Check through man of match threads, read your own comments if you have forgotten what a great player Fellaini is.
People do forget quickly.
Still, would i have him back? Yes
Would he bench Barry or McCarthy? No not in his current form.
He is a typical example of a team selling their biggest and best player and improving on their over all squad. Id do the same with Baines in the summer if i knew that it would improve the squad. (Plus i have a small man crush on Oviedo) i love Baines to bits but if i knew it would improve the squad then its a no brainer
And I still couldn't give a shit. The enjoyment isn't so much in the goals (obviously they're nice!). I don't need figures to tell me I'm getting value for money. Value for money is just getting to see Everton every other weekend.
Not making any point against you posting the figures, btw, Miguel!
He is a specialist defensive midfielder, the type that breaks play up and gives the ball to his team mates who are better on the ball. If you played him like that week in week out, especially in a defensive formation, he would be a stand out player but put him in any other role and he will be very inconsistent.
So he could buy McCarthy and have cash to find a striker. Which in the bigger picture was the smart thing to do.
But if he's available at a good price we should be in for him. One of the best DM's I've saw, if we had Felli sitting, McCarthy running and Barkley behind the striker Everton would be up there with most midfields in the world. If Barkley's defensive ability improves they could all swap positions temporarily during the game so we could play more towards total football as well.
You'd think we'd held Chelsea, City and Barca up at gunpoint so that we could steal these players from them. We paid for the privilege of having them here for a limited time period, and those clubs were only too willing to let them come.
If we'd signed three loan players who's values would only have been £6m but they'd had the same impact and we were challenging Arsenal for fourth then I assume Samuel would have no problem with it? Bullshit. He can cover it up with the FFP shit and them having a value of £50m all he likes but the only reason anyone has a problem with what's happened is that they've worked out extremely well for us. If Barry, Lukaku and Deulofeu had flopped and we were plodding a long mid-table, not upsetting the apple cart then there would be no outrage, no articles about how fucking unfair it is. In fact, there would probably be articles about how good we are giving these players a chance when they'd more than likely have been sat doing fuck all for the season.
usually I would agree but since we are playing possession football, we are expending less energy than usual so 3 games in 10 days no matter when in the season shouldn't make an impact
I do find it a little sad thinking back to Rooney when he first came on the scene as he had that enthusiasm and arrogance to actually beat a man and take him on. He used to twist defenders inside out but I dont see any of that anymore. He is the prime example of a player who has been "over-coached" and I do think that if he still had that ruthlessness that he had as a kid then you would be talking about him in the world class bracket but not a chance now. I cant even remember the last time I saw him take a defender on.
I found a video of some of his Everton goals. Not the greatest out there Im sure, but you will see what I mean.
best weekend of my life. my son was born (watched the game with me), and everton win 3-0. such a great effort by the lads, baines my MOTM, wonderful passing and movement of the ball up the field, he can be our english Lahm for sure! McCarthy and Barry were spot on and straight up outplayed Arteta and Flamini. Sorry to see Osman go, but happy with Barkley!
I think naismith needs to get white boots, long hair and an Alice band, a sleeve of tatts done, and learn how to do a drag back and throw his hands in the air when his team mates make a shite pass. Maybe then some fans will get their heads out their arse and rate a footballer who deserves a lot of credit.
As it happens he's just gonna do what he does, how many points has he earned us this season??? My guess is 6-9. At least hew moved up to "decent sub" status.
Laughable, the ridiculous plaudits Tim Cahill received, this lad is a better footballer.
Stones to start for me. Jags will be a bit rusty and we need focus and pace against Arsenal. Bring Jags into the grittier, but slower, Sunderland game if Stones has to be dropped. Honestly, I wouldnt drop him the rest of the season. He has more than earned his stripes and, captain or not, Jags doesnt deserve to just waltz back in (and I like Jags!)
Other than maybe the first 5 minutes we were never in that first half. We were absolutely terrible. Far too often this season we’ve started games slowly and yesterday was no different. It’s a good job that Fulham are a poor side and couldn’t take advantage. We were unbelievably lethargic; just knocking the ball around with no purpose and painfully slowly, there was no intensity at all. This allowed Fulham to pressurise us on the ball and more often than not they either won the ball back or we misplaced a pass giving it to them or put the ball out of play. It didn’t help that we pretty much had nobody providing any movement ahead of the play. They were all just stood around waiting for someone to do something. The only player that wanted to make something happen was Deulofeu. He took it upon himself to run forward with the ball, try to beat his man and create an opening. Sure, not much actually came from his efforts but how many 19 year olds will even attempt to take a game by the scruff of the neck? My admiration for him went up after his first half showing. Tbh, we were lucky to go in at half time still on level terms; a better side would have put us away.
