Everton record unwanted repeat feat with agonising loss to Villa

Losing too many in the air like that. Our defence is a mess. O'Brien needs to start and Lindstrom showed enough on the left to be given a chance instead of Harrison, who works hard but just doesn't offer us anything in forward positions.

Young actually played well today, but it was against his old club, so you'd expect that. Dixon has to start next week or throw in Patterson if he's fit.

Dyche needs to go now. At no point was I confident that we were going to get something out of that game.

Out now!!

Any other club would've sacked Dyche by now.

Doesn't anyone think that that is a factor in today's result?

That's the way it is.

I listened on the radio rather than going home to watch it but, talking to people before the game, I was reminded of what a Liverpool fan said to me about 3 months before Marco Silva got the sack.

That Michael Keane is going to cost Everton some goals this season, he said, and five managers later, he his still getting a game, and costing us goals.

Football is about many different things, and I could write a list as long as my arm about the things you have got to do right and the things you must not do wrong, but ultimately it's about the players, and unless our defensive personnel changes very soon, then it's going to be another change of manager, very soon.

Start of last season he persisted with Micheal Keane. Only took him off because of the fans' unrest, not his shitty performances. Now he's doing it again with O'Brien.

He brings a midfielder on and plays him at right-back, when he's got a right-back on the bench. Dyche is a cancer to this team, and his outdated approach is going to kill us.

He wasn't good enough 6 years ago.

He talks about bedding in players that are already good enough to fit in.

He is obsessed with how many Premier League minutes a player has under their belt.

Play the best players FFS.

If Dixon had come on for Mykolenko, we would have had a like-for-like substitution, full-back for full-back. Instead, he puts in a central midfielder out of position who was awol for the first goal.

Harrison then comes back to cover and is unlucky to give away the equalizer. Keane was beaten for both goals and really had no business starting.

O'Brien looks like a brick wall but only comes in to shut the stable door. If Dixon isn't ready, he shouldn't be on the bench.

Dyche is outfoxed by other coaches and regressive in his whole approach. He has to go. If I was Textor, I would have a black taxi waiting for him the second the ownership deal is complete.

Put another way, if Jarrad plays the 2 games against Bournemouth and Villa today, we are 6 points better off – of that I'm convinced.

Paulo Fonseca, anyone?

That ain't happening then!

I'm not certain but didn't Keane and Tarkowski relegate Burnley also when paired together? Clearly as a pairing, it doesn't work. When will he learn?

Worse if O'Brien isn't good enough; then again, the money is wasted, just like with Beto who can't push Calvert-Lewin for a starting role.

Worrying times ahead.

Also, I think a big keeper gets a hand to Duran's goal. I'm convinced Jordan costs us as many points as he saves…

Also if Calvert-Lewin scores the one-onone, we win! Most Premier League strikers are just putting that in the near post – easy! I can't wait til Broja's fit with Branthwaite. Broja buries that chance, mark my words!!

A certain Mr Ellis Simms would have slotted that in 100% 🙄…

Moyes would have this team in the top half, of that I have no worries. If Moyes is the gaffer, we win both those last two matches.

West Ham are about 15th hahaha, only drew 1-1 today thanks to a last-gasp equalizer. They'll finish bottom half this season. Wankers.

Trying to look at the issues objectively and seek a solution ends up with us going around in circles and arriving at the same point. We are not good enough when it matters.

Individually we have some very good players, some okay… and a few really poor. We have a manager with an ethos of playing it one way, sticking to his favourites, and failing to change or adapt.

Many of the players, even with a fully fit squad, are either not of Premier League quality or cannot do what is being asked of them by the manager; unless something changes, I doubt Dyche will survive till the end of October.

Don't get me wrong, it's not all down to Dyche by any means; he is dealt the hand and has to play it to the best of his ability. But that is quickly becoming the critical issue with this squad.

Has he got the ability to get the team playing as a better unit, perhaps with a different style, formation or use of other players? How long can the club look at the situation before it's changed? How long does Dyche have to fix it or be removed?

We saw this team perform well against Bournemouth until they didn't; we know they can play, but we know too how badly they can fail. Our options aren't good: stick or twist. The longer it continues, the less chance of getting out of the bottom relegation.

We are only 4 games into the season but the ability to change the narrative is hampered by the lack of quality where we need it.

Currently, there is not one player in yesterday's back four worthy of their place. Even with Coleman, Dixon, Patterson, Branthwaite and O'Brien, the obvious has to be said: Seamus has had his day, along with Young; Tarkowski has been dreadful in every game so far. We are shuffling a poor deck.

