Bailey

You can see the look of defeat on his face. It wasn't even a penalty on Saturday but he had resigned himself to it. I remember the last days of Gary Neville being similar where he just couldn't stop gifting goals/penalties/fouls.

It wouldn't hurt to give Mori a run.

Southall and Baines for me.

Arteta had his moments but if you were picking a team of the year he would have never have been in it whereas the other two would.

I think he does want more combative midfielders and more pressing from the front. I don't think we have players willing to do that.

 

From the players we had before he arrived, Besic will press and be combative, but probably can't compete in the air. I know Gana can't either but I think one of them needs to be able to. Lennon will press and run all day for you, but lacks real quality.

 

Southampton really improved under him when he had Mane and Tasic chasing people, Wanayama pressing the midfield. He just doesn't have that here.

 

Bolasie waa closing people when he first arrived, but not so much now. He has probably seen team mates not doing it and started to slow down himself.

 

January might give us a boost, but next summer is a huge one for us and Koeman. He might need to bring in six or seven players to get them playing how he wants, is expect us to loose a bit of form if that happens while they get used to each other.

 

It took Martinez about ten months to shake off Moyes sold defence, it might take Koeman the same sort of time to rebuild Martinez shell of a team.

Players will press if the manager tells them to, especially if the result of not pressing is sitting on the bench or in the stands. Gone are the days of players like Yakubu who only run when they get inside the 18 yard box. You basically just said it with Bolasie. A player who does press, who is aggressive, has all but stopped that side of his game. He is still direct on the ball, but his work rate has dropped. Thats what concerns me the most. He should have been the leading example for the other wingers. Both Gerry and Mirallas started pre-season working their nuts off but now they are sitting on the bench and Lennon, who is nothing like a Koeman player, starting ahead of them (albeit for just one game).

He can play how he wants to here with the players we have. Much worse players can do better than ours have shown. Borough were streets ahead of us when playing Chelsea. A bad workman blames his tools etc. What we lack has nothing to do with the individual qualities of players, it has to do with hard work, discipline and attitude and that comes from the top down. The majority of players are putting in a shift but that effort is being misused. I wouldn't disagree with some players lacking discipline under Martinez but that isn't something that can be labelled to any one of the starting 11 against Swansea and that showed as in the second half we barely gave them a kick. We have started almost every game at a snails pace when we should be setting the tone in that time, we could and should have been behind in almost every game this season. West Ham could have been 2 or 3 up, Defoe had a great chance for Sunderland, Swansea had a couple of chances before they were given the penalty too. This comes from the manager/management.

He is too much of a headless chicken in open play. He can man mark, he can tackle, work hard and get things done but he doesn't have the brain to do it here. Him and Gana would be a disaster. They would turn the ball over loads but also give it away as much and both get caught chasing the ball, well Gana doing his job and Besic following the ball.

A handy back up but nothing more.

From City, Chelsea, Arsenal, United, Liverpool and Spurs, who should be lower than us in the table?

I heard this question asked to an Evertonian on the radio yesterday. I'd like to hear some thoughts on here.

For me, them six teams have better players than us. I can't complain about 7th at the moment, I'm happy we are more solid than last season but disappointed we don't attack as well. I'm also realistic enough to know we can't have both just yet.

The problem is we play Soton, United, Watford, Arsenal and Liverpool in our next 5 games. 3 of them are at home but Southampton are rock solid at the back without scoring too many and Watford are playing really well too.

United are probably the easiest game as I don't see us getting close to Arsenal or Liverpool. I could see us picking between 3 and 7 points across those games leaving us well in the bottom half of the table. We were certainly flattered at the start of the year with the schedule we had.

In general terms I am not really sure what Koeman is trying to achieve. I thought he wanted aggressive & hard working wingers/inside forwards but then he picks Lennon. I thought he wanted a tough combative central midfield and then he picks Cleverly.

We have seen Mori playing left back, a mix and match at the back, and Enner facking Valencia.

We will get better and I am still confident that he will be successful here but he is certainly testing my patience!

It's no so much the age of our defence but their speed (which can go hand in hand). Coleman is the only one who can shift and whilst it's not a problem if we want to sit back and soak up pressure, when we want to attack, you need the back 4 to also press high and limit the space between the defence and midfield but at the moment they are sat too deep and there is space to play in for the opposition. 2nd half was better because we did limit that space and become more aggressive in out attempt to win the ball back.

I'm still not sure what has changed since the early part of last season. Conceding silly goals, dominating the game, not taking chances. If anything we are creating less good chances than last season, especially in the bigger games.

Still early days but it's been an underwhelming start.

The best two players on the pitch were Gueye and Barkley by far.

That was an electric counter.

Get in Seamus! No idea how but great header.

I don't really know what we are trying to achieve in attack. More bodies doesn't mean more goals!

That's a good ball from Gerry but Valencia is on his heels.

I have no idea what Jags was trying to achieve with that ball into the box or the following header. He looks knackered.

Great ball from Bolasie there. He should stay right!

We could have conceded 2 from set pieces again today. I thought that was Martinez's fault!

Yeh again I repeat, why is Lennon still on. If Gerry has that time and space he would have done something with it by now.

I don't know why Lennon is on the pitch still.

Much better start to the 2nd half. More aggressive

We're shit. Spent two seasons using Martinez as the excuse. Time to face facts that this group of players to a man are not good enough. No character, no fight, no winners.

I have seen these players do far better than this. I have seen far worse players do better than this.

Faults lie with the management.

We just look to be giving them too much space and then when we attack we are giving them too much time to get organised. It's essentially the same as begining of last season.

Lennon has added nothing, I don't see how he fits into this squad anymore.

I think the midfield 3 are doing well enough but the front 3 aren't combining with them regularly enough. When they do we have created clear cut chances.

Great play by Coleman when being countered

Bolasie should score!

That's never a penalty... sigurdson backs into Jags

Gana wins so many tackles it's unreal. Iv never seen anything like it.

Ah Ross, should have scored. He did really well in that move. McCarthy spreading the play well too.

We are starting to wake up now.

That was a chance though and should scored