Everton Banter Archive April 04 2017

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04 Apr 2017 23:19:20
Watching Lukaku tonight, he was trying too hard to score against a top 6 team and of course he burnt mirrallas. Koeman substitution of Mirrallas, was in my view the game changer. Could not believe he bought Pennington on. Should have been like for like. Back to Lukaku, the criticism he copped against Liverpool was justified and if we are to climb into the top 4 Lukaku needs to elevate his game to a higher level or we sell him. Not good enough against top 6 teams.

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05 Apr 2017 08:37:41
It was his audition to show Mourinho he is the answer to their scoring problems, that's the reason he put himself about last night but didn't at the weekend.
One thing I noticed last night is that United are a long way off winning the league and the rebuilding job there is the same as ours. We have 7 games remaining and I think we will go unbeaten in these game so and collect at least 17 points, only Chelsea and Arsenal games will we drop points by drawing, that gives us 68 point shots for the season and possibly a top 6 finish.

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{Ed001's Note - he may have actually broken sweat, for a change, but his touch is still that of a Sunday league drunk. Makes you wonder how many he could have scored if he put the effort in to working on his touch?}

05 Apr 2017 11:08:58
That's true Ed001 and that's why I feel he isn't ready for one of Europes elite yet. The problem we have is do we keep him and remain a club easy to predict by having only one goal scoring outlet, or do we cash in and get a couple of decent forward players to give us different options? The leagues leading scorers (your lot) don't play with an out and out forward and have more fluency in attack which hurts me to say, I'm leaning towards the selling in the summer and using the funds to bring in a couple of attackers who can play with the back to goal and close from the front.

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{Ed001's Note - Koeman favours one target man scoring the goals mate. It is a style he used at Saints too with Pelle. The problem is they struggled when he didnt score too. I doubt he will stray far from that way of playing as he replaced Pelle with Austin to play the same role.}

04 Apr 2017 23:02:39
Koemans fault we lost 2 points? Really? I didn't agree with some of his decisions but for me the blame is totally with Williams for a moment of madness. He played well but why did he do that with Robles behind him? Panic stations as far as I can see.

It wasn't Koemans fault that happened. We were unlucky. Koeman had the game won had Williams just left that ball for Robles to save.

All Lukaku had to do was pass to Kev and Barkley for goals. Koeman doesn't deserve any blame for me. Our defense has improved 10 fold since last season. Had Martinez still of been here we would of gotten rail roaded tonight.

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04 Apr 2017 23:37:59
NBTB, I think it was last man panic, if Robles had saved the pen he would have been exonerated! 4 mins added time? Where from?
But managers subs put us under pressure we conceded our battle in the game at that point sat back to defend!

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04 Apr 2017 23:37:12
Well said NBTB Fully agree with you. Good catching up with you again in live chat.

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04 Apr 2017 23:47:02
Ultimately I agree but to be a devils advocate. wouldn't a stronger number 1 have screamed for Williams that it was the keepers ball? Shame as the 3 points would have made things interesting. Think a resurgent Leicester will be very tough for us now. Our ranks are depleted even though it's great that we have a conveyor belt of kids stepping up. Maybe too soon and the games are too important for the forced appearances for these young lads. Great experience for next season though.

Next season holds a lot of optimism. Lukaku situation is becoming more of a win win for us. Either we off load a player for a ridiculous amount of cash or he realises that the "big teams" will have been unimpressed with his recent performances and will not bid. He stays at a club that he suits and he continues to be a 20 goal a season striker for us. Hopefully a few more senior players will arrive, with a little more quality than we currently have. Unfortunately every other team is going to improve next year.

After the last 2 poor final finishing position in the league, this year has been an improvement. Perhaps we can push on next year and get closer to the top 4? I'm sure that Pep will get city in much better shape. Jose too. Klopp undoubtedly will also improve. Fingers crossed Barcelona or Real will turn Pochettino and damage spurs. And hopefully Arsenal will continue to slide. 5th next year would be an achievement but I can only dream of a top 4 finish.

Our defence is now in a mess with the Williams ban. Think our run in is going to be further hampered by the availability of players, let alone the fact we are running out of games faster than the teams above us,
Oh well. it could have been fantasy stuff if we had got 6 points, even the 4 Koeman expected. 1 point feels like it's over for us now. Let's just hope we don't slide bellow WBA. That would be a disaster.

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05 Apr 2017 00:15:08
That had crossed my mind Blue76. Robles should have shouted at Williams but at the same time I guess he never dreamed Williams would do what he did.