So that really leaves the manager. His job is to set the team up to win games, motivate the players, and tweak the positional play during the game to compensate for good or bad players or opposition.

So far, his record last season and this lends one to think his position should be under threat but, with all the off-pitch issues, how likely is it that things will change? Moshiri will only act if he feels our Premier League existence is threatened as an impact to the money he can get for the club. Remember Allardyce?

In a normal club, the results would see the manager gone, but a normal club is not the Everton of the last 7 years. None of us really believe he is the manager to take us forward, but who has got the balls to sack him and roll the dice (Dyche) of another manager to motivate what we have to secure our status?

Will it be left to a Textor to come in and change the manager immediately? One thing is certain: Dyche is walking a tightrope to nowhere.

I really think all the difference here is Keane playing. Statistically, from the start of last season, the team ships close to 3 goals per game when Keane is playing. That's crazy!

He plays favourites whatever their form (and age), he selects players out of position, and his game management has been terrible recently. Can anyone tell me what the formation was in the second half - 5-3-2?

Let's just say it one more time: Young cannot play right-back, Garner cannot play right-back, both centre-backs were poor, Harrison cannot play wide right, and Ndiaye should play behind the forward.

Despite really appreciating all he has done, defeat in the next game will see him gone.

Surprised you haven't received abuse for calling out Pickford but I agree with you. I have been saying it for years ever since I saw him clash into the back of Ashley Williams.

A great shot-stopper with a big ego and part of a defensive mess. There is no 'I' in 'team'.

All this talk about people not being Premier League ready is bullshit when we are leaking goals for fun with the usual suspects. O'Brien for Keane and Dixon at right-back.

Keane was out-jumped by a smaller player for the first goal. Pathetic. His relationship with Tarkowski is clearly not working.

More importantly for me is the lack of confidence around the whole team as a unit. For that reason, Dyche has to go. He will take us down this time, the team are shitting themselves – even when they find themselves given a two-goal lead against the run of play.

Moyes until the end of the season, then a reset with hopefully the manager to take us forward. Moyes is a much, much better manager than Dyche and will get a tune out of this squad in the short term and keep us up.

We need to sign this player asap to save our season. 

I am from Yorkshire and my boyhood club is the Toffees. I live on the West Coast of America.

He will fit the team perfectly and will get you goals to stay in the Premier League. 

The days of sitting there calling the opposition on and hoping to nick something are gone. The players even in average teams are going to be too good to do that for 90 minutes.

I've seen enough now but who's left in the building to make a change before it's too late???

Please tell me he's gone.

One of few reasons he kept his job last season was the frugal defence and now even that has withered away. Listening to his vacuous words, you'd think he was a world beater. In reality, he's more Mike Bassett than Pep. A mid-table Championship manager or an SPL coach. Football has passed him by and we're suffering for it.
Hurry up please Mr Textor.

Dyche seems to have problems with the dressing room and the percentages do not look good for him.

But Keane isn't good enough, the team defend differently when he's in the team due to his lack of pace and agility.

O'Brien and Dixon should start both next Premier League games.

Calvert-Lewin, I'm glad he got a goal and unlucky not to get a second. He's athletic, gets around the pitch, and has a great leap. But he's not a natural striker as I've said for years. He can't run or dribble with the ball and very rarely beats a defender or keeper in a one-on-one situation. I'm hoping Chermiti comes back soon and shows he is a top striker that I believe and hope he is.

Villa are levels above us, the movement and bodies upfront when they are in possession is very good. How they control play and are happy to send it wide for crosses or play through the middle. They are a good watch except when against us.

It's about trying to get the best out of them and creating team spirit.

I've said on several occasions, the man is a footballing fossil, he and his tactics should be consigned to a museum.

Fact is, it's taken us 4 weeks to lose 4 league games but 9 months to win just 5.

It's one thing tolerating turgid, tactically retrograde, timid football if it's getting positive results or, failing that, at least making you difficult to beat… but it's pure torture to endure when achieving neither.

Upon his appointment, Dyche declared:

“We want to bring back a good feeling. We need the fans, we need unity and we need everyone aligned. That starts with us as staff and players.”

And…

“There is quality in this squad. But we have to make them shine. That's the job of me and my staff.”

Now, following beating after beating, doubters are (quite reasonably, in my opinion) beginning to come over a bit Billy Batts and saying “Go get your fucking shine box then, Sean” and he's changed his tune entirely.

Now his rhetoric is reduced to ‘fail to win a few and the daft fans here volt-face faster than that vicious Donkey from War For The Planet Of The Apes', and ‘professional players pissing their pants under pressure isn't within my PE teacher powers to prevent'.

