No way past 10-man Swansea

A frustrating result especially for the period when they were down to 10 men.

And why are we playing two number tens in Naismith and EtoÂ’o? They canÂ’t be effective with Rom. Ludicrous. Sort it, Martinez.

Instead, when they went to 10 men, we had Samuel looking lost on the right wing and Monk made two great tactical changes ensuring two strong banks of 4 which were difficult to break down. McGeady was the key to us winning that match and he took him off.

Couple of other things, for someone with the talent that Leighton Baines has, why the fuck can’t this lad take a decent corner? Woeful... Also, does anyone think that we’d be able to sell Lukaku for 㿈 million at this point?

When McCarthy has licence to drive forward, he looks a better player; sadly this is few and far between. So instead we have 3 holders and no drive, against 10 men, at home... and still 11 back for corners!

I think Roberto should have put Eto’o there instead of Ross.

To be honest, I think McGeady should have stayed on instead of Ross. He was having a good game and looked one of the more likely to make something happen.

Ross Barkley will have much better days. Still needs to get match sharp, I imagine.

All-in-all, very frustrating... but we did play better. Just very difficult to beat a well organised 10 men behind the ball.

Anyone have any idea why it took 10 minutes to get Pienaar and Lukaku on or was it my shit link that made it seem so long?

What an annoying game.

Easy to judge from the TV feed but tactics were ropey today.

Evertons midfield is made up of defensive midfielders and hard workers but nobody to open up parked bus defenses.We insist on using the full backs to get up field quickly and cross the ball but as today showed when the defence of Swansea cleared everything that came over either on the ground or in the air we seemed to have no plan (B).

Just typical. A chance to go above the Redshite and we blow it.

Yes, early in the first half perhaps, but what will a team that loses a player do? Play without a goalkeeper, for example? The defence is rebuilt, possibly reinforced and their attack will mainly be breakaways. So do we send a defender forward?

But we were toothless today. They fouled and parked the bus, and we need to do better against such tactics. We looked clueless too often. And I agree with those that have said that McGeady looked the likeliest to get through them - plus Seamus, who wasn’t used enough.

My only observation is that not enough goals are coming from midfield. Barkley and McCarthy are very good young players but they should score more than they do. Eto’o incidentally is very comfortable playing wide right and how else were we to replace McGeady? Most of our threat came down that flank and it made sense to use Etoo there.

Unfortunately the injury to Alcaraz upset our line-up as Barry had to move there. It meant that we only had two subs to come on after Besic. Perhaps Atsu would have come on if Alcaraz had not picked up his injury. I can just imagine the howls if Hibbo had come on instead of Besic!!

Swansea defended really well so give them some credit.

I think we are going to come into our own, injuries permitting, from December onwards - the table is odd at the moment and Chelsea apart no-one is ripping it up. Southampton are going superbly but they won’t last. We are one of those clubs 4 points off the main prize, that’s good enough for me given the erratic form we’ve shown so far.

Anyway credit to Swansea, it was just one of those games. We don’t have any devine right to win matches, and those sides that have come up from the Championship in recent years have now equipped and settled themselves very well in the Premier League, the likes of Swansea and Hull have been steadied themselves in this league, bought well and are capable of going to bigger grounds and picking up results.

Aside from Chelsea, who will probably win the league with ease, and Burnley, who are certain to go down, the rest of the league is unpredictable.

On another note, is it just me or are we under some type of RS curse? Every time we have a chance to overtake them, we either lose or draw!!! I often wonder if that "shadow" they talk of is in fact real.

As some others have posted, we have plenty of defensive/hard working midfielders but not a single class act with the skill and vision needed.

Getting in such a midfielder should be our main goal for this coming transfer window. We have a pretty good squad now, the acquisition of such a player will make all the difference.

COYBs

Have to agree as well with some on here, Bony is a handful, I wish we had signed him in the summer and probably saved ourselves about 6/8 million to boot, not sure about anyone else but I’m starting to get a horrible feeling that Chelsea and Mourinho mugged us off big style this past summer, hope I’m proved wrong in the long term.

A few observations from today:

1) Naismith and Eto’o should not play in the middle together. Neither really equipped to play the centre forward position. Both most effective playing the false #9 (though neither is particularly effective dropping off wide when required). The two of them were clearly out of sync today often running into the same space.

2) We still have a few in the squad not able to play a full 90 min (in some cases, barely making it through 45!). Granted this is to be expected for those coming back from injury.

3) We are in desperate need of pace and creativity out wide. While I thought McGeady had a good game today and probably didn’t deserve to come off (on balance of his play), his usual inconsistency and the absence of Mirallas really exposes how weak we are in those areas. As the Swans had effectively locked down the middle, we were in desperate need of that additional quality and pace out wide to unlock them (and other teams who park the bus).

4) The forced substitution of Alcaraz seemed to really upset the team balance. I assume this had more to do with the fact we ended up playing with three holding midfielders as a result.

Not the worst day at the office but frustrating nonetheless. Feels more like an opportunity lost.

I mean my first game back at Goodison since April 2008 was Villa (I live in Vienna). OK "that means nothing to me (you)".

