Everton grind out a vital win

I can see this being as frustrating as last week.

Bernard and Calvert-Lewin have much pressure on them today, and Sigurdsson too. So hopefully they up their game.

Confident that Mina and Keane can control Deeney. Interesting to see how Geri Deulofeu does. Always wish he had stayed.

Hopefully he will prove me wrong. Today.

Silva is perfectly correct to maintain the status quo and allow the signings time to settle and integrate. Very young team... let's not allow stage freight or the pace of the game to destroy them. 'Slowly but surely' approach from me. COYB

I know he hasn't done a lot wrong but Mina gives me the jitters every time he gets the ball.

Hopefully a bit more quality in the second half... because Watford are threatening to get back into this.

Lost our grip a bit as the half wore on. Poor keeper for our goal. Interesting how long we wait till we use the bench.

How many times have we seen him run clear of the defence only to be caught or have a complete brain freeze and fall over the ball when it came to getting a shot off?

Today the defender got back but a shimmy to open up the angle and getting off a first time shot cleverly inside the near post caught the keeper unawares.

Gbamin much more up to speed this week. He is already looking as though he will be a real presence in our midfield.

Only our own errors have given Watford a foothold in the game, that and Gerry looking their most dangerous and skillful player in a roaming role.

Calvert-Lewin needs to be more switched on defending the back post at corners. It almost cost us an equaliser. He had a couple of other similar situations last season.

Great delivery by Siggy for Richarlison's clear header which should have been 2-0, heading it down and either side of the keeper.

Silva clearly had no idea how to change it other than a couple of 'like-for-like' substitutions and persisting with a Number 10 whose contribution is now bordering on pathetic.

Gbamin was okayish... but the only bright spark was Kean. If he doesn't start next game, then Silva needs a good boot up the arse.

Pickford MotM. Says it all really. Can't even do the simple stuff properly and there's no excuses for it.

Bernard much improved, as was Gbamin. Richarlison very poor. Gomes not much better.

Kean is clearly going to be a handful if and when the team starts playing more joined up football. Could have made himself an instant hero with his two chances. Goals will come from him, of that I'm sure.

Good to see Kean come on again, but I think he's trying too hard to please at the moment. Mina had another good game and great for Bernard to get his goal.

Getting there slowly. COYB

Gomes's fitness told in the last 30 mins.

And Kean showed why he should be starting.

Need more work before we better last season's 8th place.

Buckle up.

Otherwise not one you'll be telling your grandkids about, but back-to-back clean sheets isn't a bad way to start the season.

I don't care who has the most possession but who scores the most goals. We scored; they didn't. We won. Another clean sheet. Maybe we should start cutting Mina some slack and stop pining for Zouma. Mina and Keane are looking as solid as any pairing in the league right now.

Gbamin looked good, and Gomes looked a bit wobbly at times, but played well at times too. We lacked control when Watford stepped up their game, and Sigurdsson wasn't there in the midfield to help us win the ball nor keep the ball. I think he was below par again.

But a good win, only 2 points off the top. Showed potential, and we will improve.

Yes, that was my moan pre-game that we only had Holgate as a defensive option. Lo and behold, the left-back is injured so we have to use him out of position as coverage. I just don't see why we didn't have Baines on the bench instead of Tosun. Just not good planning IMHO.

We've lost our spine from last season in Zouma and Gueye too. Digne and Bernard link-up play is getting better. Calvert-Lewin will be more appreciated by his teammates than the fans, I feel.

I think gently using Kean is the right way to do it, no need to put any pressure on him. I think Sigurdsson's earnt the right from last season to have a couple of quiet ones, he'll come good.

They hit the woodwork, Pickford's face, Keane's ankle both stopped certain goals and I'm not sure how Mina got away with that first-half penalty claim in this VAR age.

We created virtually nothing in the second half.

Mina my MotM. At long last, when the ball is pumped into our box, it looks like we have two centre-halves who can win it. Not since Distin and Jagielka have we looked that solid.

I'm hoping our forward play will improve as the players become more familiar. But I'll take the 3 points and the clean sheet.

