A game neither side proved capable of winning

Terribly disjointed performances all over the pitch, only Pickford and Holgate looked anything like decent.

Our midfield is absolutely invisible, nothing ever comes through the centre of the pitch, waif like characters in Davies and Delph that are so one paced and clueless it's embarrassing on their part watching them sometimes.

Walcott is a nothing player now, which is sad.

What the hell happened to the Theo Walcott that first arrived at Everton, he was really positive running with the ball, pacy, direct, I remember his debut against Leicester and I thought we had a hell of a player.

Bernard started his Everton career positively but he's just never really given the impression he's going to be anything other than just ok, I can't overlook his lack of goals, it's a major bugbear for me.

I worry about us in midfield I really do, even the return of Andre Gomes, he's great on his day but there were too many games he strolled through casually also, he was anonymous for the early part of the season and certain fans were quite critical of him.

Gbamin I've no idea what to expect but didn't someone come out who knew him from his previous club and said eventually he'll move to centre half?

So that doesn't bode too positively for a dominant athletic box to box midfielder.

I feel we must must must look at solving this area of the pitch sooner rather than later.

Pickford (JP) had a mixed game, but was probably our second best player and saved us the point.

The defense were poor trying to get the ball forward,
I recall Mason driving forward three times in the game, two good passes, one over hit to the irons. One of the other passed went straight back to Digne to JP, the other Delph got bullied off the ball.
Otherwise he had a good game, I didn't see 'brilliance' y'day, and at times he was back to ball watching. However, I agree he was our best 2Half player (Gibson 1Half)

Yerry needs to move forward to pass, I have no idea why an International defender hops from his left to right foot whilst shouting, and then plays underweight, misdirected passes either laterally, or more usually back to JP?

Coleman was workmanlike, and I don't remember a serious problem down our right.

Digne tries, but has some sort of problem (attitude? niggle? lack of trust in the MF?) I think I'd prefer to see Baines start against NUFC, but I think we'll see Luca start again. I thought he generally had a good'ish game, but noticeably tired as the game went on.

As above(#1) the Midfield are our embarrassment;

Walcott, all pace, no end product. Doesn't close down, only tracks back when he loses the ball, and doesn't have the footballing top 2" unfortunately. He is a decent 'reactive' player, but we and Carletto don't want or need that sort of player in a system.

Tom, well, he has an 80 min engine; a faulty radar (Hit or miss, mostly miss y'day), he is either gung-ho in the tackle, or backs off until he is at our defensive line. I keep thinking if I was Spurs, Wolves or Sheffield United, would I be looking to buy him? Answers are an opinion, just like mine, but I'd say no, and those teams are our rivals for 6th.

Delph, had a horrible start, and first half, including giving away the foul that led to the goal (Needlessly!), yet in the second half, he dropped deep between Mina and Holgate, gave them confidence and brought the ball out well. Probably the best I've seen him play for us since Silva left.

Bernardo, seemed to be trying to hard. Probably on a high from the BHAFC game, and the praise from Carletto. However, he was profligate in possession, and offered no threats, other than two ultimately threat-less lay-offs for overlaps to Digne (Two good crosses, just cut out by the Irons) Rightly pulled at HT.

Kean, well he has potential, but yesterday, he had absolutely no chance of scoring, was assigned the wrong man, and didn't scream for help for their goal, NB actually Tom 'I'm a short ar$e too' did try to help... He made two (three?) good runs ahead of DCL and Walcott, but wasn't passed too (see below) and he was very poor with his control and passing. Needs confidence, minutes and goals!

DCL, worked hard, scored, could have had a brace, dutifully bollocked Theo for being Theo. Yet his link play was poor yesterday, probably missing his buddy, Richi, he had Kean on good runs twice, but he was so slow to decide he lost the ball, and the other time he passed to Theo..? In general either he wasn't getting the shouts, or he dithered too long on the ball.

Subs, Gibson, best midfielder for us in the second half, and definitely has the attitude and ability. Needs minutes and careful nurturing now.
Sidibe was Sidibe, made errors and did a couple of good things. Niasse collected his 㿣K, gave two fouls away, lost us possession three times other than that, and cheered up the Hammers fans...

Carletto, in my opinion, as I typed in the Live forum, made the right decisions.
Bernardo was ineffective and was being bullied by the bigger Hammers MF, plus he was being bypassed by angled or high balls.
Theo, didn't impress at all and made it as far as I 'predicted'.
Kean, he tried, but he doesn't fit our 'team' just yet, maybe when Carletto installs a system, he'll start to blossom.
He probably started the best team he could, but as Jim@1 said, we just don't have the personnel available just now!

General observations;

We still run out of steam at the 75-80 minute mark. This needs fixing ASAP.

Playing out of the back seems to be slowly improving especially when Holgate and Mina actually bring the ball out.