Given a choice I would have chosen Swansea over Villa any day of the week, but what did we get today – a supposed good footballing team in the Martinez mould, that just parked the bus!

At least the hated Villa tried to go forward and score. Swansea should refund the entrance fee for that woeful performance.

Our defence were never over-run but for all our apparent possession and territory, we again couldn’t break them down. McGeady had a good game - was surprised he was taken off. McCarthy strong defensively (but would love to see more of the few strong surges forward he did make). Eto’o comfortable in all he does (Lukaku, in contrast...). Besic very busy, comfortable in possession, can pass, and always looking to get it forward if at all possible (just tone the teackles down a wee). Nais not his usual standard this time. And Barks disappointed.

Those damn corners are a joke, that’s all I can say. I just don’t know why.

The Redshite were all over Bony in the summer, I’m soooo glad they didn’t get lucky with him and signed that show pony Mario instead.

Sadly, in a match like today’s, effective deadball approach/execution could have been the difference.

Bah!

Given they have had a full week, I don’t understand how we set up. Surely Eto’o is not a lone striker at this stage of his career? To me, it was a decision between him and Barkley for the No 10 role behind Lukaku.

Also, I’m afraid McGeady is not good enough. Whenever he plays, we are more open to the counter attack and he stifles our full backs who are both better wingers than him.

It won’t be popular with many but Ossie gives you much more than McGeady as he keeps the pace of play up and, because he plays more narrow, our full backs – who, let’s face it, are our most creative force – have license to get forward more. The same can be said for Pienaar.

Martinez still hasnÂ’t addressed our passing and constant loss of possession despite him recognising that this is a problem, The fact is that, had ref Friend given the blatant handball by Alcaraz in the area, we could well have lost; how he missed it is a mystery.

Swansea were well organised and were determined to avenge their last-minute League Cup exit by putting up the shutters and, even when they went to 10 men, I had the feeling that we wouldnÂ’t break them down. The facts speak for themselves: NO direct shots on goal from us all game in spite of almost total dominance.

Do you somehow think that you have a superior opinion and position because you were actually at the game? Does this in your view give you the right to condescend to people who watched the match on stream?

Do you understand that there are Evertonians – including the two ToffeeWeb editors – who live a very long way away from Liverpool and they would have to get on one of those plane things to be at the game (and some of us do do that from time to time)?

When Alcaraz got injured, he sends on another defensive midfielder. Given the ParaguayanÂ’s injury record and ability to break down at the slightest challenge, why wasnÂ’t Distin on the bench? Or is it true heÂ’s fallen out with him? IÂ’d love to know...

And when the odious Shelvey got sent off, it was us who actually looked like we had 10 men, all this passing for passingÂ’s sake is getting rather tedious now. We string 20 passes across the midfield in our own half to go nowhere. ItÂ’s so pedestrian, itÂ’s untrue.

I’m sorry but I can’t take nothing from that today – it was like watching paint dry and I wasn’t the only one saying that either. I’ve already even this early on wrote this season off: out the League Cup, we won’t trouble the top 6, and if we meet anyone half decent in the FA Cup, we’re history.

Depressed tonight? You bet I am.

Based as it happens on seeing us live seven times this season.

Martinez loves passing but he has forgotten that the winner is the one who scores the most goals not has the most passes.

We are now toothless from set pieces. We were having a discussion about when was the last time we scored a header.... Lukaku against Liverpool? Seems a long time ago.

We are too predictable and quite easy to defend against. Good stats pity about the points total

While I suspect Roberto had an eye on the upcoming Euro match when setting the team up, but I think he was anticipating a more attacking opposition. Not taking away from the fact our boys really dictated the play today (especially in the first half) but it almost seemed as if they were happy to allow them to do so.

Admittedly, could be the wine talking.

I can’t understand how fans can forget such events in the game, or come on here and make deliberately false statements. Which one is it? Not that either are excusable, in my humble opinion.

Swansea gave RS a right tough game midweek mate in the cup. They actually had the bigger excuses today, and I’m sure they are made up with a point.

Maybe that’s Matinez’s defensive plan, keep the ball for most of the match by passing it around endlessly at the back and in midfield so they can’t have it. Such negative tactics could possibly be justified away from Goodison, but not at home.

Absolutely toothless shite.

Barkley kept getting forced out wide which doesn’t help his game. I thought Barry was poor... one of those defensive midfielders needs dropped, and for me it’s Barry.

Decent point... Should’ve been more but at least it wasn’t less.

To be fair, anyone could have been subbed. No one played well and nothing came off. Naismith unusually played poorly, Ross was awful, all McGready did was block Coleman getting up the wing, defenders crashing into each other and falling over, Alcarez injured again (not the most robust defender in the EPL, is he), even the subs didn’t contribute.

Time to give the youngsters a go on Thursday, I think.

I reckon Besic’s ’actual’ value negates the loss we will suffer from Kone.

They were the away side though and it was down to us to break them down which for the 2nd time this season we couldn’t score against them. Monk seems to have Martinez’s number.

