Everton vs Crystal Palace: Player Ratings - Charly Alcaraz helps Everton end Palace’s undefeated streak

Surely he's done enough to start next game? He's a Number 10, not a right winger, he's got a goal in him and can carry the ball when we break. He really stepped up today and more than played his part.

About time, I do wonder what Moyes's problem is with Alcaraz.

Barry? Oof... nothing stuck to the kid today, neither by chest nor by foot; he's a long way to go.

Charly took centre stage: brave and aggressive with skill, work rate... super showing by him/
.
Beto was a handful, he doesn't seem to be able to do it for 90 minutes though.

I couldn't see a win today, that's Palace and Brighton wondering how they walked away empty-handed!

Some luck going our way in the new place, our goal is mostly living a charmed life.

I know Charly and Beto had a big influence on the second half but the whole team seemed to wake up.

We have to become a 90-minute team very quickly and I believe Charly and Beto deserve a run in the side.

Charly seems to suit Beto's game and vice versa.

I think Alcaraz and Beto embarrassed the rest of them to step up their game with their enthusiasm and determination to change the game.

Good on Moyes for changing the team at half-time rather than leaving it to 76 minutes!

Drug Counselling is widely available and can get people to not be a dope! :-)

Managed to get a ticket today through Neil C, for which I was very and truly grateful, but first half, I was almost wishing I hadn't.

Two subs made a massive difference, as has been mentioned. Alcaraz, hopefully, has claimed his right to play next game.

On the ratings, I'd knock a few points off Pickford. He was in full panic mode in injury time. Got caught out when Palace had a counter and should have scored after rounding him.

He made a mess of a few clearances and blasted goal kicks out of bounds rugby style, all the while moaning the ref should blow his whistle.

If Moyes in the first half had been half as positive as the second half, it would have been a different story.

What a change from the last few seasons for him!!!

Moyes 7

Grealish can't play against Man City.

Alcaraz made a massive difference when he came on.

And Jack Grealish is an Evertonian! I fucking love this club!

He totally loves us. He's got freedom as a player, he's given respect by the manager and his teammates, us fans absolutely fucking worship him! He gets us and just wants to make us happy.

Sign him now. The best thing to happen to Everton since Kanchelskis. Love him!

Palace played some great stuff, have plenty of pace and some very good players at the top of their game, and should have scored at least 3 goals.

Fortunately, they missed (and Pickford made plenty of good saves, 300 games and 290 of them he's been fantastic) and Moyes saw what needed switching at half-time.

The players and crowd were awesome second half, sounded like a packed Goodison Park. Alcaraz showed what he can bring to the party and looked determined to play himself into the manager's thinking, as did Beto who was again an improvement on Barry.

Keane was having another great game and I was very concerned when he went off injured; however, Tim Iroegbunam had his best half hour or so in a blue shirt, winning a stonewall penalty.

Very happy with that, still unbeaten at our new home and we beat one of the most in-form teams in Europe!

He's stepped up and I think we all recognise that.

No doubt, injuries permitting, we will go with Ndiaye (L), Dewsbury-Hall (C) and Alcaraz (R) with Beto upfront. If Keane is out (let's hope not), then O'Brien slips into centre-back and expect Garner at right-back with Iroegbunam alongside Gueye.

The first half was as rank as I've ever seen, I'd call it relegation standard but from which division? We were played off the park and it wasn't Man City or whoever doing it.

In some ways, I feel for Barry, he looks lost, confidence shot and right now, it feels like the only way back is to score a goal off his arse, and see if he can start believing again. Nothing he does right now, heading, tackling, running with the ball, shooting, suggests he has any real belief at all.

It's so bad, I wonder if he comes back from being hooked today after a half -- and that comes from someone who was thinking he deserves a run in the team. I just hope Dibling can re-group, or wants to re-group (he looked disinterested, no idea why, or maybe another nervous as hell).

Beto is awful, let's be frank. We just warmed to him because he ran around, put himself about a bit. But there was a point when a ball was played up to him, not hard, and it literally bounced back 10 yards off his shin. True he then chased after his work, but that isn't the point.

We had two very good players out there: Grealish and Ndiaye. Several workmanlike players and perhaps for the first time, a glimpse of what Alcaraz could bring.