The Mina and Keane partnership was solid, worries unfounded. Gbamin played well and a full game, which will help him no end. Calvert-Lewin did play well, but attack was predominantly via the wing. Bernard improved on last week and Richarlison was poor. Sigurdsson played well and Gomes got there, but their build up was slow at times.

Kean made a difference and will be a real threat, if more ball is played through the centre. The situation is ready-made for the introduction of Iowbi. Everton are not threating from crosses, though the height is there, but positioning is not good enough.

Defence looked rock solid today. Keane, Mina and Pickford were the reason we took the points. Kean will definitely start the next game.

However, I thought Gbamin gave the ball away far too much with passes either overhit, or straight to the opposition. He needs to work on that part of his game.

I can only hope we are not yet match-fit because the midfield was awful. I almost never say a bad word about Sigurdsson but I literally couldn't believe he had been playing the entire game. Didn't think he even touched the ball until 60th minute. I thought surely Silva would put Iwobi on for Gylfi today.

Either way, 3 points while you get your team up to speed and new players the experience they need isn't something I'm ready to complain about.

Second half seemed to be back to last week and the last 25 minutes seemed quite laboured but that lad Kean looks the real deal.

Again, difficult to properly assess most players as there was little pressure on them for most of the game.

Still, like Pickford, unbeaten but we may have just played a couple of teams who might struggle.

Very happy for Bernard, he always serves us up some wonderful trickery and today delivered nicely for us.

For me, Bernard was MotM but we still aren't very fluid going forward. Richarlison on fitness. Sigurdsson worked his socks off and put in a few decent crosses but still isn't being creative enough, he looks out of form.

Kean did look exciting though, it's difficult not to have anything but great hope for the lad. Hopefully he will get his first goal at Villa Park next week, the first of many!!

Kean looked very lively when he came on, should start against Villa on Friday night, and with Siggy out of sorts, why not start Iwobi on the wing and Bernard in the middle?

Let's see how they deal with a decent attacking threat first before we declare them the second coming.

The moans about Calvert-Lewin are ridiculous – he had a decent game and didn't miss any chances, not like Richarlison, who was out of sorts and missed two good ones. Those who wrote off Mina as not up to it need to think again – he and Keane look rock solid.

Once the new boys get up to speed and the team settles down, we will have a damn good team on our hands, and a young one!!

The quartet of Bernard, Calvert-Lewin, Richarlison and Sigurdsson closed out last season really well. All four – NOT just Sigurdsson – were poor last week at Palace.

Bernard and Sigurdsson were much improved today. Siggy delivered two beautiful free kicks Richarlison should have scored from.

Gomes, for me, remains the player that is least fulfilling his role: transitioning the ball more quickly from defence to midfield. He also offers little or nothing in the way of midfield defensive cover, as epitomised when Richarlison's poor pass across Watford's penalty area allowed them to break on us, skipping past Gomes as if he were mere vapour, ending with the Deeney attempt Jordan did well to save.

Like many I'm sure, I'm happier with the result rather than the performance which I'm confident in saying will improve.

Four points and no goals conceded ain't all bad.

Hard-fought win, maybe Calvert-Lewin should've been replaced at half-time, his attacking contribution was nil. Hopefully Kean will start at Villa and that will increase our chance of a win. COYB.

Simple truth is that we were better in both penalty boxes and showed a doggedness that is every bit as important as the sexy stuff.

Kean came on, held up the ball and ran with power at their defence, reminding me of Lukaku on a good day. He looks exciting. Start him next week please, Marco.

Don't get me wrong, DCL has toiled away now for 18 months but his limitations are laid bare in that he's absolutely no threat whatsoever to the opposition in terms of scoring.

Kean came on and within 20 minutes he takes a defender on and hits a shot over and then instinctively shoots narrowly wide on the turn, that's the difference between having a instinctive centre forward.

I firmly believe once this Italian whiz kid scores one then the goals will come rolling in.

Defensively we will be severely tested now however with the potential that Digne is hurt, no way on earth is Holgate a right back and that's a big concern if Sidibe can't play yet.

Bernard was head and shoulders above anything today, the rest of the outfield players were just so so.

I also think we learned a lot today about what Silva currently feels about Tom Davies, that a quite clearly not fully fit Andre Gomes played the game ahead of him.