70% possession yet their keeper never had to make a save. — Two ’facts’ in your opening line, both wrong.

I agree that we were poor in front of goal; however, we did have some shots on goal and their keeper did have to make some saves. Admitting the simple facts does not in any way change the general conclusion that we were poor in front of goal.

I’m not sure why you think it’s necessary to twist the truth? Why say something that is patently incorrect? Doesn’t that cast doubt on everything else you are saying?

Chelsea, City and to a lesser extent Arsenal can play nice ball care of wonderful players like Costa, Aguero and Sanchez but sides like us and West Ham are not in that league now although we can beat them on our day as WHU beat Citeh last week. Southampton perhaps turns the theory on its head but do they have the resources to keep it up.

RM is doing some really strange things now but I hope it is to try to keep Everton in at least the place we were last year. Have faith everybody.

I agree that the ’destroyers’ are back in fashion and ’taking one for the team’ seems to be the way most PL teams play the game nowadays. I was thinking that the last time the PL was so tight was back in its formative year (1993) when just 10 points separated the third from bottom team and the sixth placed team.

The TV money and curb on wages has along with the effects of the World Cup has seen a much more competitive league than we have been used to. Take Pardew at Newcastle, nobody gave him a prayer to keep his job and few thought that the ’Magpies’ could recover... but there they are – level on points with Everton.

Every point will have to be earned this season and those that believe that Everton just have to turn up to win games will have to have a re-think; it’s not so much fun to watch but it means that every point is a point won and there’s little to gain by crying over lost points.

The reason Wigan got relegated was because they had no goal threat, possession in spades is all well and fine but it has to have an end product.

Happy with the clean sheet otherwise.

My definition of a goalbound shot is one that the keeper has to save and if memory serves I didnÂ’t see anything like that today, so to accuse me of Â’falsehoodsÂ’ is. I think a bit rich. But then again we are all entitled to our differing views, arenÂ’t we??

Frankly today we just werenÂ’t up to it. Coleman and Barkley donÂ’t look anywhere near match sharp yet, Barkley went on some promising runs but too often nothing is at the end of them.

Its games like today where you need a little technician, a new Arteta, the lad that Southampton have would have been ideal, Dusan Tadic.

Our home form since April is now looking very very poor and fortress Goodison is no more. Until we get this place back to what it was like about 12 months ago then the season will continue to completely frustrate and your looking at no more than a top 10 finish at best.

The amount of times I found myself screaming at them to just give it a crack today was unreal.

Also, don’t you think the Wigan comparison is a little stale at this point?

Even if we go with your questionable definition, maybe it will help if I quote a couple of lines from the match summary up top:

McGeady was well involved and had a good poke with a low shot that Fabianski had to get down and save. — a shot on goal that Fabianski had to drop down on to push around the post. Do you honestly not remember that?

"...and when the ball finally fell to Barry, he shot hurriedly at Fabianski. — a shot on goal that Fabianski had to save. Do you honestly not remember that?

Baines fired one in low and Lukaku blocked it away rather than deflecting it in. — I bet that was a shot on goal as well, but it did not reach the keeper.

As for your ridiculous definition — what do you call it when a player fires at an empty net? Surely that’s goalbound, whether the keeper is there to save it or not?

’Goalbound’ means bound for the goal. Simples. Differing views are fine, but if it means you are not seeing things that happened in the game, and they are visible in plain sight or on the video, then I think there’s a problem.

Problem seems to me that, when we get to the edge of the box, most of our forwards want to run out of the box instead of into it, so we usually end up with either 1 or 2 players in the box.

We never got going in the second half at all, but I found the substitutions strange, now I am not a fan of McGeady but he had been up to being substituted our best player, then they have Shelvey sent off unfairly in my book. I think McCarthy fell into Shelvey with the ref under pressure for not sending off Bony and the ref bottled it and sent him off.

Now surely playing against 10 men the space is all out wide and he takes off our winger who was having a very good game, then compounds that by playing Eto’o wide. He also takes off Naismith but leaves Barkley on who was terrible today, another poor decision.

Finally, with 10 minutes to go Swansea won a corner and we had all our 11 players in the box. People have commented how quiet at times Goodison has been this season well maybe the brand of football they are seeing doesn’t excite them.

Sometimes shit just happens.

Play periods of a game providing direct quick passes through to Lukaku on the shoulder of the last defender and I think he will do well. I just think Bony is a better all round player and possibly suits our style of play more. Martinez needs to get the most out of the players he has not stick to his maximum possession game plan.

Very poor today, really did hope for better.

I think you are confusing a team who hit the bar 5 times to a team despite having the lions share of possession created very little. Yes you can be unlucky by hitting the bar 5 times and not winning but we weren’t unlucky just had very few attempts on goal.

The team selections and substitutions are also quite baffling at times. The setup of personnel today was all wrong. Lukaku is best with Barkley playing in tandem with him and what did we have today? No Lukaku and Barkley out wide a lot, admittedly Barkley was poor today.

Naismith was poor today and I don’t think him and Barkley can play in the same team as they both are best suited to the "hole".