Too slow movement all over the pitch, does anyone actually know how to 'run' into space, or what space looks like?

Far, far too much lateral movement and passing, the goals are North-South, not East-West.

Lack of striking teeth if either Richi, as y'day, or DCL are out. Time to give Simms a bench spot I think.

The MF options till Iwobi, Gomes and/or GBamin come back, or even Beni come back; could/would/should lead to more minutes for Gordon and maybe Adeniron?

Please JP, when you can please, please, please throw the ball to a player, or at least give it to a defender... Ours of course!

Lastly, how can 'PL level' PROFESSIONAL footballers, not be able to pass and control a pass upto the 20m range? Our basic skills in the main were embarrassing yesterday. Rightly noted and mocked. On this display we're not the School of Science, its more like Nursery School, and baby steps...!

Roll on Tuesday and an injury ravaged team of Magpies.

Anyhow, my final thought, for an injury depleted team, one point is better than none. As above, I feel it is two points lost...

I suppose this only adds to our frustration, as this could have been the season that we actually challenged for a Champions league spot. Koeman and Walsh really did a number on Moshiri, to have spent so heavily on such mediocre players is embarrassing. I wont list the high earn failures we all know who they are, and how much that will hamper Ancelotti and his ability to bring in quality players given FFP rules. I am sure that Ancelotti is now well aware of what may be needed but he has yet to see Gomes and Gbamin or Kenny. Lets hope now we have a world class manager the manager merry go round will stop and we will allow Ancelotti the time it will take to rebuild this club. Just a pity Moshiri didnt appoint a world class manager before allowing the previous incumbents to spend £450 million.

I know the last thing Evertonians want to hear is the manager needs patience as thats all we have been told since Martinez replaced Moyes. But if we are ever to produce a team to challenge at the top end then it will take Ancelotti a couple of transfer windows at least. But unlike his predecessors I feel confident he will get it right given time.

Seamus is struggling offensively, Walcott struggles to be positive or brave, and DCL, seemed to be the only forward on the pitch who possessed any energy.

Mentally fragile, a braver team would have went on to win yesterday's game, but we never lost, and this seems to be about where we are at right now.

A positive midfielder could do so much to improve us, and I'm hoping that once we have played Newcastle, we can go and get in one or two players, that could push us up the table, but if we don't, then I can't see much more than a mid-table finish, in what seems to be a “strong and physical“ but mediocre league.

My apologies, Bernard of course, and indeed Gordon not Gibson.

I did get Gordon correct later, but Bernard, I apologise and make a bow of an apology.

Too much work and maybe a drop of wine or two, might have just got to me. Plus some long term thinking.

Mind you, Mike, if we'd got the second, I'd like to have seen Gibson get some time at the back.

Also, he is such a gifted and important player, especially with Gomes injured, I would like to see Bernard fit to play a full 90 mins. I don't know why he fades and looks fatigued after 70 mins. If he was butcher's dog fit he would be a major asset for the latter part of matches when defences are tiring. I want more from the little feller, he can give more, Carlo needs to work on him.

Regards trying to get a 'Hollywood', or World Class Manager. Here is a 7-minute video regards Moshiri trying to get Carletto. In case anyone still thinks that Brands wanted Carletto, before Moshiri said he wanted him, have a watch.

It must be as obvious to him, too, that the real problem lies in the lack of options in midfield. Hopefully, this will be, at least, partially remedied by the end of the transfer window.

I hope for a few changes v Newcastle, not least Baines for the way-off-the-pace Digne...

Important players were injured, so I see a draw as positive. A little more clinical and it would have been 3 points. Have patience, people, and stop slagging them off. No business in January, assess the squad and invest in the close season.

Theo and Siggy can leave and these two would be massive upgrades on them. The other thing is they rarely have bad games, somethibg Theo and Siggy too often do. I know there's no chance in January but come the summer I would have a real go at recruiting them both.

As for yesterday, it was good we got a point as, before Carlo arrived, that would have been a defeat. We need a couple of loans to come in to give us some fresh legs as some players are finding it harder to complete 90 minutes.

It's difficult to understand why Man City and Leicester City appear knackered in January (us too), whilst others appear unaffected by the heavy workload of the past 6 weeks. Sometimes it makes you wonder.

Grealish, on the other hand, will certainly be up for sale if Villa get relegated, but we will have to compete with Man Utd's deeper pockets.

We need to find guys like Traore, Maddison and Grealish while they're still in the Championship and relatively unknown, not after they've already proven themselves in the Premier League. Young guys like Bowen of Hull City, Eliason at Bristol, Watkins at Brentford, players of quality whose clubs won't be promoted to the Premier League but will want to move up themselves. Those hungry young players who can genuinely impact our club at a reasonable price. Finding them was one thing Moyes was pretty good at.

The Traore ship has sailed.

We have paid a lot of money for players who had no great market value. You really need to question the advice that has been taken.