Anyway, another clean sheet, a first win of the season so I'll happily take that, and I'll even more happily take it on Friday night in Birmingham too!!

That performance was abysmal & reminds me of how we started the season when Koeman was sacked with a laboured victory over a piss-poor Stoke team. We look like a team of strangers, very worrying.

Steve #39, Bernard plays an excellent game on the wing. Why do you want him to play out of position, where he has never played before? No thanks. Besides, Sigurdsson was pretty good today. Created three clear scoring chances and beautifully supervised our seeing the game out in the last 10 minutes.

George #36, you're mistaken. Sigurdsson had a shot cleared off the line last week by Van Aanholt.

Paul and Trev, I wouldn't mind seeing Kean start either. But I'm quite sure he won't. Silva has shown he won't change starters until the player grabs the job in both hands and pulls it away. Kean hasn't done that yet.

Jim #54, I'm pretty sure Davies would have come on for Gomes had Silva not been required to use an unexpected sub for Digne.

Pluses: clean sheet, Gomes, Digne, Coleman, Bernard & win.

Minus: Richarlison, who clearly had his boots on the wrong feet and his head on back to front.

Pickford has started the season superbly, both in shot stopping and his distribution.

I also like the classic look of his dark-green kit.

Really looks the part.

We weren't great and we look messy at the moment. It's going to change though. The ease with which Kean went past the defender before his first shot was very encouraging and he's not afraid to get stuck in.

Delighted to see Bernard enjoying himself so much.

We are not Man City so we won't play like them, but we have a good class of player throughout the team now, we are definitely going the right way.

I hope Digne only has a small knock, we would miss him more than most. I think Gbamin is going to be an important player when he gets his legs and Kean looks really exciting for the future. Had to laugh at Mark's comment on Richarlison, good one.

Every game is tough in this league, so I'm satisfied even though we are not playing fancy football, there's plenty of time.

Not the best performance today but three points. Only Gbamin's second run out, so early days. Gomes worries me – his brilliant touches are brilliant but there's a lot of dross at times.

Did Kean look good against a tired defence? If so, maybe it's the correct decision to persist with Calvert-Lewin, who tires defences, but maybe bring Kean on slightly earlier.

How did Gbamin do defensively? Did we play the same as last season with him in the Gueye role?

The rest of the team looked rusty but a win us a win.

We haven't hit the ground running, have we... but I can see us improving next Friday, when, by the way, we will be top of league with a win. So get ready to send the table to all your redshite acquaintances.

I'm thinking Villa will go down actually. They've done what Fulham did, spent over 𧴜M on a whole new team but they will find it hard to integrate so many.

I thought Walcott looked okay, Richarlison tired but the whole shape needs something of a tweak. Coleman great today.

What will Silva do? Will he dare drop Sigurdsson and leave out our most productive player, or will he reshape things to accommodate him and Iwobi and Kean. It will take time, l know. Probably the same team to start next week.

I think Friday will be the same lineup and we'll see Kean and Iwobi come in for the Lincoln game.

But we will need to improve at Villa next week, although another 1-0 win would be completely acceptable for me personally.

He didn't get anything right, give him a rest!

We need him to be more than just a danger at set pieces, and if it wasn't for Digne's injury, I would have brought on Davies for Siggy to give that extra man.

Gbamin and Gomes, neither fully fit, were over ran.

That's the question though. He obviously needs to play close to he striker but in doing so he isn't involved as much. I'd drop him deeper and play the wingers narrow. It's not such a big change and he will be more involved in the game, plus our wide players will be more comfortable and won't have to chase back as much.

Richarlison looks shattered already. Gbamin did okay but he's no Gana and we needed that today. Not that he can't improve and have a more rounded game. Wondering if Schneiderlin comes back in on Friday.

He might be a more rounded player eventually but I don't think there's any shame in not being able to nick the ball back like Gana can. I think we needed that ball-winner today. Hopefully we improve. I'm sure we will.

Walcott showed far more than Richarlison. I look forward to Iwobi as I think he will offer something different. Still a long way to go but defensively we are showing promise.

We're so bad, it's embarrassing and anyone who says otherwise is constantly ignoring the evidence in front of their eyes to our own detriment.