McGeady was decent today and shouldn’t have been taken. He was the only one to put any decent crosses into the box.

On the whole, a frustrating game.

We had 3-4 fantastic set piece opportunities, all off target or bungled into the wall, and that was the difference. As I team I thought we played well today against a determined side. 2 points dropped, yes, but not worthy of some of the hysteria on here lads.

Where did you sit? Did you queue up for a slash at half time?
I’ve obviously never watched a game live at Goodison so every little snippet will help me with any future comments to stop other match going bloos calling me out as a "Knob".

We looked comfortable and I thought it was a bit of a shame Eto’o got stuck out wide right, rather than push Coleman there and drop Besic back a bit.

Too much pussyfooting around and pretty passing where it doesn’t matter. And Swansea, which is the cradle of this ’sophisticated’ football supposedly, came up with ZERO shots on target in the whole match.

It’s like the Emperor’s new clothes some of this. Rubbish to watch.

You should always put a forward in this position so that every time you take a shite corner, instead of it being constantly cleared by the first defender, it might get flicked on into the danger area. Wigan won the cup by scoring direct from a corner, Roberto, so surely you should be aware of how dangerous these set pieces can be?

Couldn’t believe we never pushed Eto’o up alongside Lukaku when they went down to ten men, because there was absolutely no space in behind. We gotta mix it up a bit in this league, Boss, because although we had the advantage we never once tried to lay siege at the Swansea goal.

Even still the worst sins of the game were committed by ref Friend who denied two advantages. Jimmy Mac was immense and I like the rethink. Bony should have been out long before Shelvy.

Banies should allow Barkley to take those free kicks that are in scoring range to help Ross’s confidence and our output.

If I had one criticism to make it would be that moving Barry to defence shows a lack of understanding about how important he is in starting our attacks and dictating our tempo. He’s the one who does what McCarthy should be doing with his greater pace.

If this is a work in progress, we have a lot of work still to do!

Reading some of the comments on TW, some positive some negative, with ten games played, I was just reflecting where we are at this stage.

The positive is we are doing well in the Europa League and in the league although not doing to bad we are not as high as a lot of supporters thought we may be at the start of the season.

The negative is the number of draws when in a winning position, poor defensive laps that have taken to long to rectify and injuries to essential players. Everton have only got 13 pts from a possible 30 and that is less than 50% possible that only for the unexpected results in the middle part of the league is not going to bring us in the top 10 never mind the top 4.

To highlite this we now have the same number of points as a club that less than a fortnight ago was described as the poorest premier team in the league with a manager who was ready to be fired anyday. Any supporter who is saying it is ok Bobby will turn it around soon better realise that there are no easy games in this league and to move up the league you either have to beat the teams above you or when you win hope they loose .

It’s one thing shoring up the defence, and we needed to do that, but when we come up against an organised defence we just seem to run out of ideas.

Give credit where itÂ’s due, they came and done their job. We should have been better against their 10 men but Monk took two men off, put two men on (fresh pair of legs if ya like) and contained us. They got their point; we dropped 2 points. End of.

I’d like to suggest when Everton get a corner from no on that every single Everton player just goes back to their own half and Baines just kicks it straight behind for the inevitable goal kick that his repeated cant beat the first bleeding man garbage invariably happens, or how about when you see Bony winning the ball from our numerous corners on most occasions stood in front of the near post how about you stand a player with him to challenge for it???

I actually felt sorry for Eto’o who won a few corners today as he doesn’t seem yet to have realised no matter how many we have they are a complete shambles and waste of time.

Lastly, I can’t understand people who have said that McGready what a good game and even our best player. Yes, he played less shit than usual but still had no end product and frustratingly gave the ball away too much. Maybe he has set the bar that low that he looked good by comparison.

How well are they playing this season?

They seem to have excellent players all over the pitch.

Clyne at full back looks the part and there scouting was spot on getting Pelle and Tadic, fair enough they overpaid on Shane Long but Victor Wanyama looks a real snip.

I guess it’s a breath of fresh air and great for the Premier League.

Ken Finch #87 "What has happened to our threat from free kicks and when are we going to take good corners? Both have been absent for weeks!"
I agree, Ken – in fact Baines had a cross-success rate of something like 18% all last season.

Not arsed but, when Lukaku doesn’t start, we lack something IMO. His presence alone occupies defenders whether he is playing well or not and it makes space for other players. He had about five mins on the pitch today before they went to 10 and literally parked the bus! As much as they defended well today, it was easy for them.

Don’t get why in games like this Atsu isn’t used and McGeady is taken off. Pace opens teams up yet we bring Pienaar on? He’s good on the ball and has good link-up play but he never creates a chance with a through ball that cuts through rigid defences so why him?

We seriously need to buy a right winger who is similar to Mirallas. For me it’s the priority. I loved Ben Arfa a season or two ago but don’t think he has done a great deal at Hull yet so maybe not him but someone of that ilk. There must be someone out there for the money we supposedly have left (٦million)?