Being a manager who is not phased by losing is one thing, but when the reason you're not phased is that you're simply used to losing the vast majority of the time and, furthermore, are accepting of that fact, then that's when the alarm bells should be ringing loud as fuck.

They are always striving to be better. They don't live in the past.

Yes, they're an honest group with just a few decent players, and you get the odd decent performance. But it's just not good enough.

The quicker the takeover happens, the better. At least we might have a chance to move the club forward. I can't see Sean Dyche seeing the season out.

Also, I hate it when I hear pundits saying that we should bear with him because he kept us up last season – as if that's all we should be expecting.

Some clown on BBC Sports yesterday said it was ‘nonsense' that he should be under pressure after the ‘miracles' he has performed.

What? Do me a favour. This is Everton Football Club you are lucky to have the privilege of managing this club.

Anyway that was last season; this is this season. He got £5 million for keeping us up last season.

No other club in the entirety of the Premier League would have put up with this.

We saw yesterday what we have seen the past seasons, he is not a good player. When he left the pitch injured at half time Villa got better 😅

I hope that Textor's bid comes off, but it will be the end of November, realistically, before Dyer can be replaced. Will we have sleepwalked into the abyss before then?

Sorry. mate, I don't know what came over me.

Tony@7

If, as we both think, losing three-quarters of your back line will have a detrimental impact on the result, does it naturally follow that some of the over the top (?) criticism is, well, over the top?

Someone has said above that we could have conceded six; by the same token, we could have scored four. But we didn't. But the performance against a good Villa side away from home was pretty decent, all things considered.

Just my opinion.

Pickford is the common denominator all these seasons and nobody is pointing bloody fingers because he's England Number 1. But he's really only a good shot-stopper. Everything else, he is a shit bag. Sooner he fucks off the better…

Martinez comes out about 15 yards and collects a cross under pressure near the end of the match, but Jordan strays on his line and watches someone nod the ball in from 3 yards out!!!

Gobshite! I hate him!!

Because he is a one-trick pony who's been found out by every other manager in the Premier League.

At least we've scored some goals! Just need to get the defence sorted out.

Okay, we have no points and a few other teams are not much better… but do we stick or twist?

Some players to come back hopefully soon but will the confidence be shot after conceding 2 games with 2-goal leads and not even scraping a point?

I did want to give Dyche a chance but enough is enough and we all know the manager gets it first.

That's 2 weeks on the trot, so who's fault is it — the players or the manager? The players are the ones on the field so it's more down to them for me.

It makes the result worse because we were 2-0 up again. One of the factors is the team behind can only do one thing and that's go all or nothing to score.

That changes the dynamics of the game from then on; they get a goal and now their tails are up, they get another. Add to that, they only then go and get a goal of the season type goal to win the game. When your luck's out, it seems to get worse.

I've said a few times over the last 10 years – it's just like we've been cursed… we can't seem to get the rub of the green.

If the manager is so irrelevant, then you won't mind us getting rid of him!

Yes, when a team goes 2-0 down, the dynamics change in our favour! The team losing 2-0 (Villa) has to go all-out attack, which leaves room in behind for us to score another on the break.

Villa don't want to go all-out and try to score, but they have to at 0-2 which is good for us because we'll get opportunities on the turnover and it worked perfect! Except Dom can't hit a barn door!

If Dom scores to make it 1-3, then the plan worked perfect. Villa attacked with 8 or 9 men, then we play a great ball to Dom with nobody around him and he fucked it!!

Us going 2-0 up isn't a detriment in any way as Villa pushing for a goal opens up the game for us…

Get Moyes on the blower asap!! He would have this team in the top half all day
– plus he's got a phone full of new contacts and players since he left us. We wouldn't be playing with no recognized full-backs, that's for sure!!!

Steve said “I just don't get why the team isn't coached to keep the ball?!”

They are coached to keep the ball, their whole lives since about the age of 5! They just aren't good enough to do it!!!

I'm sure Dyche would have loved them to keep the ball for the last 9 minutes against Bournemouth… but our team is shit and can't do it. That's why anyone who wants us to get a new young progressive manager who'll play good football (like Vincent Kompany or even Graham Potter) would have us relegated.

Our team isn't good enough to put 4 fucking passes together, they'll never be a keep-ball team and anyone trying to play that way will take us to the Championship. And it's naive not to think so…

We need Moyes or Dyche right now to just claw our way to 40 points and stay up by the hair on our asses. Then, when we have a new owner with a plan and money to spend after the FFP bullshit, we can get a manager who can coach a team of players who can actually play ball. Also maybe a goalie who catches floated crosses in his 6-yard box!