I thought both Gomes and Gbamin took too many risks when in possession - passing and dribbling. Maybe they didn't feel they had good options to offload the ball, but several times today we were in danger of losing the ball in our own half. I think opposing teams are going to target those two players - with players hunting in pairs to turn the ball over.

Kean looked bright, quick and purposeful when he came on - but that was against a tiring Watford team who were overcommitting in midfield in order to try and get back into the game.

Quick mention for Walcott, off the bench, who I thought worked hard and showed some bright moments. I've been pretty dismissive of him for the last 12 months, so today I'll give him a small bit of praise.

Yerry Mina is a serious bonus. What I like about him is his willingness just to clear the ball however unattractive it may appear, and that's what he's paid to do. He, like Jordan, seems to have the temperament needed. The old cliche: build a good side from the back, is true of us.

The home form is exceptionally good this calendar year but no momentum is ever built because we seldom pick up three points on the road.

Imagine a half-decent away form to go with a solid home record?

Bloody hell... we would be in dreamland.

Moise Kean knows where the goal is and he's got natural instinct and talent. I hope he starts at a Villa as we must make our offensive play be more productive.

The evening spirits are dampened by Old Nick and the Disciples of Spawniness. But 4/6, is a decent start, and we can beat Villa, and we should take the game to them.

I still reckon that Marco Silva will start with the same team that started. Well done, Jordan Pickford, who kept us on the game, an exceptional start to this season, long may it last.

We scored 1, we missed 2 sitters (both Richalison headers), I'd like to see the DCL penalty moment again, but defensively we only allowed 1 chance to Watford which is something we should be happy with.

As far as I know now, no Premier League side has had more clean sheets in 2019 (15, joint with Man City I think), that is something I'd never have thought possible during any time in 2018.

Winning ugly while we aren't playing at our most fluent, plus without our new attacking players being fit and ready to go.

We are so easy to play against and our fitness levels are atrocious.

The manager has to change things and regarding personnel some are far too comfortable.

And after the VAR farce this evening is there really any point in celebrating a goal these days until the game has restarted?
What's happened to the game we've grown with and loved?

Couldn't agree more mate, that was the sub I felt was needed when Walcott was brought on.

The big question is, is our manager clueless or a latent genius?

So easy to play against that we've had is it 10 clean sheets in our last 13 league games?

Our fitness last season wasn't top notch initially but peaked in the New Year when we looked way fitter than the opposition.

We've had two iffy performances and got four points. Give this team time to gel; it has the potential to become the best since the eighties.

He was our top scorer last season, who else will get 13 goals from midfield this season, Gomes? Gbamin? Bernard? I could go on but you need a reality check.

Get off Siggi, FFS.

For all the "We will get snotted against so and so", enjoy the win.

Friday night, we could be sitting top of the Premier League, lads and lasses.

I will take a scrappy win against a brilliant performance but dropped points any day of the week.

If Kean and Iwobi hit the ground running, we could be in for an interesting season.

Onwards and upwards, Blues.

I can see your point, but he looks now like he did in the last games of last season – clueless.

He's guaranteed his place with little competition. Silva did the right thing pulling him off today, I think it's more of an attitude problem than a sharpness one.

He needs to have a bit of an introspective with himself and then come out to play once more.

Your recall of Everton's run in and Richarlison's form at the end of last season is very poor. Clueless he most certainly wasn't.

He and Sigurdsson were scintillating together, even though the Brazilian was playing with a stomach strain.

In our penultimate game of the season home to Burnley he possibly put in his best performance in an Everton shirt in the first half.

Unfortunately, the aforementioned stomach strain forced him off shortly after the interval and he was unavailable for the final game away to Spurs.

As for your further claim that he has an 'attitude' problem I'm curious to know how exactly you arrived at that notion.

In my eyes and ears there is only evidence both on and off the pitch of a very humble boy with a strong work and team ethic.

If anything, both at club and national level, he needs to be told to better conserve his energies and enthusiasm at times as he chases back the length of the pitch sometimes in an attempt to retrieve the ball for the team that he has lost.

Mike is right. He needs game time to get his sharpness back after returning to pre-season later than most due to his involvement in the Copa America.

A big time Charlie who needs taking down a peg or two as your words imply, he most certainly ain't.