But we aren't Top 10, let's not be delusional. Anywhere 12-15 would do with this squad. The question is, how and when are we going to inject some quality, into the full back and striker positions especially, but also into midfield where we were getting overrun? No chance of top half till we do that.

Fact is, had Mateta taken either of his massive chances, we would have been dead and buried, but us Blues know more than any other set of fans that 1 goal is never enough.

Barry and Dibling are massive worries, I get they are young and inexperienced, but I can't help but feel we've spunked our money yet again.

Alcaraz should be treated with more respect, he's unfortunate that he's more suited to a central position as we have Dewsbury-Hall but, at home against a lot of teams, we need to find a slot for him even if it's next to Gana.

This win makes our start acceptable, the cup loss was a huge kick in the teeth but Moyes will have learned a lot from that squad-wise, he will have a clearer idea who can and more importantly who can't be trusted.

Man City up next is a big ask, no Jack is a downer but luckily Dewsbury-Hall is back; hopefully Braithwaite is back too.

We were shite in the first half, I concede that. But in the second we were bold, strong and created chances. That won us the game. How many times have we been the better team and lost?

UTFT!!!!!

This place does my fucking head in sometimes! I came out of that ground today with a massive grin on my face “singing the Blues” cos it's not often we'll win when that lot lose.

Can we not just fucking relax and rejoice in that for at least a day? UTFT!

I think we missed Dewsbury-Hall's industry and link up play today, and we will benefit from his return against Man City, particularly since Grealish won't be playing.

I tend to agree with those posters calling for Ndiaye or Grealish (our two most accomplished players on the ball) to occupy the striker or umber 10 role for future games as Beto and Barry just aren't up to it.

I wonder how we'd go if we had Grealish and Dibling on the flanks and both Ndiaye and Alcaraz up front?

Hoped to see you and Danny today, did Danny go? A hectic schedule, with Andy over from Northern Ireland, and Peter Moore from Worcester dictated otherwise!

Time flew by and The Bramley Moore was rammed full. Good result mate, which didn't seem possible first half!
Take care, see you soon.

For all the talk about how awful we were, we're still light-years ahead of the past few seasons. And as many others have pointed out, it will take time — plus some decent full-backs and a striker — before we truly kick on.

I'm not worried about Dibling, given how young he is, but the problem is the same as with any young kid who is not quite ready to start matches at this level. He needs minutes, and in a perfect world would be playing for a club like, say, Southampton for another couple seasons. Oh wait...

The calls for Charly to play are valid, just not clear how you fit him in. He really does need to be in the centre of the pitch. For next week, if Garner is at right-back, can Dewsbury-Hall drop into the Garner role, or do you put Tim Iroegbunam there, and move Dewsbury-Hall out wide to the left?

I would do the latter, which may be fine next week, but when Jack is back and/or if Keane is healthy, someone has to go to the bench for Charly to play, and I'm not convinced you start him over Dewsbury-Hall unless he has another big game against Man City. You can't drop Garner. You could drop Gana, and move Garner deeper, but then you lose defensive balance.

I'd like to believe we have someone to play the false 9 role, but I'm skeptical Ndiaye, Alcaraz or Grealish could make it happen.

Anyway, 3 points and a great day!

We could play Alcaraz as the Number 10 and drop Dewsbury-Hall deeper. Garner to right-back if Keane is injured.

I don't know what Barry's strengths are but we are not playing to them. He looks completely lost.

Great win though. Palace are a very good side.

Keane was very good also until he went off, he's probably outperformed Tarkowski at the moment in truth.

Great to see Grealish get the winner and it took the roof off the gaff.

We've still however got massive striker issues because, for me, Barry looks abject. It's not even an age thing or that the league is new, he's just looking all very very lethargic. I can see where the Moise Kean comparison comes from because it all looks rather lazy.

Everton fans like seeing energy and dynamism up front, Barry is 23, he's not 18, he should know by now that you've got to work hard, you need to hold that ball up better and bring others into it, take pressure off the team.

I think he may be gone in January at this rate.

Dibling is very young, you can see this, I know he's 19 but at £40M, I'm not sure patience will be in abundance here sadly. Let's see what happens in the future with this.

At least we finally got over the line in a game that we could have been 3-0 down in before the 76th minute.

