Dublin Drummer Wolf
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2010
- Messages
- 9,975
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Let's go...
For me, the defence was shocking. Even against ten men we got carved open with ease three times, Everton had the same rustiness as us and I would say this is more the reason they didn't capitalise on their chances. Why Tosun didn't fee Walcott the ball when he was through I'll never know, and the one towrds the end where their player over-hit the cross when it was 2-on-1, stupidity. Hard to see that as a signal for the remainder of the season as it's the first game but it was quite apparent that the level of opposition is a lot higher than The Championship. We'll be OK, I don't believe we'll finish below 12th but even with Everton's experience and ability we should not be playing for that long against ten men and the opposition look like the more likely to score.
I also thought Everton looked really good so we could have been playing a potential top 6 team there which makes the result a little more palatable (I would have taken 2-2 before kick-off but not under the circumstances of the game) given our relatively poor performance. Richarlison was very dangerous. If it had stayed 11v11 I think that scoreline might have been a little more different in Everton's favour.
Excellent post.Surprised by some of the negativity to be honest. That wasn’t an amazing performance but we were fine, even at one nil down in my opinion.
We needed to get the ball to our wingers in the inside channel more for me. Needs a bit more time for Raul to click with them but there were some good moments.
Second goal is very poor one to concede though. Slack from Doc, Bennett too tight and Coady too deep and far away. Nuno will be annoyed by that one. Will need to work on defending the counter attack more as they were able to break away too easily with ten men but I think that was more individual mistakes than a problem of our system.
Two very good subs in Vinagre and Leo from Nuno. Would have put Jonny on the right but then it was his first competitive game in England. Leo offered a lot more depth to our attack even if it did imbalance us slightly. But it allowed Jimenez to peel away and that’s how he scored his goal in fact. Morgan did well when he came on too!
The quality of our goals was a huge bonus too. We will have no troubles in this league. Especially once we have more options, like Traore and Cav. And Dendoncker at the back or to play in midfield.
Really like Jonny, Joao is a classy football and Raul is going to be a fans favourite. Very good forward and will never let the defence rest. Don’t think Costa and certainly not Jota were terrible like some are saying. Both caused problems but never quite had the conviction with what they did with the ball.