Our most direct player was probably McGeady. I can’t decipher the hatred for him, and don’t know why he was taken off so early. He was making things happen and we were much poorer when he came off. This was not the game to use Pienaar – far too sluggish.

I don’t think so! Do we normally break down the opposition with ease?

Comparing last season’s points at the same juncture paints a picture that nearly every club is down on its points total. The figures in brackets show this season’s totals with those games that have to be played tomorrow and Monday I have given each team maximum points which obviously isn’t possible but just shows how radically different this season so far has been to previous ones.

TEAM P W D L GF GA PT
ARSENAL 10 8 1 1 22 9 25 (17)
CHELSEA 10 6 2 2 16 8 20 (26)
LIVERPOOL 10 6 2 2 17 10 20 (14)
SPURS 10 6 2 2 9 5 20 (14)*
MAN CITY 10 6 1 3 28 11 19 (20)*
Saints 10 5 4 1 11 4 19 (22)
EVERTON 10 5 4 1 14 10 19 (13)
MAN United 10 5 2 3 17 13 17 (20)*
NEWCASTLE 10 4 2 4 14 16 14 (13)
HULL CITY 10 4 2 4 8 10 14 (11)
WEST BROM 10 3 4 3 10 10 13 (13)
CARDIFF 10 3 3 4 9 13 12 (09)
SWANSEA 10 3 2 5 12 12 11 (15)
ASTON VILLA 10 3 2 5 9 12 11 (13)*
WEST HAM 10 2 4 4 8 8 10 (17)
FULHAM 10 3 1 6 10 15 10 (07)
STOKE CITY 10 2 3 5 7 11 9 (12)
NORWICH 10 2 2 6 6 20 8 (04)
SUND’ND 10 1 1 8 7 22 4 (11)*
C PALACE 10 1 0 9 6 21 3 (12)*

a) We donÂ’t score enough goals from midfield, and havenÂ’t for some time;

b) Ross, Nais & EtoÂ’o all look at their best as a No 10 and obviously 3 into 1 doesnÂ’t go. c)Losing Mirallas is costing us dear...

Oh, thatÂ’s 3 points.

For example I know Barkley has great potential and is our great hope but if you look at how many great games he has had for us his value to the team is greatly overstated on these pages. I don’t mean this to knock the lad but our fan base and the media have exaggerated his actual contribution due to his unique and obvious talents. I am a huge fan but we are judging more-so on potential than assists and goals.

I hope also that those who seen Delboy as a show-pony and were annoyed at times with his final ball can now see what he would bring to the team. His pace meant that defenders would drop deeper which allowed space between the lines but because he was so skillful that even defending deep was not a solution as he would produce either one cross or a goal, that bit of magic, even if he wasn’t playing so well.

Had we had either wide-man on the pitch today we would have in all likelihood collected the 3 points in a tight game like that where one bit of magic would prove crucial. Lets hope we will see him in blue again.

I thought today’s performance was decent for the most part but the usual problems beset us as has been the case for a number of years – we defend well but struggle up front or conversely we put the ball in the net but struggle to keep them out at the other end. Roberto did admit that we were pedestrian at times today and it’s his job to try and sort that out.

McGeady was better, but I agree with others that he’s set the bar for himself so low that it doesn’t take much to for him to look effective.

Naismith needs to shoot more and lay off less. Too many times last night he got the ball in a good position but looked for a clever pass rather than to make room for himself for a shot.

It’s taken Swansea a year or two to learn their lesson about us. Even when OFM was here, they tried to play football against us and got hammered, now they don’t bother... even more so away from home, why should they?

Not many, if any, really like to come here, even the likes of Chelsea and Man City. Only they (and maybe Arsenal) will try to play anything like their real game.

With all due respect to the other makeweights in the Prem (I don’t include us and I do include the RS) only Southampton and maybe West Ham with the wind behind them, down hill, on a good day, seem to be playing Roberto’s ’Without Fear’ game...

I’m not quite sure what game Roberto is trying to play at the moment, I don’t think he is either, I think he’s seeing that there is a bit more to making real sustainable progress on a not too mega budget than first met his eye.

Don’t mistake control and possession for great football. We won the ball really well but did Jack Shit with it.

Martinez has also wound me up with another of his bewildering comments post match - "Two teams with an incredible footballing philosophy". What does that mean? WTF does that mean? It means: 0-0!

We were playing against 10 men and we were still bringing everyone back for corners.

Roberto inherited the two most attacking full backs in the league, but what has he added in terms of supplying his forwards with ammo? Barry, Besic and McCarthy? When was the last time you saw ANY of them burst into the opposition box, create a chance or, heaven forbid, actually score? These three don’t seem to have an attacking idea between them... and who pays 㿈 million for a striker and consistently plays him on the wing?

We have some supremely talented players yet two or three long-range efforts was the best we could muster against a mid-table Swansea reduced to 10 men. That’s what happens when players don’t risk possession by breaking ranks and getting into the opposition box.

Let’s not start confusing possession obsession with ’no fear’ attacking football. ’Sin miedo’ was just another Bobbyism.

BTW: Shelvey missed the best chance of the game and they were denied an obvious penalty. This could very easily have been even worse.

