Impregnable Everton earn morale victory at City

In truth, everything went southwards when Stones got injured. Why in the hell didn't Martinez replaced him.

Plus, big mistake bringing in Kone to play on the right. Should have been Lennon. We could've won this damn match.

Lyndon, the performance last night just goes to magnify the bad run of performances up to and including the Christmas period;

Bournemouth 3 - 3
Norwich 1 - 1
Leicester 2 - 3 and
Stoke 3 - 4

We threw away 6 to 8 points during the course of the above games. If we could add them to our current total we would be 34 - 36 points and there would be people talking about us being title contenders

Jon Stones should be told that good defenders should not be doing last gasp stuff in the penalty area. Don't give the official a decision to make! In fairness, Jags did the same in the corresponding game last year.

Christopher - you are spot on about Stones. Defenders should stay on their feet as long as possible. Last ditch sliding tackles are an indication of poor positioning. If they come off the crowd love them but top defenders rarely need to make them. He is still learning.

One of the reasons the goals have dried up recently is that Deulofeu has suffered a drop in form. Much of his crossing was erratic last night. He is still learning.

Romelu was well marshalled by the City defence last night. At times he looked isolated. That is the price for tightening up the defence and not throwing eight or nine men forward every time we gain possession. As Lyndon says achieving the delicate balance between attack and defence is now the challenge but with a little more composure in the final third I believe the goals will come. For the time being I'll be happy with a few clean sheets.

In a season that we have shipped some horrendous goals, we have managed to keep clean sheets at Tottenham, Southampton and Manchester City, all difficult venues, this tells me one thing, our concentration against lesser teams is not as good as it should be, and that is a result in too many of our players getting carried away with their own abilities.

I think John Stones comes across as a down to earth decent fella, but just lately he's maybe taking liberties with too many things, unnecessary Cruyff turns in our own box, gestures to fan's to calm down, the mad moments of sliding in when there's no real need, it should have been a penalty last night, if that was turned down at the Gwladys Street end we'd have been seething.

The clean sheet can so easily be spoilt by a moment of madness like that and I suggest Martinez has a quiet word in private with Stones.

We do need to attack Chelsea with more vibrancy and endeavour on Saturday, they themselves still look a team out of sorts.

I'm really looking for Deulofeu, Barkley to push on at Stamford Bridge and start doing it in big game's, I mean if you've got the likes of James McLean and West Brom troubling Chelsea, I'd be disappointed to see a limited attacking performance from us on Saturday.

'Indefatigable'.... now there's an adjective I've never before seen in a football report. And I buy the Sunday Times. ;)

As a one-off game, we did well; we defended like we should have done all season and, as someone has mentioned, we'd be 8-10 points better off and seriously challenging for a Top 4 place – but that's gone now.

I've been harping in comments on other threads on the need for Martinez to demonstrate to the likes of Stones, Lukaku that we can compete with the likes of Man City, Chelsea, Arsenal etc and I was hoping for at least 4 points from last night's and the Chelsea match on Saturday – so 3 points required on Saturday.

In saying that, City still should have won comfortably; Howard was fortunately brilliant! As was Jags and Funes Mori but, in the 2nd half, our playmakers, Barkley and Deulofeu, were non-existent; Lukaku again lost interest as he was on his own with very little support and, with nothing coming from the wide areas, he had no chance.

Realistically we are all wishing for something with this group of players, who whilst they have been the best we've had for years, they still aren't good enough for a Champions League place.

Happy as I was with the result, we should still be realistic. City should have won and it was a penalty.

Not being negative but this is only a good result if we build from it and start winning games. We have to beat Chelsea on Saturday. Howard has to perform like that every match.

The manager has some big selection decisions, eg, the central defence pairing. We need a lift like a top signing. Rom needs more support.

I still believe we need a new manager... In the meantime, COYB.

Mike

I think if you had to sum up this Everton team in one sentence it would be along the lines of..

"Hard to beat, but don't win enough games."

We have had 10 draws, the most in the league, it seems like the same things that dogged the David Moyes era, a hard team to beat but don't posses the canny knowhow to turn some draws into wins.

All these refs watch other games and I wonder if Roger East was aware of how John Stones was unfairly punished for the slide on Arnautovic a few weeks ago, and as he saw a similar situation occurring, he thought that he would give the defender the benefit of the doubt?

Add to that, the plucky rearguard display throughout the second half, and perhaps he thought we were worthy of holding out!

Also, we must remember that Sterling has "previous" and, as they grew more desperate, both he and Aguero were looking for any kind of contact in the box.

Unfairly punished against Stoke or not, Eddie, if Stones does that type of tackle on a regular basis, he'll find himself conceding far more penalties.

A defender needs to stay on his feet and not recklessly dive in; by doing that, the first thing you do is give the referee a decision to make. Fortunately last night we dodged a bullet.

Great result last night but all that hard work could have been undone by one rash unnecessary challenge or by a different referee.

Slide tackles in the box should only be attempted as a last act of desperation to prevent an almost certain goal, as Stones did earlier when he got a half block on a shot by Sterling. Last night and against Stoke, he could have kept pace with Sterling and Arnautovic. In Sterling's case his touch was heavy and the ball was going out anyway.

