chicagoblue

So so so so poor. Unbelievable. Only Fellaini gave a fuck. Pienaar, Osman, Gibson and Mirallas all useless. Cannot believe that Osman started, he was clearly unfit. Such a frustratingly diabolical performance, just absolute rubish from the entire squad. Wow.

Couple things I've noticed watching Barkley. His passes often seem to catch other players a bit by surprise. Not sure if he hits the pass in a bit of an odd way or if it's often coming a bit ahead or behind where it's expected. Also seems to let the ball bounce off him a bit too far, which invites the challenge. He clearly has the talent to have his first touch go where he wants it, just needs to learn to make that place closer to his body. Like a few others on here I'd like to see him given quite a bit of time from now till the end of the season.

Defensively we played well throughout. Unfortunately, we couldn't match our pace and intent from the first 10 minutes throughout the match. Think that was a winnable game, but we just didn't get forward with enough purpose or retain enough possession in the final third, or really anywhere. Also, far too sloppy at times. Pienaar and Mirallas especially. Also thought Vic's touch was much looser than it has been. On the plus side, Fellaini was imperious and Ross looked a player. Jags, Distin and Coleman were all excellent. Can only remember the one shot of any consequence. Decent effort, but not enough to take us to Europe I fear.

They have too much possession now and we've stopped creating. Don't know how Pienaar is still on the pitch.

Pienaar invisible or fucking up. Don't know what happened to him, but he's useless right now. Him and Gibson could both get themselves sent off. Gives us a bit of a problem. Anichebe started well, but has now bee pretty well shackled, needs someone closer to him for support. Wouldn't be surprised to see an early change. We missed our early chances, but we can still win this, just need to maintain concentration.

Close bwtween Vic and Gibbo for me. Agree with those who see Pienaar as a fading light, sad but appears true. Coleman played well throughout. A few loose touches in the first half marr the overall performance, but he was disciplined in defense and one of teh few to maintan an attacking intent throughout. Fellaini was damn near invisible. Presumably he's either working into to saving himself for the arsenal game, but it had best be one or the either. His performance today was less than reassuring. Howard has been at his best since Mucha came in. I think he needs the pressure. Would be smart of Moyes to create a little competition there and I think Mucha deserves the opportunity. Osman and Mirallas were both below par, though both also had good touches. Like most of the team they seemed to be reserving themselves. Vic was class. Don't think he lost a challenge in the first 60 minutes. Only real blight was the moan, and the drop that he and the whole team witnessed after the second goal. We should have pushed on from there and truly killed it. Instead we sat back and half drowned the game. Baines started brightly but faded offensively. Simple but solid defensively. Jags and Distin only allowed the one quality shot. Everything else was nullified before a threat even appeared. QPR offered nothing though. Remy has class, but without support was nude. Teraabt is a nonce. Clever touches galore, but no hear or drive. Jella and Naismith were invisible. Oviedo should have have been the option. No sympathy for 'Arry, the board, Fernandes, or that quarter of London. Can all go enjoy the native water and cry.

Vic for me. Gibbo ran a close race.

Thought we could have made our subs earlier. Pienaar was useless for the last 20 and we lost all pace after the second goal. Think changing things up would have livened us up and probably led to another goal. Obviously we were only at 60% today, and we got away with it, but Tuesday is going to need a very different application.