We probably should be flattered that they came and parked the bus. On another day, we might have got that chance to unlock them and pushed on to win the game comfortably. We kept a clean sheet again and they were denied a perfectly good penalty so probably feel they could’ve gone home with all three points.

I was criticised by some last week for saying the 3-1 scoreline flattered us after an unconvincing performance and today we probably got what we deserved. We don’t have enough joined-up thinking going forward (partly due to having to patch teams together this season due to injury so there’s been no consistency), and in my opinion look like a group of individuals hoping to string something together rather than a clear plan of attack.

We aren’t aggressive enough, rarely hit teams at pace on the break, don’t take enough shots or contribute enough goals from midfield or corners and this is why we rarely thump teams like a team with our quality should.

It’s more a case of ’keep the ball long enough and something’ll turn up’, and yesterday it didn’t and we got what we deserved. A point.

The thing that winds me up is how lethargic and slowly we move the ball about. Yesterday, in the second half, when we needed to up the tempo against 10 men, we just couldn’t do it.

Last season, there was a valid claim that we played without fear and our confidence was sky high just before Christmas, after the win at Old Trafford, but, since the Spring, we look jaded badly.

At the end of last season, we lost at home to Palace in and at Southampton in ridiculous fashion, and this season it just hasn’t got off the ground. Our play is too often sluggish and too often predictable.

Yesterday, we have Eto’o ending the game so far wide he could have been on the Bullens Road. What’s that all about??

What is it with our accursed bad luck with injuries? Now Alcaraz is out for a lengthy spell, just as he was finally beginning to look like he has something to offer. And, as with Stones, it’s not his body breaking down, just freakish misfortune landing badly from an aerial challenge. The type of challenge that, say, Steven Gerrard, makes numerous times in a game without ever getting hurt! So bloody frustrating!

Possible overreaction to a goalless draw I think though. There is a tendency to assume that games against ’the likes’ of Swansea at home are a guaranteed 3 points. They’re a good side, we were a bit below par, our record forward signing is, maddeningly, still not at peak fitness – these results can happen. At least the Redshite are, well, shite this season.

I said ONLY Southampton and (maybe) West Ham were playing Roberto’s ’without fear’ football and I also said I don’t know what Roberto is playing and neither does He — or at least I thought I did.

If you snapped Roberto’s little stick of EFC rock in half, it would have ’2nd season syndrome’ running through the middle... not ’without fear’ — any clearer??

Keep playing, keep playing is the mantra, because a chance will come in the end.

Us Scousers prefer a bit more of an "up it and at them" approach at times and I also think the English game requires this. If not, you have got to attack at speed and I don’t think we did either in the second half yesterday.

Eto’o should have never went on the wing yesterday and I wonder if he’s going to be too strong for the manager. Scored two last week so he goes on the wing when they go down to ten men?

True, it’s far from their fault but the fact is they are contributing nothing to Everton Football Club in terms of winning football matches so we need to offload somehow next summer.

Also, time appears up for Distin; certainly by next year he will be gone. Osman will be another year older and arguably have even less influence (he hasn’t had much this season thus far).

I also have my doubts about Pienaar in the long duration of things.... All-in-all you’re looking at a summer of much change in 2015.

I think we have seen enough of Martinez to see that he is far from a tactical genius although adept at getting his players to play attractive football – perhaps too much of it!

One thing he is not an expert on is getting individual players to perform consistently. From goalkeeper to whoever occupies the loan striker role, we have seen performances ranging from excellence to rank shite – it’s as though they take it in turns to have the day off! This term, we cannot even rely on Bainsey to deliver a good set piece and you can never know which Barkley or McGeady will turn up!

The season won’t be a disaster, we shall finish second quartile and have knock-out interest well into New Year but more than that? I think not.

I don’t think people give Swansea the credit that they deserve, they’re a very well organised team.

But as you say, Jim (141), we don’t seem to have the fear factor this season. We had the majority of the play in the first half but it led on to nothing. Like as if a draw was acceptable.

How Alcaraz escaped that penalty claim is beyond me. And he’s injured once again. We need getting shut of him, Kone and Gibson like you say, just wages down the drain.

We always seem to fall flat when the Redshite get beat. But we’re used to them letting us down. So nothing new there.

Has anyone else reflected on the fact that Everton have not won a game this season by a one goal margin? Not a single 1-0 scoreline, or 2-1 result. These are the result that keep the momentum high. Chelsea are top of the table and when you look at their last 3 fixtures you see two 2-1 scoreline against bottom half teams and a 1-1 draw with United (my point is these are exactly the type of results Everton aren’t having this season).

Comparisons are always going to be made. Southampton have played way above expectations this season and looking at their results through 10 games you’ll find 4 games that ended with a 1-0 scoreline (the teams they beat 1-0 were Hull, Spurs, Stoke and Swansea). That’s 12 points from 4 goals scored.

Everton on the other hand have squandered chances by giving up a goal in the 86th minute to Leicester, giving up 2 late goals to Arsenal, and not being able to break down a 10-man Swansea team yesterday.

