Keith B

What a win! Been buzzing all afternoon and expect to be flying high all week! Up the Toffees!

I think this match is for the taking. They aren't that good...probably worse than they've been in several years. Having James back will help. Let's kill this "we can't win without Richy" curse we have going.

I was nervous for this match as BHA had been pretty solid and it looked to be the type of match Everton have done a good job blowing for the past several years. But I am growing in confidence that Carlo won't let that sort of let down happen and our quality will shine though. How great was James? And Dacoure was everywhere! (I thought he was poor against Palace but credit to him for putting that behind him.)

Pickford remains a problem. It's probably been said but I wonder if Moshiri, seeing 7 out of 7, will splash some cash for a new keeper. Just an average keeper will be a large improvement. 

A couple of other quick thoughts:

- I thought Gylfi was good to very good today. I've been critical of him so good to see him play well.

- Mina was immense, especially in the last 20 minutes or so where we looked like we took our foot off the gas.

- DCL, man, he's playing well. Here's hoping it continues!

Kind of hoping we sign one of the American stars. Coronavirus is causing a lot of the USA's best players to decamp for England...be nice to bring say, Mallory Pugh or Julie Ertz in on loan.

But good win this morning. I caught the last half hour--our home ground is not well suited for TV. It's tough to see the player with the ball when it is on the far side of the pitch.

27 minutes ago, Hafnia said:

James is the type of player who will stop opponents commiting forward  - previously we took so long getting an attack together that we allowed teams to regroup.  He is so quick witted, he takes the opportunity to pick the holes and executes a pass perfectly.

Teams will be so cautious with him around. 

I think this is right. There just seemed like there was so much more space on the field when James had the ball. I think that's why Seamus had such a good game--he had so much more room to work with and make runs in. I have not been this excited about the team since I became a fan seven-ish years ago. Exciting times.

All the best Mike. No words can do it justice.

I am hoping for a draw as a win away to the "top six" has not been on the menu for us for many years. That said, Carlo got his guys and to the extent they are ready, this match is a potential statement that Everton is a real challenger this season. I'll believe it when I see it.

5 hours ago, Sibdane said:

This feels like a make or break match, doesn't it?

It very much was and we just didn't turn up. Spurs wanted to fold (they clearly hate their manager) but we didn't put enough pressure on them. Gomes and Siggy can't play together in CM--they are far too slow. Given what we've heard from Everton we aren't getting more than a player or two in some we have to hope Carlo can wrangle this. 

21 minutes ago, Zoo 2.0 said:

 

I've said it before but the remaining games are glorified friendlies for me, there is so much mess to fix that Walsh, Koeman, Sam and Silva left behind that will take a good summer to clear out and repair. We're never going to tear up trees with an obvious problem at right-back and a questionable centre midfield partnership. There are more than a handful of players that quite simply aren't good enough for European football which is exactly where we want to be so away trips to Arsenal and Chelsea will always see us second best and underdogs. 

Onto the next one, learn that bit more about each player and see where Carlo takes us in 2020/21. 

I think this is right. There are some pretty obvious problems in the team that will take a couple of seasons to fix. It doesn't excuse the lack of basically everything today, but we are on the right track for the medium term.

Still can't shake the feeling that the match was there for us. Only quibble I have is that Coleman would have been a better selection than Sidibe, but I understand why Carlo did it. I hope to live to see us beat Arsenal away and beat Liverpool somewhere. 

If I remember correctly, we have never defeated Arsenal at the Emirates. This seems like it would be a good time to do so. In all honestly, Carlo has had a favorable run of fixtures and he has taken care of business. This one will be a test. I hope 3 points is in order.

Drab match. I didn't think we were very good with the exception of Pickford who I thought had an excellent match. It is obvious that our central midfield needs strengthening. Getting Gomes back will help but I don't think he's a long term answer. Still hard to know what Gbamin can bring since he's played so little for us. Holgate has looked so good on the ball I wouldn't be against trying him at a DM position regularly. Of course then you leave Mina and Keane as CBs and I'm not sure that's preferable. 

Obviously want to pick up as many points as we can and finish as high in the table as possible. But the rest of this season, to me, is (a) beating the Reds at Goodison and (b) giving Carlo the time to figure out who to clear out and who to bring in during the summer. 

This one hurts a lot. It was there for the taking.

I've got no good reason to think this especially after 21 years of futility at Anfield, but I think we are going to win tomorrow.

Trend appears to be against those of us on the left. But don't stop fighting. Even in the US, we may lose in 2020, but I am optimistic that we are on the correct side of things.

I feel unusually confident. 

Welcome Yaralsov. Already a top blue in my opinion!

Pulling for Labour here in the US. Get out and vote (for labour)!

On 21/11/2019 at 14:07, markjazzbassist said:

his followers are ardent conspiracy theory believers.  they believe there is a "deep state" of career politicians trying to remove him from office.  they believe any effort to undermine Trump is not fact or reality, but instead the "deep state".  they are fucking nuts

Mark has it here. There's no evidence that would convince a Trump voter. 

I'm American, but rooting for Corbyn. Don't take that as a smart or well considered take though. I don't understand UK politics very well.

He only has the players he has available, so Dunc's options are limited. But he could play Moise Kean. That would be cool.

I'm going to do my best to schedule back to back to back meetings at work on Wednesday. After today's result, this has 5-0 all over it.

I watch a good bit of the Bundesliga and think that VAR has been implemented there better than in England. But I'd just rather not have it. Let's live with the missed or bad calls rather than litigating every call down to the video frame.

I am an advocate for pro/rel in US soccer. Even if you don't believe what some of the more ardent pro/rel folks believe (more effective in developing players, puts more pressure on team to succeed and compete, etc.) it is just more damn entertaining. I think US Soccer knows this but is sufficiently corrupt to never even attempt to implement it. I hear two big anti-pro/rel in the US arguments: First, the billionaires that own MLS will never go for it and second, lower level clubs don't do well in the US.

In answering the first question: Fuck the billionaires that own most of US soccer club franchises. If they don't like pro/rel, they are free to sell their clubs to the highest bidder. I don't know why any real human in the United States is interested in whether Bob fucking Kraft makes money on his investment in the New England Revolution. That's not US Soccer's problem. US Soccer is supposed to be trying to produce good soccer players.

In the second case, well, maybe lower leagues can't sustain themselves because there is no real path to the top level. Why invest in a lower level club if promotion (outside of a one time $200M investment coupled with significant one time stadium investments and political intrigue) is impossible? Lower tier soccer in the US doesn't thrive because it is pointless to invest in. 

So if you are anti-pro/rel in the US or just skeptical than it can work, post here and tell us why. Or if you agree, expand on my arguments!

I promised myself that I'd watch more of their matches this season but have only followed through on that once. Need to do better...the women deserve our support to and right now are one of the bright spots in our club.