While the performance in the second half still wasn’t great there was a significant improvement and I put that down to one man – Steven Naismith. While in the first half everything in front of the play was static he provided top quality movement. He was never still and was moving constantly, you rarely saw him stood still. Also, you rarely saw him close to a Fulham player; he made space for himself all the time and that meant he dragged Fulham defenders out of their set positions to follow him, providing more space for the likes of Lukaku, Baines, Coleman, Mirallas and McGeady (when they came on). It’s no coincidence that when he came on we looked much more of a threat going forward. He didn’t just benefit us going forward though; he was a terrier in closing their players down as well so the roles were reversed from the first half. We took the lead early in this half and that also brought a sense of confidence to our play – we had another couple of chances to go further ahead. Fulham did equalise with a spectacular goal and again put us under pressure for a while and had some brilliant chances to go ahead but we dug in brilliantly – we owe a lot to Howard for that; he made some point blank stops. In the past this would have been the signal to close up shop and hold on to what we had, but no such thing happened. Martinez made another two attacking substitutions – McGeady and Mirallas came on and instantly the impact was felt. McGeady played an inch perfect through ball (I love these!), Mirallas expertly controlled it, raced at goal and slotted it home. From that point on I felt we pummelled them and really wanted to finish them off – we had numerous chances to do just that. It took a little while longer to put the game to bed and there was a sense of fortune about it (Baines was offside) but I don’t care.
A massive three points for us despite not playing well, but points are what matter. However, we cannot afford to start slowly again next week against Arsenal. They will punish us. Its imperative, IMO, that we get the first goal. It’ll put the fear of god into them and they do not cope well under pressure.
Howard – He gave us the platform to win this one with numerous saves. I don’t think he could have done a thing about their goal even though it was at his near post – it was a ferocious hit and he more than likely didn’t see it ‘til late as well.
Coleman – Really wasn’t impressed with him first half. I thought he was awful defensively and was caught out time after time. He didn’t have a lot of help from Gerry, granted, but seeing as he was our whole attack I’ll let him off! He just seemed to not have a clue positionally and offered pretty much zero in terms of attacking. In the second half as the space opened up more he became more of a threat going forward at least.
Stones – The first half I thought he looked very uncomfortable. But that may have more to do with playing alongside Distin who had a shocking game. He looked extremely hesitant in his play – often the ball was there to be won and he looked in two minds and hung back instead. And he made a pretty big cock up because of this at one point, but he recovered well to tackle back and stop the Fulham attack. However, in the second half it was like a different player and he impressed me massively. The hesitancy was gone and he was all conquering. He’s going to be the heart of our defence, our leader, because he is the perfect defender for a Martinez side – on a few occasions he brought the ball out of defence imperiously and set us off on attacks. He didn’t just see that as his job done though, then he’d keep running forward and stay in the attack. That sort of play is going to be massively important to us as we progress.
Distin – He just had one of those games where you actually start hoping the ball goes nowhere near him. He was terrible, particularly in the first half. His judgement was way off and misjudged a lot of things that really could have cost us dearly. And just how many touches of the ball does he want before laying off?! On too many occasions he dawdled on the ball letting Fulham players close him down. And even when they didn’t the majority of the time he either played the ball out of play or launched it to absolutely no one!
Baines – Meh. He was OK. I can’t think of anything of note that he did other than the assist for Naismith’s second goal.
Deulofeu – Like I said earlier; in the first half he was our only attacking outlet, everything went through him. Yes, he could have done better at times but he’s still a young boy and you’ve got to give him credit for giving it a go. He had Riise worried every time he got the ball and deserves praise. I can also remember him putting a peach of a delivery across the 18 yard area and no one had took it upon themselves to get in there – Barkley and Lukaku were like statues. And another time when his shot was saved and the ball came to him and he quickly put the ball back into the danger area only for a Fulham player to intercept the ball before it reached Lukaku. All in all a promising display from him.
McCarthy – He loves a slip doesn’t he? He needs to sort his studs out because like in every game he slipped on his arse and this time it cost us a goal. I reckon he’d have stopped Dejagah getting that shot in. Other than that, though, he had a solid game. Certainly better than his midfield partner.
Barry – Not a great afternoon for him. He looked very tired and off the pace to me and this allowed the Fulham players to get at him (targeted?) and force him to play the ball quicker than he’d like. He mostly did find an Everton man but the pass was often a hospital ball meaning we lost the ball anyway.
Osman – This game showed that he cannot and should not play two games in a week. He was knackered right from the off and he was another player that Fulham really got at and took advantage of. They were on to him quickly whenever he got the ball and forced him to turn over the ball. It didn’t help his case that he drifted infield constantly but then didn’t have the energy to get back to his wing position, leaving a hell of a lot of space for Fulham to exploit.
Barkley – He just wasn’t on it was he? Totally off the pace and was more a hindrance than a help. Particularly to Lukaku. I felt he sat too close to him, clogging up the space. And he wanted far too much time on the ball and invariably he was closed down and the ball taken from him.
Lukaku – For the first half in particular he cut an extremely frustrated figure. Like I said, Barkley was clogging up the space and, also, when he was making good runs he was totally ignored and the ball was played elsewhere. I don’t think it helped his mood that balls kept getting launched over him rather than to him. I thought he looked much better in the second half when there was a lot more space for him once Barkley went off, and on a few occasions he used his strength to great effect – it is something that is improving.
Naismith – Game changer. Pure and simple. He gave us exactly what was needed and what was severely lacking in the first half – he moved between the lines (dropping deep sometimes, which was what Barkley had totally neglected to do), he occupied the Fulham players, he opened up space for all of our other attacking players, his movement was of the highest quality, he used the ball brilliantly, he linked up well with every one else, he harried the Fulham defenders. He topped it all off with two goals as well and should have had a hat-trick! My MOTM.
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