.

We have lost 4 in a row now.  We lost again after going 2-0 up!  The team is getting deflated.  The football we play does not work and the players are starting to believe it. 

I sympathise with Sean Dyche but he looks worn out from all the commotion at Everton.  He is trying to play it safe by using experienced players, but it simply is not working. 

We are getting caught as Keane, Coleman, Young, Gueye, Doucoure, Beto have no pace.   That is more than half the team! The soak-and-counter works if we have a team capable of keeping it tight at the back and moving forward with a quick transition. 

I read that Pickford is now a liability.  Funny, considering any goalkeeper with the kind of defence we currently use in every game is going to be very nervous and that may lead to mistakes.  

I also read some articles suggesting Dyche wants Nick Pope to replace Pickford.  Remember the rumour in transfer window linking us to Josh Brownhill.  I hope these rumours are false as we are not the new Burley!

I do not understand why Dyche does not try a younger left-back (Jack Butler) and/or right-back (Roman Dixon) instead of Young and Coleman.  What can Young and Coleman offer us next year? 

Dixon and Butler are Liverpool lads, given opportunities (since we cannot afford to acquire proper replacements), can inspire more U21s to step up their game and help our future PSR moves. 

If Dyche was in charge 4 years ago, could anyone see him play a young Anthony Gordon and that £50M that it brought in later?   

Coleman and Young are no longer Premier League quality.  Why does Dyche insist on playing Keane every game when all the goals conceded were due to him switching off at different times of these games?  

Is O'Brien worse than him?  Is he another Beto? If O'Brien is not good enough, then our recruitment process is a huge problem. 

Why did we sign Lindstrom to leave him on the bench?  We should be playing Lindstrom (behind Calvert-Lewin or on the wing) and give him the freedom to be creative. Creative players are not going to be hardworking box-to-box players. 

We should have re-signed James Rodriguez (on lower wages) on a free since we are so skint.   Creative players may not play 90 minutes but are more likely to find that defense-splitting pass or score goals with their intelligence.  Lionel Messi is an excellent example.

It would not surprise me should Branthwaite start pushing for a move ahead of the next transfer window to a team that will support his ambitions.  A new manager and/or a new approach is quickly required to freshen up the players and to stop the rot.  That may be the only way we can hold on to Calvert-Lewin.   

I was sitting next to a guy whose daughter ran up in a Brazil kit. He offered me his hand, saying “Her Mum prefers an England kit but I'm not having that, I'm Brazilian. How are you? My name's Everton.”

There truly is no escape.

You think Everton's defence is making Pickford nervous? I'd have thought it was Pickford making the defence nervous with his ranting and raving throughout the game.

Yet he couldn't give Keane a simple shout of “My ball” in the second half at Villa. Keane couldn't take the chance that his goalie was ready to come and collect the ball and lashed it for an unnecessary corner.

Keane makes enough mistakes as it is but he wasn't the one to blame in that instance but was at fault along with Calamity for that first goal.