11 Feb 2026 10:04:08
Some need to volunteer to scout. I played football as I suspect did some on here and I respect their knowledge and opinions. Mykolenko criticism for the goal, as a player as much as I wanted and practiced, I could not jump better for a ball from a standing start than a running to jump attacker. The equaliser (from where I sit) was down to O'Brien (and Moyes refusal to play Patterson) . Mykolenko quite often is last defender, moving central when the CB's venture out. Tells me two things, the coaches obviously trust him and Moyes tactics dictate.
Aznou is and was bought as a wingback, the fact Moyes has brought in George tells me Moyes does not believe the two lads Dibling nor Aznou are ready yet. My opinion! but quite often my son as do some on here disagree, that's fine. We Everton supporters are not the only moaners but we are near the very top in flip flopping! We win and by God this is a good team, lose and the same Team is the worse we have seen, sack the Manager *that is the only disagreement I have with skylark*.
11 Feb 2026 11:29:50
dms get what your saying but if you watch the replay Micky points to their goal scorer he knows he’s there, yet he drifts into the middle and leaves him. When I played you were told to pick up your man and do your job.
Had he done that last night he would have cleared that ball. And it’s not the first time it’s happened with him.
Glad to see your back,
11 Feb 2026 11:32:25
I am not sure what criticising Mykolenko's abject defending for their goal has to do with scouting tbh. The boy was brought in from a farmers league for a fairly substantial fee and has had 5 seasons at us now, amassing 132 PL games. In that time he has mustered a measly 7 goal involvements. For context that works out at 1 goal or assist every half a season.
Now some might say that the attacking side of football is not his game - fair enough. I could pull some other names that are more renowned for their defensive skills. Mitchell - 16 goal involvements. Wan-Bissaka - 13 goal involvements.
With the way the game is played these days, even defensive players still get involved in goals at a greater rate than what Mykolenko has served up. It is simply inexcusable.
It is an absolute myth that he is some great defensive full back. I think that has stuck due to just how poor he is going the other way and the 2 games where he had credible performances against Salah and Saka. I really cba going into the numbers of his games this season but I have seen plenty of performances like last night, Leeds, Brentford where his defensive display has been atrocious, both in numbers and the eye test.
On the subject of the equaliser last night, O'Brien had no involvement other than the fact he went and closed the earlier ball in the centre. The ball was played into Adli and O'Brien is the only one to go and close him down. Should he be doing that, probably not but no one else did and he had Ndiaye directly to his right covering Truffert, who ultimately gets the assist. Adli plays the ball out to Truffert and Mykolenko signals to George to pick up a Bournemouth player. I suspect that he wasn't even aware that Rayan was out on the flank. JB and Tarkowski are marking Unal in the centre, so there is absolutely no reason for Myko to drift inwards. He then clocks the approaching Rayan, still having 5 yards or so on him and signals to George a second time to mark a completely different player than the one he pointed to a few seconds earlier. The ball gets played in, it is a good ball but it isn't hit with much whip or venom. If he jumps, he gets a touch on it, simple. The absolute minimum he should do is jump towards the ball to stop Rayan from getting a free header, to at least make it more difficult to finish. He does neither.
It is dreadful defending and if I was on his team or if I was the manager, I would be absolutely hammering him for it. That piece of defending doesn't come down to talent or ability, it comes down to the basic desire to want to protect a winning position in a game of football.
The scouts at the club identified a player in the summer. In his short cameo in the cup, he showed more ability and desire to compete than I have seen from Mykolenko in his 5 seasons with us. What he has shown on a consistent basis is that he is unequivocally short of the mark to play as a starting LB for Everton Football Club.