On the concession of goals and the apparent tightening up we have seen recently. The key positions in our system are the two defensive midfielders. Barry does a great job in showing for the ball and keeping possession, sensing danger, my player of the season so far. McCarthy is not so good on the ball but is the all action trouble shooter, sensing danger, making that 'last ditch' interception around the edge of the box to prevent conceding goals. McCarthy played 67 minutes against Bournemouth, so wasn't on the field for that last flurry of action in our box. Since then, he has just played 27 minutes against Leicester. A key move by Leicester was Mahrez picking up a ball and driving unchallenged at our back four, before playing in Vardy for the 2nd penalty. This is exactly the area where McCarthy operates and often goes unnoticed. Cleverley is a very good player but doesn't have that same nose for danger that McCarthy does.

We have suffered as a result in conceding 'soft' goals in his absence and several more chances, similar missed chances by Ritchie of Bournemouth and Jerome (I think ?) of Norwich, where the ball is cut back towards our penalty spot to onrushing players. The arrival of Besic in the Tottenham game finally plugged this gaping hole. He carried that on in the League Cup v City and again last night. Our team have grown to rely on McCarthy doing this work and points were unfortunately dropped. I think Besic has shown an added composure on the ball to go with his abrasive style since he has come back. I didn't think he had that in his locker. If he can continue the form he has shown we may have a real player on our hands.

Totally agree re Besic Frank.

We now have a true box-to-box defensive mid with a bit of class which also allows Barry more time on the ball.

I was disappointed in Lukaku last night with his lack of aerial ability and failure to hold the ball up something that he seemed to improve on during the season but he may have been carrying that injury.

Also very disappointed that the manager sees it appropriate to bring Kone and Pienaar on in preference to Mirallas who is the only player that might have got us that vital goal.

Jay, Lukaku was playing against 3 defenders whose job it was to shackle him in the knowledge that he would otherwise have destroyed them. He was never going to be a stand out in such a lop sided situation but he still played a very important role in tying up those defenders, his touch and distribution were also exceptional. Had it just been a bad day at the office my response would be that he's entitled to one anyway after his superb performances this season.

I also believe that Pienaar played well when he came on and we saw glimpses of that rapport with Baines that Mirallas will never reproduce. Kone is a bit of an enigma but including him regularly has seen a massive improvement in the link up with Lukaku. I don't see him as being anything but a stop gap though and that the we already have potentially the best number 10 in the business in Ross Barkley, last night he was the link man, he was seen to be poor by some because he was very controlled in what he did and did it simply and well.

We were brilliant last night and we may even have a top four side in there. Besic was absolutely magnificent. Maybe our future started when we played the ball around City with 10 men but I still see our limitation as RM; the board and staff have done a magnificent job in the Academy and in transfers. I think if we could get Mourinho as manager he could win the title with this squad and that is not as crazy as it sounds, he may be finished at top club level.

Special praise for Jags last night, he was magnificent and it's great to see him back and no it was not a penalty, that little shit makes an art form of diving and last night was no exception. The officials could see it clearly, a penalty would have been a travesty of a game ending and a reward for divers and the influence that the top 4 clubs have in getting late penalties to win games. The refs are having nothing to do with the theatricals of the Sterling's and Deulofeu's and that is correct.

No, Stones must not stop those brilliant slide tackles in the box, his success is high and it is top class soccer skill.

Great time to be a Blue and we genuinely could be going somewhere with this team if not with this manager. I've supported Everton since the late '50s and I see this as a very exciting times although very challenging given our financial weakness. Please, no American ownership, let's keep our soul

Mike (#7) – Fair go...

Lukaku came back to help the defence out and much to my surprise at one point in the second half won the ball in the right back position with a tackle! Not a sign of a centre-forward who has lost interest in the game.

Martin,

As an American, I am offended that you think we either have no souls or are interested in stripping Everton's soul or history. I will admit the lure of the TV money is appealling however.

On your comments on Sterling, I too wondered if the reputation of Sterling and Aguerro of diving is catching up to them? I saw the same thing in the Chelsea game versus West Brom regarding Costa going over and trying to get Yacob a red card twice to no avail. Aguerro shamelessly threw himself down once in the first half once he had taken two steps after contact and reached the box, and then again in the second half at the top of the box when he was being doubled by Stones and Jags, just before the Sterling incident.

These players once they get to the box just go over. I applaud the refs in both games for not giving a penalty even if in this case, I thought it probably should have been given. I just hope DelBoy gets a lecture or a slap to the head to stop him from diving.

Martin,

How you can say that was not a penalty is beyond me. Stones slides in, doesn't get the ball and clearly makes contact with Sterling. It was 100% a penalty. I would put it to you, if the shoe was on the other foot, you would have a different opinion.

I said some time ago on here that I would have Mourinho in a flash but it will never happen.

Jim, Aguero for me is one of the most honest forwards in the Premier League.

Oliver, it wasn't a penalty. 0-0 was the final result wasn't it. How you can say it was a penalty is just beyond me. :-)

Very good, Martin...