City beat Europe-bound Blues in Goodison thriller

Now it would be another nice little bonus to see Man City go on and nick the league from the RS with no harm done to us. Another interesting day in the Premier League.

I left Goodison thinking it had been a good game and thought that at least we gave it a go until the end.

I then got a text from my mate back in Leeds saying there was more atmosphere at the snooker that day.

I can't help but feel that the Sky coverage made the game flatter than it actually was.

Strange.

Any experienced team would soon figure out that those who were playing such a system would soon fail to mark who they should have been And it was no surprise that all 3 of City's goals came about because of the Everton formation.

Had Distin been playing, I think we would have been more solid. Baines, Alcaraz and an unfit Jags was always a disaster waiting to happen.

Alcaraz looks like he would have been a bloody good buy 6 or 7 years ago. He knows the game and makes some important contributions but is too old and slow for an upwardly mobile Premier League team.

Personally, I'll feel better about 5th with a strong win at Hull. Take it either way though.

Europa League is a deserved reward for a genuinely good season, no matter what some say. Excited for what's to come......;)

I've never seen anything like it from our team before.

As for the RS, fuck them, if they want to point fingers and insinuate, maybe they should start in house with Captain fucking Marvel.

We were a little bit dodgy at the back. We miss Distin's steadying influence more than we care to admit. Have to work more on " the three across the back " defence. A way to many gaps, and players not sure what they're supposed to do.

Glad that one's history. A way too much drama for me! The Hull match is going to be pleasurable to watch. The pressure is off, for players and fans. 72 points( possible) and fifth place ( certain ), not bad for a " transitional season ".

Look forward to next season when they come back to goodison because they will get what they deserve a proper spanking!!!

Area's we do really need to improve next season?

We need to get much better with corners, I get sick of seeing every corner kick we take cleared, has one of our centre halves won a header from a corner all season? This might just be the first time I can say that we haven't had a single goal from a centre back all season.
That must improve.

Elsewhere, we need to also get better defending crosses setpieces/corners.
We have had Distin/Jagielka, Stones/Distin and various other partnerships but we always look weak with any crosses coming at us.

I think we need an eventual replacement for Distin and even Jags who's best days in my opinion are behind him.
Stones is the future, Alcaraz is a stop gap but nothing special and always injured whilst Duffy is clearly not fancied either not good enough or whatever.

We also need to find another 20 goal striker.
We got lucky to sign Lukaku for nothing but he now leaves for nothing as our top scorer.
It's not very often an Everton striker scores 15 goals so we desperately need to replace Lukaku's goals with like for like.

Naismith is a trier but can't put the ball away on a consistent basis needed to score the required goals.

All in all a satisfactory season with the target of Europe reached.

The Champions League will still remain out of bounds though until we find extra finances to sign the top class players to win us so many of those tight games we struggle in.

Lets not hear anymore on here about the Redshite.

This is our website and should be about EFC and only EFC.

If those bitter deluded glory seekers across the park think we cost them the title then let them, who gives a shit.

They fucked it up themselves and the first thing they should do is take creasehead to a good shoe shop so he can get some grips.

Assholes

It's been a very disappointing last three weeks with three defeats in four during that period, after such a long unbeaten run and a season with only five defeats previously. I understand we don't have the squad and resources that others have, so injuries have an impact but Palace and Southampton were both avoidable, which would have made the City game yesterday a while different affair.

The silver lining is that it means the RS probably won't win the title, but I'm not counting on that yet! It wouldn't surprise me if Villa went and did a job on City on Wednesday night.

Ross was truly out of this world yesterday and if Hodgson had doubts about taking him to Brazil then that performance surely means Ross needs to start checking up the necessary travel requirements for South America.

That is the type of display that I would love to see on a more consistent basis from Barkley.
The slightly frustrating thing is we all know how good he is, he dictates games against the best sides but let's his levels slip against the lesser teams but hopefully that will come in time.

He was head and shoulders above everybody else yesterday though and that goes for those playing for City also

I went to the match, thought the atmosphere was, if not pulsating for the entire 96 mins, erm..'animated' enough, then I headed out for a pint.

This morning I'm catching up with all this Martin Tyler/Gary Neville stuff and thinking what the fuck was broadcast yesterday?