If not, go do something else.

Dyche the Goldfish...

I didn't say the manager was irrelevant – only that it's the players once they get on the pitch – it's up to them to be good enough.

They have to score to get back in the game, it really comes down to how well each team plays that situation; at the moment, we are not doing very well.

How many games would you give Dyche before you sacked him, Raymond?

About the game, I still would want someone to explain to me why wasn't a penalty given for a clear handball? And why wasn't an offside given for the second goal? Digne was offside, and Harrison intercepts the pass to him, not Watkins. If it was the other way around both would have been given.

Imo, no replay of the handball clearly demonstrates there's an agenda from the Premier League up to Sky Sports, even with their pundit having a go at saying that Everton behaves like a lower league team.

What was he about? With a clear one-on-one with their keeper, a ball hitting the bar, and two goals in the bag?

Thats what I was saying after the Bournemouth debacle. At this moment in time, who, other than Moshiri, has the power to pull the plug on Dyche?

If anyone had to do it, it would either be Thelwell or acting CEO Colin Chong, and I assume it would only be done on the advice of Moshiri himself, who, at the moment couldn't give a toss about the club.

I'd even say he's not bothered his arse to notice how the season has stated for the club he owns.

Stop the crosses is a basic in any level of football, without full-backs we aren't stopping anything.

We need Branthwaite back asap, we also need to convert Garner to full-back or give Dixon a run in the team.

Dyche and Thelwell are culpable for not bringing fullbacks in during the summer. It's so obvious we are dreadful at defending either wing.

The ritual humiliation, the embarrassment, and being branded as a laughing stock, is what we endure, week-in & week-out. The whole ethos of the club has crumbled and has now finally disintegrated.

The club has never lacked fantastic support in unbelievable circumstances, and I have to say, the club does not deserve such dedication and commitment by our wonderful supporters.

We can blame mismanagement, directors, etc but, at the end of the day, even some of the best managers in Europe could not turn it around for us.
Each time you watch the opposition – why do they offer more commitment, more dedication, a greater desire to win???

We have no leaders, no defence, no guts. Players move to Everton for wages, nothing else. We employ a manager who's as much use as a tit on a tomcat. Why cannot he see the obvious faults?

We have injuries and we think all will be well when players return from injury. No, that is not the solution. Every club has injuries, and they have substitutes who can cover with the same desire to win – not Everton.

The whole mentality of the club must change. Players, forget your bloody haircuts and tattoos and concentrate on winning games.

We need a manager who can change the whole mindset of the club from the bottom up. But I think those managers are already employed.

Unfortunately, the heart and soul of our once great club have been torn out. The future does indeed look very bleak. Everton RIP

Garner started out as a right-back and I believe he was the starting right-back for Carsley's England team that won the U-21 World Cup. I'd rather him over Young any day.

He was not comfortable at all at right-back during the game, imo, mate.

Question is, which dressing room?

Dyche does have fullbacks, but he is not playing them.

Also, O'Brien should have been played as a substitute for Keane to maintain the defensive shape of the team and help close down the game. Keane is a perennial deep player and panics under pressure and exposes those around him as a result.

That, for me, is our biggest problem. We have no distinct style of play. Take the likes of Brighton, they get a way of playing and recruit accordingly. When that manager moves on, they replace him with a coach that has the same philosophy.

With Everton, it's a case of being careful what you wish for. We had stability under Moyes and regular top 8 finishes but we couldn't beat the teams we aspired to be (the Sky 6) and we wanted change. Now, we can't beat the teams like Brighton, Bournemouth, Wolves, Fulham etc. We have been surpassed by well-run clubs that have a clear identity.

As many people have said on these pages, we need direction from the top. We need a plan for progress both on the pitch and commercially. We need to recruit people who can deliver that plan. We are a superb prospect for a wealthy investor with our fanbase and the new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock but we urgently need investment and a root-and-branch overhaul.

Michael Keane should be nowhere near this team. I give up with his management – he can't even pick the right team.

I hate him. We are the laughing stock of English football. We've got some good players, the problem is this prick won't play them!!

Fucking get out! Resigning would be best... but just fuck off!

Only joking…..ish

We are getting caught as Keane, Coleman, Young, Gueye, Doucoure, Beto have no pace. That is more than half the team! I think the only way we can hold on to Calvert-Lewin is change the style of play to stop the rot.

Ashley Young is no longer up to Premier League standard, time is up for Coleman but the braveheart in him tries to do his best. Michael Keane cannot concentrate for 60 minutes (let alone 90) and he is half-hearted in his challenges.