Everton have scored 3 goals in 3 games, 2 goals in 4 games, 1 goal in 2 games and yesterday failed to score. When you score 2+ goals in 7 of your 10 Premier League games, you should be able to pick up more than 3 wins.

At the beginning of the season, a leaky defense cost Everton points and lately they have shored up the defensive side but aren’t scoring as much as they did at the start of the season (they can’t seem to get the balance right).

So yes, it’s frustration. Between a side that can’t shake the injury bug and can’t finish off games, you have mediocrity.

"The reason Wigan got relegated was because they had no goal threat; possession in spades is all well and fine but it has to have an end product."

Dave we were 6th highest goals scorers last season, and only Chelsea and Southampton have scored more than us up to now this season.

Also, some saying that Gary Monk ’out-thought’ Martinez is a joke; all he did was have everyone playing deep behind the ball (parking the bus) and hoped to catch us on the break – hardly fucking tactical genius.

The thing that disappointed me the most yesterday was that we were so slow to take a shot at goal. It was as if we were trying to score the perfect goal. Baines was the only one to put his laces through the ball on one occasion. The shot looked goal-bound but unfortunately it hit Lukaku and went wide.

We should have tried this more often because the ball can always take a deflection off a defender and go in or the goalkeeper can parry into the path of a attacker, or the ball can whistle into the top corner like Jags goal against RS. Too much fannying about around the box yesterday for my liking.

Hopefully, we can find a little more cutting edge on Thursday because we will be facing a very stubborn defence.

That was my gut feel. Interestingly, Observer today has stats saying so far this season we are joint top in terms of the number of goals from outside the box (4, = WHU). But it still feels as if Roberto prefers a fanny.

Playing without fear has gone out of the window. From goalkeeper to striker we are scared of losing possession. Baines and Coleman seem to think that an early cross will result in them being struck down by lightning. People are terrified of shooting in case they are castigated by team-mates for not passing. Midfielders are so frightened of a counter attack they never join the attack and get into the box.

Barkley and McGeady have no fear but they operate on different wavelengths and it shows. Like the absent Mirallas, given half a chance, they will try to shoot. In and around the box.Team-mates don’t exist. I say "around the box" because Ross rarely gets in it.

Eto’o is Eto’o. A football brain from another planet trying to link up with mere mortals. Unfortunately, according to all the reports, neither he nor Lukaku like to be the target man, so where does that leave us? I thought the big fella was bought for that very purpose but it seems he prefers to play off someone like Fellaini who can get his head on things and provide opportunities. Not an ideal scenario but one that will have to be sorted.

n bbbb

Come on, Roberto, as much as I like you, get some balls and your tactics right just once this season. You’re not the same manager as last season; I now understand second season syndrome.

I was just making the point that Lille are a very defensive outfit and should be equally as hard to break down as Swansea.

You would wonder if the new found cautiousness is part of that changing back to what worked. The players appear cautious, Martinez’s tactics and subs seem cautious.

We have still seen glimpses though this season of what this squad is capable of. Maybe when we are solid again defensively we can let loose a little more.

Swansea set out for a point, and they showed very little attacking intent. I still think we are only just getting into our stride, and four points off that coveted 4th spot after a poor start is not a disaster.

Let’s hope we can beat Lille on Thursday, which would see us more or less qualify for the knock-out phase of that competition.

I don’t know whether it’s a good or bad thing we haven’t played to our full capability yet, but serious injuries are becoming a hindrance.

One thing’s for sure, it’s going to be a yo-yo season for many of the bigger teams this season, so let’s hope we can soon put a winning run together.

’Because we are Everton’, I hear you say. And so we are. But this season Everton is a mid-table side who have lost once and drawn against Swansea and have also failed to beat ’teams like them’.

Let’s deal with realities, please, not misconceptions of God-given right to beat any team 5-, 6-,7-Nil!

As Harold says, we have a fine core of players, we have stuttered this season but I would rather stutter now than in March. We need to think longer term and I think that’s exactly what Martinez is doing, both this season and generally.

Apart from Chelsea everyone else has been shite this season (including us) so the top 4-6 is still wide open.

The potential champions are only a point above us having spent over 𧴜 million.

I also thought that Smalling deserved a straight red and for the second game in a row the ref helped Man Utd to stay in the game although City took their foot off the gas after they took the lead.

IÂ’d consider keeping Barry at centre back. He looked assured there and is superb at reading the game. That may also force Martinez to stick EtoÂ’o behind Lukaku as the playmaker weÂ’re looking for.

Darren, I completely agree with you re Â’sin miedoÂ’, though I think that was made up by some misguided people rather than Martinez himself. I think Martinez is a pretty cautious coach who wants to base things on a sound defence and possession, then push on for the win. This season he hasnÂ’t used the players as well as he did last season, particularly some of his baffling substitutions. The attacking players he has brought in havenÂ’t been up to scratch so far.

Very disappointing yesterday. Teams will come to Goodison to park the bus, weÂ’ll have to deal with it. We defended well, but were short of ideas and lacked conviction going forward.