Sort of a prototypical Everton performance for the year. Asleep from the off, recover well, take the lead, then sit back and fail to defend the lead. Could, and probably should have won it with Vic's late run, or the one he blasted over, or the one Jelly shot straight at Lloris when Gibson was through. Really disappointed with how we set up after the second goal. Decided to concede possession and work with scraps when we clearly had to quality to dominate possession. Don't think we managed to establish sustained possession once after Mirallas' goal. Howard did all he could really. Came and gathered everything he could and saved really well from Dembele's deflected shot. Harsh to put either goal at his feet. Coleman defended well today, but was poor going forward, especially in the first 20 or so he just couldn't pick a pass. Apart from the first 10 minutes I though both CBs played well, didn't really get pulled out of position and closed things down at the right time. Baines was mediocre for me. Stood up well to Walker for the most part, but clearly beaten for their second goal. Didn't offer much going forward either. Barkley, as mentioned, was decent defensively (apart from standing off Vertonghen for their first). Seemed to want to get forward, but was too slow to get the ball out of his feet and make the pass. Just wanting too much time on the ball at the moment. Think he'll do much better if he's heavily involved form the start of the season to adapt to the pace. Osman was all over the place, brilliant one moment then falling to pieces. As mentioned, he was clearly gassed by the 75th minute and should have been subbed. Thought Oviedo was badly needed. Gibson, don't think he did anything wrong. A few unnecessarily hurried clearance and m=long passes that didn't connect, but he was at least looking to set things away and only really had Anichebe making purposeful runs in front of him. Heitinga, well it's not his position is it. He got in a few blocks that were needed and he didn't wander away from his home base, but also don't think he put himself about enough. Just too slow to cover the ground in the middle of the park. Far too often Adebayor would drop into his hole and Heitinga couldn't keep up which allowed them easy possession in the middle of the park. Also thought he lost his head a few times. Hacking clearances when he should have been bringing it down with some composure. Mirallas took his goal ever so well, and that seemed to wake him up a bit, as he'd bee really poor up to that point. Unfortunately, Moyes clearly instructed that we sit back once we took the lead and that nullified whatever Mirallas might have given us. Did reasonably well defensively. Seems responsible with his tracking back when it's needed. Vic, clearly MOTM. Bashed and bullied Caulker and Dawson all over the park. Combined his strength with deft touches and good control. Still has a bit of the bull in a china shop mentality at times though and you can almost see the blood go to his head when something starts to open up. As long as he stays fit I think he should be starting ahead of Jelavic. Vic's not all the way there yet, but the games and confidence is clearly helping him. Jelly, meh. A few decent touches, but just didn't hold the ball well enough, took a weak shot when he should have passed, and didn't seem to have anything near the pace or power of Vic. He's going to need to find his killer instinct again soon if he wants to be starting. Naismith, who? Hope we scam someone into giving us a few quid for him in the summer. In his defence, he does always seem to know where Jelly is, and the one time he got onto a ball in the final 1/3 he immediately turned and hit it towards him in the box. As usual, thought we could have done more with our subs and as mentioned by others it was clear that a few of the lads had hit the wall by the time they got their second. Good to see the fight and a decent point, but 3 were there for the taking.

Agree with most all of the above except for Distin. Thought he played really well and used the empty space to keep trying to probe at Stoke. If he'd just sat back in the three we would have been far too static. While he's obviously not a midfielder passer, in the first have especially he kept picking the ball up and running towards the left channel, forcing Stoke to come deal with it. That opened up the space and started a good number of our attacks. Also thought he worked really well with Jags to bottle Crouch.

Haven't read anything on here yet, and just finished watching the game. Shocking. So poor. Didn't even start playing until the second half and then only for 10 minutes. We're completely out of gas and have no real plan. We'll be lucky with any win we secure from here to the end of the season.

If we keep a clean sheet against premiership opposition for the rest of the campaign I'll be shocked. If Wigan rest players we'll surely cruise as FA Cup is clearly now our first priority. If Wigan play the full squad though then I think it will be a real contest. An easy team to underestimate, though we do seem to have their number of late.

Cannot keep a clean sheet can we. Heitinga completely at fault again, didn't even pretend to pick up his man. Thought we looked totally suspect at the back all game, despite Reading only have one plan of attack. Mirallas was bright and Gibson did well. Obviously Pienaar popped up in the second half, but I thought he was actually quite poor in the first half. Not much of note from Baines, but Coleman did quite well, constantly getting forward, always offering an option, something we've really lacked. Don't know what it's going to take for Jelavic to get a goal now, he just can't buy one. Good to win comfortably though and some nice finishing, then again, it was Reading at Goodison.