4 points and two clean sheets - regardless of the performances, I'd have taken that if offered at the start of the season. Main aim is to get as many points on the board from the first half-dozen games or so and take it from there. Beat Villa next weekend and we top (for a bit).

Enjoy the weekend lads (and lasses). Win is a win. Complain when we lose.

Good goal by Bernard. I am pleased for him as he is a very clever footballer and he makes things happen.

We still lack the obvious, a natural goal scorer.

Richarlison, Calvert-Lewin, Kean all good young forward players but one of them needs to quickly shine and be the main threat.

As young players they will have inconsistent patches which is understandable but no excuses, we are crying out for a striker and if they are good enough they need to show it quickly.

Kean strikes the ball well and I'm hoping in another month he steps up to be the main man. It's all potential but hopefully one starts to look the part ASAP.

Richarlison missed two good headers, not even hitting the target. Calvert-Lewin has had similar chances that he fluffs in previous games. They should concentrate 100% on finishing in training because on another day we could easily have dropped points.

The one I see is running his tits off at both ends of the pitch, getting into perfect scoring positions, and no longer flopping around like a fish on the beach or wailing at the referee. Haven't seen a single moment of laziness or sourness.

He's just playing poorly. He's misfiring on chances he would normally put away. Off-target on his passes. He needs to regain his timing and his confidence. And he can't do that sitting down.

Besides, on a purely practical level he's the best scorer on a team that can't score at the moment. It's not like there's anybody on the bench who will do better. So I say leave him out there and let him work it out. He will.

Thankfully solid at the back with Seamus putting in a real captain's performance. Can't understand why so many have adopted Sigurdsson as the new scapegoat. The man always gives 100%, looks the most likely player to score, and provides more opportunities for others to score than any other player.

Yes, we won, but in what manner? We got an early goal, great! But what happened after that?

The longer the match went, the longer my anticipation of the killer punch, was just around the corner. Gladly, and God only knows why, we didn't succumb to that!

We have bought new players who have had some 'acclimatisition' and were chomping at the bit to be entered onto the field, to hopefully increase our lead and at least, not only be introduced, but to make the score-line less precarious.

What does Silva do? He brings on Walcott, after having Iwobi warming up, Theo did little to change anything, but his Bank Balance, has increased even more to be on Britain's Richest Footballers list!

I have ever decreasing faith in Silva's ability to be the man to lead us, please, and you will have to be very convincing, tell me I am wrong!

People that are having a go at Sigurdsson simply don't understand football.

He put 2 on a plate today for Ritchie – if either (or both) go in, then Siggy is (hopefully!!!) hailed a creative masestro.

It's weird – we simply love to bash our productive better players, eg, Sigurdsson, Lukaku, Osman, the list goes on. But we fall in love with Niasse, Bernard, Stracqualursi who between them have scored very few goals. It's a bizarre trait

Siggy is a very very good player. We can't attract an Erikson, we can't afford a Zaha but we should love who we've got who is actually a solid player.

You can't always get what you want. If you can't have the one you love, love the one you're with.

Richalison and Siggy are 2 major players for us, soon they will get into there groove and be back to what they have done all last season.

He has, however, impressed me by solidifying the overall defensive organization, incorporating more professionalism into our ability to see out games (today we looked in total control over the last 10 minutes), and the coaching-related improvement in individual players.

And I believe the improved work rate and intensity of the club from a year ago is down to Silva as well.

He is certainly a manager who can lead us back into Europe, which is our objective at the moment. Whether he is a Top-4-caliber manager I have no idea -- that will only be determined if and when he has players of that quality around him.

To sum up, I don't love the guy, but I think he's doing a pretty good job. But I won't say you're wrong -- just a bit too impatient (he's still gathering this team) and a bit too pessimistic.

It was a tough game, Watford were strong and rough, we did not capitulate, the whole team battled, did not always play sublime football, but dug in and the whole 14 players contributed to a win. Sometimes that's what you have to do.

Result. Move on.

He put on Walcott like for like because he trusts this system and maybe him and Schneiderlin will have a better season with better players around them. Gbamin could be anything but will only get better. He's certainly got the physique.