Must do better........

Interesting to watch Spurs now, did I just hear the commentator say Soldado is their top scorer with 2 goals?

Friend did our game yesterday and it was Michael Oliver in charge of the Manchester derby. But like you I also think the referees are over-protective of certain clubs and I also adhere to your belief that there is an accepted cartel in the Premier League and that Man City and Chelsea arenÂ’t part of that gang despite their wealth.

I think McCarthy-Besic offers too little going forward. I know the idea is to have two defensive and the allow Coleman and Baines to attack more freely, but against a defensive side at Goodison I would be a little bit more adventurous. That should allow either EtoÂ’o or Naismith to play just behind Lukaku.

Yes, mate you read me right, thatÂ’s exactly what I was saying... especially when they were down to ten men.

Brian (#162) – Your sarcasm masks nothing. Nobody was expecting 5, 6, or 7 goals – one would have done. Are we so desperate to make excuses that it now becomes unrealistic to expect that we can get close enough to see the whites of the goalie’s eyes once or twice? – WE WERE AT HOME, FFS!

Parked the bus? I feel embarrassed even hearing the claim. Shelvey missed the gameÂ’s best chance, Howard saved from Bony and they are robbed of a nailed on penalty... Good job they didnÂ’t come at us.

You say they could have had a pen, but they should have been down to 9 men because how the fuck Bony never got a red is beyond me, all he wanted to do was kick fuck out of us.

"Parking the bus" is simply a term.

Alcaraz made the best save of the match.

Instead of blaming Swansea for defending well, letÂ’s look at the idea of bringing on the clapped-out Pienaar and shunting EtoÂ’o on the wing, just a week after he looked like the playmaker weÂ’re looking for.....

Kevin Friend is just as woeful. He missed a penalty, he never dealt with Bony, and the amount of times he blew up spoiling an advantage was pure amateurish.

Blah blah blah. Same shit. Different season.

IÂ’m more excited about the Europa League this season anyways. ThatÂ’s our chance to get into the Champions League.

I was sure he had it on target... Maybe I should take another look!

GP was quiet, too.

I thought the same players looked good and bad.

Bainesy had a poor game by his standards.

Jags looks back in the groove; it’s a huge relief. Possibly MotM – him or Besic.

I’m sorry to see Alcaraz injured but not sorry to see him miss games. I would like to see Besic, even Distin, in that role – the former given RM’s reluctance to break up Barry and McCarthy (who, by the way, don’t protect the back four enough given how deep they play). I wasn’t impressed with Alcaraz yesterday, and I’m not generally. He gave away a penalty that wasn’t given and he’s composed on the ball and terrified of anyone running at him or competing with him. I think he’s a big problem waiting to happen.

McCarthy needs to impose himself on a game, and both he and Barry need to pass better and forward and slightly more quickly (the whole team does, in my view).

Besic was again very good, not quite excellent; he should start most games for us.

Ross was off-colour; I wonder if heÂ’s had a bit of a barney with Bainesy. They donÂ’t play well together often and seem tetchy with each other. Weird that one, two of our best players, too.

McGeady – as others have said, he has set the bar so low (subterranean) that the slightest of improvements leads to him being our best player. He was slightly more lively and slightly less appalling yesterday, I concede, but he is a poor player... very poor. He should never feature for us again in a any competitive match... in my humble.

Naismith – second bad game on the trot. He shouldn’t be an automatic choice, excellent as he has been for us this past year, even longer.

Eto’o and Lukaku – not quite there today. Neither Ross nor Nace really linked up play for them, and often they come out of position, way out of position (even before Sam went out to the right wing). Why don’t we rest Rom and get his toe sorted? Another baffler.

Coleman – kind of quiet again. I reckon he doesn’t enjoy playing with the hapless and useless McGeady. Wouldn’t blame him.

I think RM is to blame for some of the lost points this season, but IÂ’m not condemning him. Playing the right players in the wrong positions seems an odd ploy to me.

He should listen to me, and IÂ’ll tell him the right team to pick every time... :-)

I tell you what, joking aside: IÂ’d give every last drop for the club.

As for EtoÂ’o and the report of the Liverpool thing, thatÂ’s true, and I posted it here, and even mentioned it recently. They were all over Falcao as well, by the way, before Ballotelli, if they want to dig a bit deeper and get a proper story!

The real pisser for our RS inbred cousins will be Bony. That deal looked fucking nailed on, and I actually lost a few bob on that along with plenty of others.

Paul @ 196 explains why it happened and is even prepared to invite aprobrium by suggesting that our manager is less than perfect. Progress indeed.

Truth is, we are a decent mid-table side but short on consistency. From both players and manager.

We needed to start Pienaar, even worse was leaving Ross on, he should have been subbed at 70 mins for Osman and left McGeady on. Strange! McGeady was great, the best threat. Strange team and subs again...

Roberto is losing is shine! I suspect heÂ’s starting to believe his own (and the papersÂ’) hype of his quality, as is Ross.

Come on, Blues, get it together. Put it tight against Lille + Sunderland + Hammers + Spurs.