Bailey

I think part of why Koeman was selected was because he is prepared to work with a DoF.

 

@Bailey, when McCarthy went off which of these players would you have picked to replace him?

 

Robles, Holgate, Kenny, Calvert-Lewin, Barry, Cleverley, Mirallas?

 

I don't think any of those would have made a difference. Barkley was so shit that moving him back and putting Mirallas CAM would have been disastrous. And putting Cleverley in.. well, I bet you wouldn't have liked the outcome of that either.

Firstly I would have had Davies on the bench. He is the next in line in the middle of the park so he would have been an option, not one I would have liked to go with in a derby but still an option. If he is willing to throw DCL to the wolves then he surely has no problem doing the same with Davies.

Without him I would have gone for Barry and sat him deep with Gana and Barkley ahead of him keeping Valencia closer to Rom like we did at Arsenal. It theoretically would help the full backs get forward too and our best chance of scoring was from a cross or set piece.

 

He needs to have a squad built around him then?

 

He needs to move on, in my opinion. Be a good player for a lower league side. Not one "supposedly" pushing for CL in 3 seasons.

 

I honestly dont know what people see in him.

No but that is his best position. Same as any other player in the squad, they are at their best in certain conditions.

Whatever the fuck he was asked to do today was not that condition.

Again he is another who hasn't been helped by the manager. He has been hung out to dry.

 

What role is he natural at then?

He should be playing in a 3 in midfield. He needs defensive cover but he needs space to move into and more passing options.

Today when he got on the ball he was swarmed and had few options. There was one time when he turned through 3 Liverpool players only to run into a 4th with no Everton player anywhere near him.

He was lazy when bringing Barry on and DCL.

You pay a manager all that money to work on tactics and ideas and to realise your strengths and weaknesses and then you just swap in what you know doesn't work and will be seen to its worst effect against a team like Liverpool.

The starting 11 was right, Barkley positioning was a bit odd but when a key player goes down you need to change things.

Appalling ball-watching by Williams and Funes Mori on the goal. Basic, basic defending, failed to follow the ball toward the goal. Basic. Just like our inferior passing. Basic.

 

As Sturridge was making his run,, Barkley was just watching the game. Ross just has no sense of where the ball will be, the opposite of Gana, who has a great sense of where the ball will be. Probably not fair to contrast Barkley with Gana, but too often it's painful to watch as Ross wastes so very much energy, running from here to there, always 2 steps behind the play when on defense. And Ross should have seen a red card.

 

The 2 injury substitutions really limited Koeman's options, and Calvert-Lewin was a long-shot gamble that didn't pan out at all.

 

Gana and Coleman had strong performances, as did McCarthy.

I have sympathy with the CB'S because it was a scuffed shot, they were trying to block and they were wrong footed. In a perfect world they might have been able to get closer but in that situation a pace player like Mane facing the goal is going to beat slow defenders having to turn.

Also your comments on Gueye/Barkley, for the goal Gueye gets caught trying to anticipate the pass into Lallana (I think) and gets out of position giving Baines no support. Baines has done what he can to move him into traffic but the traffic wasn't there.

He was asked to play an odd role. That's not his game, he worked really hard all game and gave it what he could but he never got into it.

This should have been his game but he was handcuffed from the first kick.

That free kick was fucking diabolical though considering how we were only a threat from set pieces.

Can definitely see the shouts for Coleman, Gana and even McCarthy but I have gone for Williams. He got so many little knicks and touches and tackles that just stopped them putting in the final ball or shot.

Both Lukaku and Barkley ran hard all game so I am not having the rubbish from further up the thread that they didn't put in a shift.

Neither did hold on to the ball well but neither did Origi. Difference is their midfield could hold onto the ball and rotate. We didn't play that way and we never were.

Both of the lads did need to do better on the ball bur they were swarmed. It's bloody difficult to make things stick then you are immediately under pressure from 2 3 or 4 defenders.

How was the goal Robles fault?

McCarthy getting injured was massive. We pretty much all said it and Barry was never involved. It's mad, if he comes on we have to change the way we play, have to, but we kept the same thing.

I am really surprised that we used Ross that high up the pitch. He should have been deeper like he was again Arsenal not almost playing the Cahill role in a 442.

The sub of Barry was an odd one in that we didn't change anything and the DCL sub was stranger. Mirallas will be spitting ffeathers and so will Gerry. DCL isn't a winger, he almost cost us the game against Arsenal when he was nervy. He did what he could when he came on but he was never getting us up the pitch.

No fucking way

Nearly Rom, nearly.

What a fucking waste that was!

That mane is a player....

 

Young Calvert-lewin ain't ready for this.

He should at least go more 442 and drop Barkley wide.

Feels hard for a young striker to be given so much responsibility.

Great stop Robles

Thank fuck nothing happened there. Calvert-lewin was at fault.

He looked nervy against Arsenal so I was a bit surprised to see him used in this.

Good clearing header there though.

Valencia can be very tidy indeed on the ball.

He is a strange one. Sometimes he looks like he has glue on his feet and then other times he just punts the ball into touch under little pressure.

Rom never really gives you the impression that he is under full control so it is no surprise when he does one or the other.

Valencia did well there. Picking back up again now thankfully.

That is actually a shocker from Ross. Not intentional but still nasty.

If one gets picked on you all get stuck in. Good one lads!

Our physio looks about 12.

This would be the worst time for a keeper to come off the bench. Would feel for Robles if he comes on.

Great work Baines. Mane left Barry for dead.

Barry's just filling a space on the field, barely moving. Valencia edging himself back onto the bench

He is just caught between pressing and covering and they are running rings round him. We desperately needed more energy in that position. I'd be tempted to drop Ross a bit more deeper to help cover.

What the fuck was Valencia doing there? Very lucky again. Great work from Gueye.