chalkpie

Everton 0-0 Stroke

none

Not with the amount of money he's spent or almost commited to.. he's done in near £200m...

He took us to 7th last season, it's a fair improvement from the previous two 11th places. Having said that, this is a make or break season for Koeman for me personally. If we slide down the table, then I will have major doubts. If we continue to climb the table at the conclusion of 17-18, then I would say it's working. Big year for him and the players. Do all of these guys have what it takes (management included)? We shall see (said the blind man).

 

With an array of gardening equipment I wouldn't be against it.

Mike, what are your thoughts up until now honestly? Where is this team headed?

Autoincorrect got you. I'm sure you typed: "Amazing. We are wholly crap."

?

Holy crap we are amazing!!

It's not a case of missing Rom either, we can't even seem to feed the forward.

I don't mean this with any disrespect, but at the moment we are more akin to a midtable Championship side than a top PL side fighting for a top 4 place.

The positive I can take away from the past 3 matches is that our defence seems to be somewhat tightened up , albeit we haven't faced true attacking prowess either.

I'm genuinely worried tbh. This goes beyond preseason jitters or rustiness or whatever. We came out like lightning, now it's more like direction-less sludge.

Sandroooooooooooooooooooooooaaaaaalllllllllllllllll!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Holy fuckin shit!!!

Besic ever gonna play again?

At 70:00, just close up the fuckin shoppe and don't fuck it up. Easier said than done.

Not impressed. Wasn't impressed last week either. Weak final 1/3 and the build up isn't stellar either.

The sideways/backwards stuff was irking me - which harkens back to the Martinez era somewhat. I always say to myself - would they be pussyfooting with these passes if there were 5 minutes left in stoppage time in a level final or semifinal? I hope to see more incisive passing/running and more direct play next week. Having said that I'll take the bloody WIN.

Bainesy

This was the first real game with so many new players. Someone nailed it above when they wrote that there was much individual promise but little in the way of a cohesive team. That's going to be the case for maybe the first third of the season: We can't expect to make wholesale changes and for everyone to gel right away. Cuco looked suspect (would he on our team if he hadn't played for Koeman and Southampton?). Unfortunately, Mirallas was anonymous for most the game - which happens far too often. The game came alive when Sandro ran on the pitch, rather like it used to when Geri first played on the team. He could become one awesome player. Overall, though, not a good result. Surviving this first round is most definitely not a cert.

 

I wish we'd use Lookman more and stop trying to force Rooney into the wrong role. Personally, I'd like to see DCL, Lookman, and Sandro play together more.

Great post. Agreed 100%

That said, Martina was awful and I'd be happy to never see him in a blue shirt again. Below replacement-level quality; much rather give Holgate and Kenny matches.

Little harsh, no?

Stream I'm watching is in Arabic. Commentator thought that Lookman was Niasse. Hahahaha

Wow.

I hope we get Gylfi out there soon.

Besides the lack of creativity and pace, we look absolutely stellar. ?

Got ITV4 on Mobdro...bring it on! Wish I were there!

Not what I was hoping for

You can get itv4 on mobdro, so you should be good

Not seeing ITV4 on here?

So excited for this! I'm hoping to catch it on Mobdro, although it might not be in Olde Englishe