I'd actually like to see it just to see what was going on.

Believe me, I've seen Goodison quieter on hundreds of occasions

Kopites thought they had gifted the Premier League crown to Man Utd thus the cursed ccelebration and then st the final whistle the fucking King Kenny love in.

Of course it's all ok when they do it but when it goes against Liverpool it's a conspiracy.

Absolute whoppers that lot they really are.

As for our defending, Alcaraz has been slated for going in to stop Toure, no one else was going to tackle him what's he supposed to do? We all know how dangerous Toure is when he's allowed space.
It depends how good the attackers are from a defenders perspective, they have special players which can make any defenders look average.

I had a look at the live forum yesterday, what a crock of shite that was!

We are going to finish 5th and qualify for the Europa thingy, if we do our best to win the thing I think it will definitely affect our league form.
We will finish lower than 5th next year for my money, I would have preferred us
to be able to concentrated on the PL and the cup competitions only.

We keep the ball well, created chances and had the last chance of the match with Deulofeu, this against moneybags Man City with Christ knows how many players missing..Mirallas, Distin, Pienaar, Barry.

The only thing we didn't do well yesterday was defend.

I'm very excited for next season. We are not going to get top four without spending, so why not go for the Europa League? Getting into the group stages is pretty much a formality, and then we'd have four 2 legged ties, and a final, in the way of a Champions League place. I think it's a competition we could at least reasonably expect to get to the last 16 in, and then, who knows?

The major issue for me, is both the squad size, and the aging cbs. Martinez has done a fantastic job in terms of bringing youngsters through, but the CB situation scares the hell out me long term. I simply think that Alcaraz is not good enough...I've thought it all season, as illustrated through my posts, and nothing has changed that opinion. I think Jags and Distin are superb, and still good enough, but they are on the wane. So Martinez needs to do what he has rarely done in his career, and sign a top effective cb. We are losing three effective loan players, and although I expect another three will come, they will not be as effective. I expect we will spend 20million in the summer, maybe even slightly more. If we sign Barry on a short term deal, and bring in a couple of young attacking loans to pad out our squad (Deulofeu could well come back I think, depending on how the issues with Pedro and Fabregas develop), I think it will leave 20mil for another centre back, a top striker, and perhaps another creative midfielder to play from the left, or the centre. The money will not go far. Personally, I'd be looking at Hernandez from United in a big way. Alderweireld also has not settled, and might be a tempting option. And if we cant get Barry, I think getting Tiago in on a one year deal would not be bad work. Whatever happens, with 4 loan deals ending, I think we need to add 8 to the squad to keep numbers up. I do not see Lukaku coming back, although I would love that to happen. I think Deulofeu might, and Traore could stay, and become useful in terms of Europa cup football in particular. I expect Barry will sign a short deal. But much of our season will depend on who the other five are.

Reflecting on the season, I think 5th is pretty impressive... but it's not the position that is so impressive: it's out record points tally. I've got a better and more hopeful feeling of things to come than I would have with Moyes.

I am a little concerned about RM's defensive abilities. We have defended reasonably well this season, but with the defence that Moyes made. If Alcaraz is RM's idea of a good CB we should all be worried. Distin is good but too old now, Jags and Stones are not big enough. I'd favour Stones to partner McCarthy in CM and get someone bigger to partner Jags, or even re-sign Lescott; City's CBs DiMichalis and Kompany looked far more impressive.

We did well to score twice but were let down by our defence. All their goals looked pretty easy. Perhaps it wasn't the best time to experiment with three at the back.

I also think Aston Villa could pull off a shock this coming Wednesday; if they do, it will be interesting to see the comments flooding in on ToffeeWeb!

We need a commanding strong centre half who is good in the air, somebody a bit younger than Jags but still experienced enough to help along Stones.

McCarthy has had a magnificent season, I just really really would love to see him add a few goals to his game.

Did anybody else notice that there was no Player of the Season announced before kick off??

Or did I arrive too late to miss it?

The only regrets I have are the early season draws. The WBA game away, Sunderland and Palace at home. If only.... but that's football.