Would be more than up to see a fair raft of changes. It's fairly clear to most fans at this point that the first 11 are out of energy and ideas. We're not blessed with a bench that Davey is keen to call upon and yet we still have 2.5 months of football. Something's got to give. At the very least I think Barkley should be starting this. Osman, Pienaar and Naismith all looked nigh on useless last time out. Sit Felli back alongside Gibson and we don't even need to worry if Barkley gives away a few sloppy balls. Kevin and, have to say I'd be tempted to draft in Oviedo in for Naismith and Pienaar. If Vic still isn't fit then I guess it has to be Jelly up front, but sad to say it, I've about lost faith in him for this season. He needs something, whether the break of the ball, a different type of service or just a kick in the pants I'm not sure, but right now our goal scoring is riding on a broke ass mule. Not sure where Vellios has been, always looked at least competent and if we don't have Vic then we need to at least have some really CF option. Fuck me, it's not looking too clever is it boys? -------Howard--------- Seamus-Jags-Distin-Baines Kev-Felli-Gibbo-Oviedo ------------Barkley----------- ------------Jelly------------- No chance we'll see anything like that of course. Moyes will insist on sticking Felli up front again, to what end I have no idea, that hasn't looked convincing for about 3 months now. Let him sit back and do his jobs, maybe that way we'll start to put our defence back together. Let the boys who are supposed to know how to thread a pass and score goals run amok up front. This long ball is killing us and making us utterly predictable. Here's to hoping.

We really are awful these days. No ability to make an incisive pass, no creativity and complete lack of desire to make the points ours. Deserved to be beaten.

Unfuckingbelievable. Maybe it's rash, but I blame the Jellyfish here. We need to be putting teams like this away and we had more than enough chances. If it wasn't for Howard we'd have lost this. We really look shite at the moment.

Why is this a thread?

Injury seems to be recovered, think DM and co have down well to ease him back in. Hopefully now he'll start to pick up his sharpness

Well and truly beaten out there today. Utd played the game to perfection and nullified Felli for the first half, which killed our momentum. Neither Osie nor Pienaar could pick a pass to save their lives. The pitch looked poor and I don't think it helped, but we also badly lacked invention.

Surprised how little discussion on this thread for such a big game. Have to agree with Trev that Utd's focus might be just slightly shifted toward Europe. They have bags of experience with this situation and a massive squad that rotates well, but you have to think that there are worse times to play Utd. Again think it would be harsh to drop Vic, but I guess if we're thinking it'll be a game of one or two half chances, then maybe the gamble on Jelly makes sense. Myself I'd start Vic, give him at least the 45 and have him on instructions to go hard as he can against their CBs. If not love, make the switch and at the very least Jelly comes on fresh against them. Again no proper RB. Think it has to be Neville back there, can't allow Heitinga near the pitch. Standard picks across the middle and I'd be inclined to sit Felli deeper, assuming he makes the start. If he's out then, well, Hitz I guess, or maybe just push Pienaar infield and bring Oviedo on and force Osman to sit next to Gibson. Fear that would be a touch lightweight though, but a second half defensive player on their right might be a nice counterbalance to Valencia and could allow Baines to really bomb on. Hope to be clearheaded enough to wake up for this one live. COYB

The difference being that Modric provided a perfect slide rule pass into the box for him to take two steps towards and turn to fire. He hasn't had a single ball like that, or so it feels, with us all season. Really think a big part of his struggles recently is the kind of service we're not giving him. Confidence boost is great, proper service is more important. Hopefully Osman/Mirallas can start to provide it again.

Out of curiosity, what's your guess on that number?

Right you are sir. Reported an hour after the window closed. If we wanted to send the lad out to get some game time, why wait so late. Never looked like we hoped to bring someone in for that position, so not as if we were waiting for the other shoe to drop. Anywhoo, I'm sure it will be good for him, think he absolutely needs constant games and the fight of a relegation battle might just show if he's made of something.

Me too, but I think more than a few teams will be in the running. Could be very much what we need. Always get nervous myself when I come on here and everyone is predicting an easy-ish victory. Somehow I think the players get to thinking the same thing and then the wheels come off. Just maybe the goal we shouldn't have conceded against WBA will have provoked Moyes to really get at the lads this week. Absolutely need to come out flying and not let off. Villa are bereft of confidence, if we get one early we'll get two. Vic has to start again, as does Kev, and hopefully Gibbo. Would love to see Neville on the bench, or if need be, only at right back. Baines and Pienaar to have another stormer terrorizing the flank.