The Palace goal was more because Tarkowski was nowhere to be found which left Keane and Mykolenko to deal with three Palace players and, had Mykolenko not left his man, then Sarr either strolled through or, as he did, pick the teammate who was left by either of those two defenders.

Damned if he did, damned if he didn't.

Barry looked like a lad from the local park was playing. He looks a million miles away from the Premier League. An absolute embarrassing performance.

Finally, Tyler Dibling, this wasn't a player busting a gut trying to impress. He looked slow, off the pace, and lacked the dynamism you expect in an offensive midfielder. A really strange performance from him. At £40M have we been seriously ripped off.

You have to say in Barry, Aznou and Dibling right now I wouldn't trust our recruitment team to spend a tenner. As first teamers, they look miles off.

He did a fantastic recovery tackle one one-on-one in the second half despite being 37 next birthday. His stamina and workrate remains a huge asset for the team.

We will miss him hugely when he finishes.

He's 37 and there's only going to be so much more we can get from him, and we don't have any kind of like-for-like replacement, and neither Iroegbunam nor Garner are the style of player either, I think we've seen what happens when you try to shoehorn players into the wrong positions.

As I said during the summer, we never signed any pace. Most sides in this league now win matches because they carry pace and power in abundance; as I've said before, Bournemouth are a prime example.

Our recruitment team has failed its duties for too long now.

I hope now as we speak, they are currently working daily for the January transfer window to get at least two of the three that's needed, a striker, a pacy and powerful wide player, and finally a proper right-back.

Delighted as I am to win, the idea of this forum is for us to be critics (and criticism can involve positives of course), not just for uncritical euphoria (though there is a place for that too).

Personally, I'd sooner be realistic about what I see on the pitch and how that is likely to translate into outcomes on Premier League position.

We don't look a Top 10 side... at least, I won't be overly disappointed when we don't manage that and will be less likely to be calling for the manager's head.

Palace are a good side and not many sides go 19 games unbeaten.

Hopefully this win will give the Blues more confidence and tell them they can compete with the better teams.

Start Alcaraz next game and it's 50/50 he'll be shite.

Consistency is overlooked; Mykoleno, Gana, Garner, O'Brien, Dewsbury-Hall, Grealish, even on off days, add something. The others properly go missing.

I know it's a game of opinions and mine is that the only thing consistent about Mykolenko is that he's consistently the worst full-back in the Premier League.

I can't believe the strange ratings people give our players. Dewsbury-Hall has only ever scored 4 Premier League goals in his life and he's 27. How is he a better offensive option than Charly Alcaraz?

Alcaraz scored 4 goals in 18 appearances coming into the country as a 19-year-old kid. He was playing for the worst side in the Premier League that season and had 2 different managers between the Janaury when he signed and the end of the season.

He also made Beto look like a Premier League striker last season.

We need players who can be rated 7 in every game to compete at a higher level.

Who do we put in the side when we cannot play Grealish against Man City?

2 quick balls (one no more than a hopefully knock on by Mykolenko) in behind led to goals.

Less chewing the ball and more speed please.

Beto
Grealish Alcaraz Ndiaye
Gana Dewsbury-Hall
Mykolenko Tarkwoski (or Keane) O'Brien (or Keane) Garner
Pickford

(No disrespect to Mr Coleman.)

He should have been loaned out, he's not going to develop not playing any football.

One thing I will do though is agree with Grant @34, because I also think that Beto looks like a better player when Alcaraz is playing close to him.

Pickford
Garner, Keane, O'Brien, Mykolenko
Gana, Dewsbury-Hall,
Dibling, Alcaraz, Grealish
Ndiaye

No big huffs to the striker. Beto as a battering ram if required.
Tarkowski doesn't look the same player since his injury.

Branthwaite would replace O'Brien when fit. We are seriously unbalanced with O'Brien at right-back. He is also being targeted now, unlike last season.

Dibling has to start before McNeil, but he looks like he needs support from a decent right-back.

Alacarz 8, Gana a 5, his passing was awful.

The rest I agree with.

As others have said, Beto always looks more dangerous playing alongside Alcaraz and I have never seen Alcaraz “vanish” when he has played more centrally.

The remainder of the team will sort itself out depending on fitness issues with Keane and, if he is fit, the defence and midfield will be the same as yesterday.