Our midfield is weak because he insists on a certain formation and tactic. And lastly, any fool can tell you that, if you give over 70% possession to the opposing side every game you will more than likely lose every game.

The number of games we have lost with Keane and Tarkowski as the centre-back pairing doesn't bear thinking about.

He did the same last season until the fans forced him to drop Keane and bring Branthwaite in. There was an immediate improvement in our goals against column.

These are all things any manager with commonsense will see and deal with but head-in-the-sand Dyche continues blindly on.

According to the media and some of our fans, he is the man to keep us in the Premier League. For fuck's sake, is that the height of our ambition?

Come on, Dyche, change your ways and team selection and tactics before it is too late.

"They (Villa, other teams) being coached well by a manager with an identity and have got a belief that their system works. It's the total opposite to us as it feels like we don't believe we can get results from our system and instead it's hit and hope, huffing and puffing."

So Dyche is the problem more than the players. How will it change?

As for Calvert-Lewin misses... any top striker scores both!!

I also read that Michael Ball article, and he seems as exasperated with Everton and Dyche as a lot of us on here are.

I also saw Dyche's comments in relation to Branthwaite and Patterson. I'd be surprised if we see either of them make the first-team squad until after the next International break - which isn't that long but perhaps too long for both the club and the manager.

There's a third International break to come in November too. Branthwaite in particular is a concern because his last outing was that brief appearance for England on 3 June which is over 3 months ago.

That's what Dyche requires from his full-backs. I nearly had a full-blown fight over this at a match last season, when I was criticising one of the full-backs for not getting out to nearer the touchline and the guy near me said that's all part of Dyche's defensive plan.

I don't get it at all, because when our players are attacking from the wings, there is little space for them to breathe, never mind get the ball into the middle of the 6-yard box.

I don't know what the points total in the linked table means but if you look at the number of wins and draws from the games played, we are not alone in looking a bit crap in the last 22 matches

2024 Table

I've just realised that the table has taken 8 points from Everton's total points due to PSR.

Dyche was getting plaudits from the media and on here for his performance in getting us what should have been 12th last season.

He's the same manager now, the club's skint, that's one problem he faces, they have almost certainly tried to get another left-back and other players and failed for reasons we can only guess.

The club's in trouble, whoever is the manager, we don't have another left-back and the right-back position is all over the place.

As far as picking other players is concerned, he sees them in training every other day and is in a better position to judge if they are fit enough or good enough than us.

To be honest, I'm bored of hearing about last season. Yes, he finished 12th without the points deduction, blah, blah, blah…… He was well compensated for that season despite the fact that he went 15 games without a win.

Keeping a manager based on the previous season is nonsense, here and now is what counts.

Who cares what the media say? When was the last time you heard a TV pundit say someone should be sacked? They don't as a rule – probably because they don't know whether one day they may be sitting next to them in the studio. I can't think of a single situation where that has happened, happy to be corrected.

I think it is fair to say that this season is different. The manner of defeats has been different, the players' body language is different, and so is Dyche's, he looks and sounds like he is out of ideas, completely deflated and on the verge of losing the dressing room and the fans, if not already. They are lacking in confidence and some players seem to have lost the mental strength to compete at this level.

Equally, not removing a manager because we have done that in the past is also rubbish. David Moyes was here for 11 years, we get rid of managers if they need getting rid of. Who out of all the managers we have sacked would you have kept?

This guy has won 5 games out of 25, that's not a knee-jerk reaction, it's common sense. No other Premier League team would put up with that record. His tactics and substitutions have been naff.

You won't put a timeline on how many games he should have, it would depend on how the other teams at the bottom are doing?

OMG, really? So that's your benchmark, is it? So if he loses 10 on the bounce, that's okay is it, providing he's still in touch with other teams at the bottom?

You would only act after we are adrift, would you, and not before? What a load of nonsense.

How many games without a win in the league would you give Sean Dyche? Simple question.

Ridiculous to say "Any top striker scores both!"

If you check the 'Best Chances Missed' stats for last season, the worst culprits were;

1) Haaland 26 BCM

2)Rashford 23 BCM

3)Nunez 21 BCM

4) Salah 20 BCM

5) Watkins 19 BCM

DCL wasn't in the first 25 on that list. Injuries, plus a total lack of assists preventing him from showing his ability.

With the right service, he's a top class striker. The lad has run himself into the ground for Everton for so long now without reward, since his season of 20+ goals when he was regularly supplied and assisted by, James Rodriguez, Digne, Gomes and Richarlison amongst others. He showed then what he was capable of and will do so again, in the right team.

Exactly.

Anyone who thinks Calvert-Lewin is our problem isn't paying attention.