I hope Baines stays fit more this year too to provide the cover we need. Looking at the squad I'm pretty happy we do have perhaps the best squad we've had in years. Albeit a little short at CB if we pick up suspensions and injury but I'm sure we will have that covered in January.

Kean looks pretty good, he likes that turn doesn't he. We have a forward line of 19, 22, 21. Things are looking up, even if we didn't control the game like we expected or wanted to. Watford won't be bottom for long.

As for the ‘don't understand football' comment, suggest you don't go down that route on here.

I only saw the highlights. There seems to be a lot of negativity on the thread suggesting we rode our luck, but it should be remembered that Richarlison should have scored two goals. At the end of the day, we won and kept another clean sheet, and the pairing of Mina and Keane is looking even stronger than when Zouma was with us

Four points out of a possible six, and we haven't played very well.

It's not the ideal start, but it's not that bad either.

That is my opinion and I am entitled to it. Just as you are entitled to yours. That does not mean I don't know what I am talking about and it doesn't make your comments right or wrong. But I do expect more than a decent free-kick from our creative maestro, to use your words.

I often think that the ball is not got to him fast enough. His passing appears to be an after thought, his first objective is to run at defence, beat his marker or shoot. It appears that, when these options close down, he decides to pass. His pass completion rate is poor as a result. He is an out-and-out striker but does work hard at maintaining the high press and tackling to get possession back.

Everton's tactics have a preference for wing play and the left wing has a bigger percentage of the play than the right wing. It was the same in the Palace game. The centre play was around 15 percent of the attacking play, similar again to the Palace game.

I suggest, but I am open to other opinions, that whilst this is part of Silvas tactics it falls down on two areas. It is first dependent on the speed and movement in midfield and pass completion and interplay in the final third.

In the Watford game, Gomes and Sigurdsson where too laboured in build-up and Gbamin was making the defensive part of his game a priority. When Watford pushed up in the second half, making the high press ineffective, Sigurdsson largely became anonymous and Gomes largely ineffective. Pass completion in the final third is poor, because teams now set up to defend against Everton's wing play. In the second half Coleman did fade a bit, but his main aim when getting forward is to cross. He is now less effective at this than Dyne. Calvin Lewin in the second half had to come deeper to try hold up and lay off the ball and had to try to provide supporting overlaps rather than attacking play to get Everton into the attacking zone. Kean just attacked through the centre and used his strength to do that, once he got the ball.

Silva needs to accommodate and coach Richarlison better.

Does he get into space to allow a pass for a chance on goal or even make a run that takes a player out of position? He does neither and barges into Cathcart and runs offside.

He should be 3rd choice behind Tosun in my opinion. Offers nothing and should have been loaned out to the Championship or the German league.

Although I would hope for a win against Villa we can't under estimate them. I hope the players and team do not take it for certain. To often we turn 'easy' wins into draws and losses. We should start our strongest team.

Both Ric and Sig put in full effort and unless Kean proves otherwise our 2 best goal scorers. Dropping either would be foolish. They are both playing well without being on top of their game. Still better than any alternative.

Really happy for Bernard. Like Osman and Pieniar finishing is the obvious floor in his game and at his age I can't see him being anything more than 5 goals a season player.

He's got the creativity and trickery to unlock defences and should be given a chance in a more central position with Iwobi left and Siggy rested (when required).

Watford did dominate midfield at times which is a bit of a worry. The Central areas still appear to be our weakest and better teams will simply over run us.

Tactically it's great having pace and width but we only have Digne who can cross a ball. It's never been Colemans game and the wingers all want to cut inside. Plus we don't appear to have a good enough header of the ball. We are too predictable and I'm looking forward to Iwobi mixing it up.

I agree regarding Bernard and Iowbi.

Defensively relatively solid with two clean sheets but in both games played to date Pickford has saved points with one on one saves, saving from Deeney with his face today probably saved all 3 points TBH as Watford were on the front foot in terms of posession and goal threat at that point.

Against the better teams in the league the team will struggle to keep clean sheets and score goals with the current levels of perfomance. Pickford cannot be expected to keep digging the team out of holes with one on one saves to keep clean sheets, given there has only been 5 shots on goal in the two matches and only one goal so far the lack of goal threat posed needs adressing quickly. Kean brings a lot more natural goalscoring ability up top than DCL so changes may need to be considered soon to reverse this.

