Manchester City vs Everton - Player Ratings: Beto’s squandered chances cost Everton

The rest were gash, second-half capitulation job and we still play the game with the same inferiority complex we've had for nigh on 25 years.

I think the day I knew it will never change was when we played the Shite's kindergarten club in the FA Cup 3rd Round just before the pandemic and we couldn't even go there and slap them into place and Klopp for being an arrogant piss taker.

Don't get me wrong: Martinez almost broke through that glass ceiling in his first season. At least he did break the Old Trafford curse which has resumed normal service since.

Today felt like we had a chance there in that first half against a very below-par City side to put the pressure on them big time going into the second half.

If there are any professional people at the club, I'd seriously hope they are taking to task our recruitment team for yet another failed striker search to go with the previous 8 years since Lukaku was sold.

Two inept striking options to choose from.

Amazing work, that, scouts.

Sorry, Davey, your abysmal record remains.

A failure of the digital ticket scanners at gates L1 caused chaos. There was a huge queue at L1 but gates L2 and L3 wouldn't accept our digital tickets and there seemed to be no one available with the authority to either check tickets manually or to alter the systems on gates L2 and L3 to accept L1 digital tickets. All the gates opened onto the same concourse inside the ground.

We finally got in at 3:20 pm.

There is a well-known phrase: quality over quantity. Well, we seem to have chosen quantity over quality over the years.

For fuck's sake, get a centre-forward! We could be a Top 8 side with a couple of decent forwards, I really believe we could.

He actually put in a good shift. It's not easy up front against City but he battled well. It's about all we can expect from him.

Pickford's distribution was as bad as Beto's hold-up play.

Plenty of other sides turn up useful Premier League forwards for a fraction of the money we spend.

It's also somewhat lazy to suggest that we just go out and buy another striker. Who would we get? Probably someone like Barry who seems to have been written off after about 200 Premier League minutes. Which striker has come into the Premier League this season and immediately got into the goals? The only person I can think of is Woltemade who cost upwards of £65M. You can't just click your fingers and find a Haaland.

Beto and Barry will very likely be our strikers this season, unless an opportunity presents itself in January. The first is rough around the edges but a hard worker who showed himself capable of putting chances away last season. The latter is young and new to the Premier League and will take time to settle.

Improving upon them will not be cheap or easy; buying a new dynamic right-back to bring more width to the team --which consequently gives us our attackers more options and space to operate in -- would be far easier and should have been a priority this summer.

Of the many strikers you're referring to here:

- what would they cost in today's market?

- how many hit the ground running straight away?

- how many scored goals for a team chronically lacking pace and width?

Haaland reads the game very well, uses his energy well, finds the right spaces, and of course is surrounded by quality players who know where he will show for the ball.

His first goal came as he followed a retreating back four, he simply stopped his run and the space around him appeared as the back four continued, so he was standing alone for his powerful leap and header, good brain and good use of brawn.

Beto can learn something from that, not sure he could replicate it though.

Our back four is make do, and can not match a squad with the depth and quality of City.

The scores above are mostly reflecting this, two additions in January might make a difference, but the result was an honest win by a bigger better squad.

Myko has shown signs of getting into better crossing positions and supporting Grealish, but yesterday he had too much on his plate just defending. Thus we were relying on individual magic from someone like Ndiaye to get through their defences.

There's no shame in losing that match but there must be some concern that our strikers are not scoring or getting many chances. For all we know the options discussed here regarding playing Ndiaye as a false 9 have already been tried and found wanting at Finch Farm. I'm not convinced by that option anyway to be honest, but I do wonder whether Alcaraz might be better tried as a false 9, if Moyes deems a different option to Beto or Barry is justified.

Deploying Garner at right back to potentially improve our play down that flank is another option. O'Brien is not the overlapping right back we need, we all know that, though he has done well and is a stout and reliable defender in that slot. Garner would at least bring some craft and passing range in there. Furthermore trying Alcaraz behind Beto and moving or dropping KDH is another option.

Moyes does have some cards to play, limited though they are, to try and improve our attacking edge. I'm not sure yesterday's game is one to judge us on too harshly, but unless things improve in that area of the pitch, he may be forced to roll the dice at some stage. So far he seems reluctant, we're mid-table, it's understandable at this stage of the season.

It looked simple and the defenders seem to be getting a bit of criticism for losing him, but it was intelligent and well executed movement coupled with a player who was good enough to react and put the ball in front of him.

If we believed these pages then every goal conceded would be a defensive error while every goal scored would be due to our attacking.

The opposition contributes to how the game goes. And City are an excellent team. I thought we gave them a real game before the quality of Haaland finally showed. He might be the best striker in the world.

On our forwards, I am in favour of sticking with Beto as the better of the two options but yesterday I thought he was slow and lethargic. He usually works much harder in the press but not yesterday.

To be fair, I thought Barry was much better when he came on than any time I had seen him previously but he was too far away from goal.

On the goal scoring opportunities, Haaland's first was a classic, his second was fortunate in that it was through Tarkowski's legs and took a deflection past Pickford.

City missed far easier chances than Beto. Doku shot straight at Pickford with only the keeper to beat and there was another in the first half which again was a weak shot at Pickford; if that was Beto, he would be castigated here.

Haaland is a different class but the chances were put on a plate for him.

On Alcaraz, he did make the difference last week but yesterday, he had very little impact on the game and if, as is suggested, he replaces Dewsbury-Hall, then in my opinion we are making a choice of increased exposure of our defence in the hope of better creativity in the attack.

In other words, potentially trading conceding more goals with the hope of creating more goal chances. Who would be a football manager? I did like what I saw of Röhl and will watch with interest to see how he can fit in.

What are people exactly expecting? 80% possession and peppering their goal with chances?

Any side going there is having less of the ball, needs to defend well, and take their chances on the break.

We aren't quick enough on the break, and defend poorly against good teams.

Knives to gun fights, it's like going back in time.

We were never going to fix this mess in 1 transfer window, but for fuck's sake, sign a fucking striker (as well as Richarlison 😉) in January!!!

However, just watching MotD2 and the pundits praising £62.5M Matheus Cunha for just doing the absolute basics and not even scoring yet -- even that amount of money guarantees nothing.

Really? That's what some people saw? Need your eyes tested.

You could as much blame the pass for having too much on it and giving him too much ground to make up. It was just one of those ‘oh so nearly' chances, not taking an easy pass and missing an open goal (which he did for Guinea-Bissau!).

I saw at least a dozen worse misses on last night's MotD.