Another thread above is the Gana good/bad argument and that we don't have a ready made replacement. I suspect Röhl has been signed to potentially take over from Gana after this season.

Plus we will almost certainly bring Harrison Armstrong back next season; he can play a similar role to Gana but is already more assured on the ball. A full year at Preston will bring him on in spades and I expect him to be a star player next season.

We are one point behind the brilliant Glasner and three points behind the brilliant Iraola.

All this without arguably our most important outfield player in Branthwaite.

I think we have been done up like a kipper.

How did such an apparently poor player manage this?

Having just had a browse, it looks like Villarreal's experienced coach Marcelino (linked with us over the years) plays a 4-4-2. However, it's not really a 4-4-2 -- it's a 4-3-3 / 4-2-3-1 variant with different versatile midfield and wing players playing off or close to a target man.

Supporting Barry in the attack last season were the excellent Pino (Eze's replacement at Palace) and Baena (now of Athletic Madrid).

These are not unlike Grealish, Dibling and Ndiaye for example. Good technical players who come towards the ball and act as playmakers in the final third.

He was also sometimes supported by Ayoze Perez (once of Newcastle and Leicester) who is more of a support striker -- maybe like Tim Cahill(ish). Nicolas Pepe (once a disaster signing for Arsenal) and Tajon Buchanan (on loan from Inter) providing pace and width.

They also had at least one attacking full-back -- although the more lumbering Foyth (once of Spurs) played right-back for them fairly regularly.

Marcelino's tactics relied on a high press, high defensive line, counter-attacks, whipped-in crosses and balls into space.

It all combined to suit Barry pretty well. He did well in a good side -- and that good side qualified for the Champions League. In the majority of games Barry played in last season, he was playing in the team with the best players. His physique also stands out in the Spanish league.

It is much harder for him at Everton. There are relatively few games where we clearly have better players than the opposition and his physique stands out much less in the Premier League.

We can't play a high line until Branthwaite is back, this hinders our ability to press high and our lack of pace throughout the side hinders our ability to counter-attack. It's currently harder for us to create the sort of chances he was scoring from last season.

But, learning the lesson, it probably would help to get players closer to him in support. I think it was Tony Abrahams who made the point that Beto seems to play better when Alcaraz is closer to him. That may suit Barry too.

However, if Alcaraz is to play off Barry, then we may need to bench maybe two of Ndiaye, Grealish and Dewsbury-Hall. Not straightforward unfortunately.

You can start to see, therefore, why it may take a little while for Barry to settle. It may also take the acquisition of at least one new full-back to help balance out the play too.

He's not physically able to cope without players being closer to him.

Nick Woltemade looks a player as well, BTW.

I've no doubt though that he will adapt, and soon start to give some of it back. It's a learning process.

There was a moment the ball fell to Barry in space on the break. At that moment, I was like come on show us what you can do.

He miscontrolled it and almost fell over.

He isn't a Premier League player and never will be.

I wonder what you'd have made of Nick Woltemade in his first season at Stuttgart. He got 2 goals in 30 games that season - and would have looked like a big gangly donkey at times.

Following season, he got 12 in 28 games and -- as Ian notes -- is now looking an accomplished player for Newcastle.

Yes he mis controlled it, but the midfield need to release the ball far quicker than they have been.

The strikers have got to up their movement, improve their touch -- but the midfield needs more vision. Some will blame Moyes for all of that, but it's fundamentals of having better footballers.

This applies to every football player and every single football team.

Sorry mate - only just read your post. I've been avoiding this place to protect my happy mood a while longer.

Yes, I think Danny was at the game although I didn't see him.
I was on quite a tight schedule and had a seat in the Village “all you can neck” bit so got in as quick as I could.

I did have to pop in to the Royal Crest for a toilet break and got a pint in there -- it wasn't too busy at all at 1pm.

On the way back, I called into Ten Streets for the first, but not the last, time. It was rocking!!

I enjoyed the train back, congratulating the Palace fans on winning the singing and hoped the point they get for that keeps them up.

I'm next up for the Fulham game so hopefully grab a pint with you (and Danny - waves) before or after that one.

UTFT and nil carborundum illegitimi

It's good to see that we finish games strongly and that we have options off the bench. I agree that Dibling and Barry were poor but we really need to give these players a chance to fit in and develop.