A big step up needed on the goal threat the team poses has got to start against Villa on Friday either with personnel/formation changes or both.

Taking the positives with new players still bedding into the team and squad I am happy we have 4 points despite playing pretty poor footie which the best teams need to do to grind out results during a season.

Hopefully Digne being taken of was a precautionary measure similar to Gomes substitution against Palace and he's back in the team against Villa.

COYB!

In my opinion, a solid & professional start; 4 points from 6.

Oh, can we ditch those tacky flags? Cringeworthy & very Leicester like. Next we'll be issuing those annoying happy clappy things.

2 games, 1 away, 1 at home, 4 points, not bad!

The defence seems to have carried on from last season, despite having a change in the CB partnership. In fact, having Mina in is like a new player to a certain degree.

We have lost 2 important players in Zouma and Gueye. We have replaced them with Mina (see above) and a player who has never played in this league before, and is young.

On top of that, we lost Schneiderlin and Gomes in the first game. plus Digne in the second game, meaning reshuffles all round and 10 men for a period.

Yes, Pickford had to make saves, which is why he is there. That's why we paid a lot for him! Southall had to do it too on occasions!

I thought Bernard's goal was quite special. A great pass out of defence, some great footwork from the Brazilian and a good finish too, not lucky in any way. If it was, well he created his own luck!

2 games in, points on board. Delph, Keane (who looked excellent) Iwobi, yet to be properly unleashed or even played, plus the new RB too.

The conditions were pretty crappy in both games, that does make a difference (Ask Klopp hee hee)

Are we going in the right direction!? Yes, yes and yes again! In my humble opinion anyway! And, it is just an opinion!

We are 2 games in folks!

Even in his purples patches he is lacking in terms of his overall contribution to the team. He occupies, what should be, the most influential offensive position on the pitch.. transition from back to front, through balls, linking with the wing play, dribbling, creating space..

All too often we rely on wing play alone because the middle is too slow and incapable of keeping up or linking play.

Imagine what we'd be like with a David Silva in there... or even a Richarlison.

Conversely, what could Sigurdsson do surrounded by the Man City players?

All conjecture!

Haa haa. maybe!

I know I think about things too much but our image is so important at the moment. We have to end looking back at past glories and we have to look to the future. Please no more magnificent 7 DVD'S Everton FC marketing.

The strategy of kick the ball to centre half, back to keeper, out to heavily marked midfielder, and then back to keeper will cost us this season. Hope they knock that off quickly.

Correct, the siren kicked it off, Z Cars was drowned out by the noise and the atmosphere was electric. The flags helped this, but I wouldn't want them every week and if we ever get those damn clappers that small club Leicester issue to their fans then it'll be a really naff addition.

Pity the game didn't live up to the initial atmosphere though.

I was really surprised he didn't pick Davies, instead of or in addition to, Gbamin and Gomes. I think really that says it all how Silva feels about him despite his words. I thought that would help us control the game against a physical Watford midfield.

We do look more organised as a team, and that's a carryover from the last part of the season. As such were look sound against mediocre attacks.

Very much an ugly duckling of a game.

Having said that, I do find the lack of creativity a bit worrying. We rely so heavily on the Bernard - Digne combination. It reminds me of Bainaar days.

Sigurdsson is a good player but he has got to get more involved in the game from open play and more regularly. He only made 14 passes yesterday! Whereas Pereyra made 38. Stieppermann who plays in a similar role for Norwich made 48 passes yesterday. Ceballos for Arsenal yesterday played 75 passes!

Sigurdsson has got to be able to make himself available for the ball more often and demand it. He is in the team to affect play creatively and in the first two matches this season he has not done that nearly enough. He doesn't dribble, he doesn't make a lot of tackles; so if he is not passing often and accurately then it's very hard to see what his worth is to the team.

Mina and Keane did well though the chance that Deulofeu made for Deeney is what worries me. How will they cope with runners in behind? Watford definitely missed some good chances yesterday and I think if it had been a draw it would be hard to complain it was unjust.

Definitely lots to work on for Silva but Kean looked promising as did Gbamin at times. I hoped Bernard might have a breakout season this time and he was our best player yesterday, linking play well, making the most tackles in the team and scoring the crucial goal.