We might have three of the loanees here next year: Del Boy, Traore and Barry on a permanent deal. Lukaku will be playing elsewhere next season and, even though he chipped in with some goals, I questioned his attitude regularly throughout the season. He's nowhere near worth £25 million.

For next season, we need a centre back, a midfield playmaker, a centre forward or two. How we do that I don't know with the reported £20 million budget but I'm already looking forward to next season and European football. If we can get some investment by some sheik or any other oil baron, who knows what we might achieve.

Oh another bonus this season was crease-head's slip. It couldn't have been scripted better (even by Billy). The sight of that prick screaming no more slip-ups pissed me off no end but the image of him slipping up will last forever. This is justice for the Blues fans who have suffered by them cheating and influencing refs either directly on the pitch or by their media mates. I have that slip on a loop and haven't stopped laughing for a week.

Thanks Roberto for an enjoyable season.

If we can find a striker we won't miss Barry, Deulofeu or even Lukaku. Anyone questioning what will happen next season without these players is not aware of the stars we already have - Barkley, Coleman, Baines, Stones and McCarthy would all be a target for any of the monied clubs if for sale. That's half a side who would walk into a Utd or Chelsea team. Barkley & Stones will take a couple more seasons before they realise their full potential, but we definitely push on from here.

We have the perfect manager to bring the best out of these young players, that's half the battle.

What's all this rubbish about "muted atmosphere"? Please, don't buy into this "Martin Tyler" agenda. It was the same, if not better, than every match I've been to this season. Actually, I've never known the area around Goodison to be so busy two hours before kick-off.

Alcaraz seems to be the new fall guy, but how difficult is it to stop/block crosses coming into our box, and killing the danger at source? All our defenders have been culpable lately – Baines, Coleman, Stones, Distin, Jags, and yes, Alcaraz. Get tight to the attacker, and if the worst happens and he "does you", bring him down (outside the box, preferably !), and re-set for the free kick.

The loanees are irreplaceable? What nonsense. Fair enough, they've all done well relatively, but I trust Martinez 100% to find even better, if all go back to their parent clubs.

Finally, the biggest statement we can make in the transfer market this summer is to buy a goalkeeper worthy of a club with top four ambitions. I like him 'n' all, but if Tim Howard is the answer, you're not asking the right question.

That's a pretty good point you make.
We do have a relatively strong defence, I personally believe it's because we always seem to concede the same kind of sloppy goals that they are constantlyput under microscope.

A clear example is that we seem very fragile defending corners crosses and we have done for more than two years.

The problem when defending corners and setpieces etc is that we seem statuesque, there is no movement, no jostling or trying to go with your man. We seem to stand there and just watch as done big bustling defender from the opposition walks in unmarked and buries a header.

The same applies when we have a corner ourselves..No movement, no trying to drag the opposing defence out of position, we just stand static and try to win headers from a standing jump...This is in my opinion why we struggle to make any impact in either box on dead ball situations.

Regarding attacking corners, I noticed that a few times when Stones and Jagielka went forward for a corner, they stood together then split in opposite directions when the corner was taken. I suggest the problem is A) the delivery is usually rubbish and B) we always go for the outswinger and the delivery is usually rubbish. Either way, they delivery is rubbish.

I read this morning Andy Dunne (a self confessed red) saying the conspiracy theorists may have a point... Well, the Everton team gave it their best shot and just come up short. So the majority of the fans around me wanted City to win, and why as fans wouldn't we want the other lot to win nothing?

To think they call us bitter, we don't even come close compared to the other lot.

I agree with you on the corner subject.

Remember the Hinchcliffe days?
You almost expected an Everton goal every time we hot a corner because as great as Big Duncan was in the air it was also down to the delivery of the inswinging cannons that Hinchcliffe sent over.
All they needed was the deftest of touches which they usually got.

Whenever Distin plays alongside any of the other centre-halves, we look a lot more secure. He is the best header of the ball at the club. Whenever he has been missing, we have had problems.

The roles of McCarthy and Barry, sheilding our central defence have resulted in our good stats, but without Barry, we looked vulnerable. Alcaraz looks low on confidence, has no pace, is not tall, and his distribution against Man City was poor. Surely he will be shipped out in the Summer.

A super season with lots of promise for the future.