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05 Apr 2017 01:06:16
On the plus side jagielka is reborn. To blame Williams is a little harsh. He wasn't to know if Robles was going to save that and if he, d left it we would all be slating him. A defenders instinct is to block the ball. We need a better keeper, Robles has done well but against top teams his all round game is not good enough. I do have to admit 4 minutes was too much even for old Trafford.

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05 Apr 2017 06:55:14
Bad subs from RK. Robles is a quiet keeper does not command in the box so did he tell Williams he had it covered as for Lukaku what's he got to moan about if he had scored or passed whe other people could have scored then the pen wouldn't of mattered.

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{Ed025's Note - robles was not getting to the shaw shot AB but i agree we could have had it sewn up by then, we rode our luck at times but it was certainly better than the debacle of saturday even though the substitutions baffled me mate..

05 Apr 2017 09:27:57
Robles was going in the opposite direction to the deflected shot there was very little chance he would save that Williams actually looked like he was trying to head the ball but it did hit his arm and was a penalty to blame either is wrong in my opinion. RK subs didn't help but neither did some of the poor play it seems that 1st touches for quite a few players are not great, maybe its something the team should work on as a whole. ZI offside goal was not offside so we got lucky with that on the whole a much better performance than the weekend yes we may have won the game but we could quite as easily have lost so i'll take the point thank you very much and hope to see the boys continue to collect 3 more on the weekend.

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05 Apr 2017 21:18:08
Robles was not going in opposite direction. He was directly behind Williams and about to dive for the ball only Williams stopped it. I watched it a couple of times. He had it covered no doubt about that.

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04 Apr 2017 22:07:42
Think RK got the subs wrong again Mirrales played well and got took off i don't know why, we fluffed so many counter attacks Rom was being greedy would i have taken a point at the beginning maybe we now miss Williams for 3 games sonwe will see what happens against Leicester.

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04 Apr 2017 22:14:33
Could not agree more Lee, baffled as you the Mirallas substitution.

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04 Apr 2017 22:40:36
Spot on! Bringing Pennington on and losing a midfielder invited Utd to attack and put us under but even worse was Barkley for Calvert-Lewis it was a correct substitution but not the youngster who gave the ball away had no control or pace when you had Valencia on the bench!
200% better than Sunday but felt the manager compromised the teams hard work with poor substitutions!

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{Ed025's Note - i cant argue with that wakka..

04 Apr 2017 22:50:32
Every player deserves so much credit tonight especially Barry a true pros performance the kids can learn from, holgate and Davies did well, Williams and Jags immense, and when you compare their subs against ours even more credit to us .
But I thought Mirallas had a good performance and to leave Valencia on the bench was criminal.

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04 Apr 2017 23:31:31
For me Calvert Lewin is not a prenier league player never will be, do not know what Koeman sees in him.
If he was going to bring on a forward then surely Lookman who has the pace needed when your relying on breakaways.

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04 Apr 2017
The real time live chat page is open for today's Everton match at the below link for you to talk to each other during the match
Everton Live Chat page

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04 Apr 2017 18:52:30
Come on blues. let's give Utd a kicking tonight. 3 points but would amazing.

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04 Apr 2017 19:10:15
The starting line up looks better. Come on blues. Let's see what big Rom can do after the other day.

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04 Apr 2017 16:16:51
Hi all many thanks for the good wishes for my Birthday, am off for a meal in Cala Millor tonight and 3 points off Utd would make a perfect end to a perfect day COYB, cheers GuernseyBlue.

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04 Apr 2017 12:05:05
Gutted on Saturday. I'm a bit perplexed at Koemans persistence with 3 at the back against teams that press at home like Chelsea, Spurs and Liverpool. In all three games we have failed to impose this tactic which has left our midfield bereft of numbers and left overrun by the opposition.

Liverpool didn't play with a CF and therefore had a further midfielder to add support which meant their more attack minded players could roam and take up space.

Added to that Pennington kept backing off their players when running at him and he looked scared and completely out of his depth. He will get better and more confident but Saturday was not the game to blood him this season.

I imagine Koeman needs the personnel to use this system that he doesn't have now so I expect him to buy accordingly in the summer. Whatever he does this summer it is going to be very busy and at least from this season the players that will fit in well and the ones that need to go.

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04 Apr 2017 17:11:14
I think this summer is make or break, we need good recruits in and get them early, if we fail to improve the squad then we are in deep trouble if we believe we can keep our best.

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04 Apr 2017 06:05:36
{Ed's Note - We have posted a new article entitled, Midweek Premier League Preview

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