Villa away will not be easy though I think they can be susceptible to the counter. Personally, I'd love to see Iwobi get a start for Sigurdsson to see if that dynamism and dribbling ability in the middle can help open us up as a creative entity.

Mike, Nowhere have I mentioned laziness or sourness or even sulking, what I said was he's got no competition and it's this that's impacting his attitude towards his game time.

He's putting effort in, but he's been a few % off his most effective game for a while now, this "edge" comes when you know you might not play again for 5-10 games if you're not quite there.

I think we are both looking at two different players at the moment.

"Besides, on a purely practical level, he's the best scorer on a team that can't score at the moment. It's not like there's anybody on the bench who will do better. So I say leave him out there and let him work it out. He will."

Nail on the head, from the paragraph above we are both now looking at the same player again (and not a different one), the practicalities are the only reason I'd have him on the pitch at the moment (there's a few players who fall into this category). When the new kid, Kean, starts to find the net and maybe a few other players also find the net, Richarlison might feel some (healthy) pressure again.

Jay, I haven't based my observations on Isolated games, it's his performance over many and Sigurdsson is another one who also could do with some competition.

Richarlison is a very talented boy and I'm happy we have him, the 㿔m we paid at the time seemed a bit much to me, but now we have him it was a bit of a bargain. Having said that, he's had lots of game time and just seemed to be off his best for many of those games and I'm not sure playing continually is the solution?

However, he's our top scorer with 13 goals, so I can see why he's played like he is.

We must have found out about his lack of character. According to his Wikipedia biography he's an RS supporter.

Thankfully solid at the back with Seamus putting in a real captain s performance. Can't understand why so many have adopted Siggy as the new scapegoat. The man always gives 100!% looks the most likely player to score and provides more opportunities for others to score than any other player.

It turned into a bit of a Ceilidh, there were a couple of musicians, who played mostly Irish songs, it was enjoyable but a bit loud, a lot of people up dancing. Riverdance has no threats whatsoever to it's continuance, I don't remember too many, or any of the original troupe, falling over!

As previous, I never get carried away either way with the initial performances or results. Experience tells you not to read too much into early season.

1993-94: Howard Kendall at the reigns with a clearly sub-par Everton team. Won the first 3 fixtures (9 from 9); finished 17th if I recall (sorry, couldn't be bothered looking it up, but there or there about).

1984-85: Battered at home on the first day of the season by Tottenham, lost the next one to West Brom 3-2; conceded 7 goals in the first 2 games. Everton finish champions.

Perspective guys, never read too much into early season. Whatever happened to the league table not being published until at least 3 games had been completed? Personally, I don't really look at the league table until Christmas; that's when you really find out where you are in the stakes from my experience.

I left to get my train, which I missed by a matter of seconds, so had to wait nearly an hour for what was presumably the last train to Chester. It was enjoyable, and good to see a few TW'ers again.

After watching Watford V Brighton the previous week I thought it would be a close game which it was - but we won.

When the forward line clicks, and it will with Kean up front, we will be a real handful..

Sigurdson can't actually score the goals for Richie though, so there's that to grumble about, if so inclined. :)

Today he was much better, was always looking to make things happen and, but for some awful heading by an unmarked Richarlison, would have chalked up at least one assist. He also battled well for the ball, held it up and was still giving it 100% keeping possession in injury time to get us over the line.

The bloke is a total professional, technically excellent, has an eye for a pass, has zero quit in him, can score double figure goals from midfield and should have way more assists than he registers if we had consistent finishers in the team. I think Walcott alone missed at least 3 sitters last year when put clean through by our much-maligned No 10.

Honestly, what more do you, Ciaran and Annika (and others) actually want?

Sigurdsson has yet to score a direct free-kick for Everton, his penalty reliability has waned considerably since the 2018 World Cup. He should be demanding the ball, prompting, probing. Perhaps his style, he plays in moments, hampers the way we play?

I want my No 10 front and centre, involved incessantly, especially at home. Is Sigurdsson doing that?

Silva is building his team and with the new guys chomping at the bit Gylfi may find it difficult to be in the starting eleven down the line.