A Truly Evertonian Act of Self-Sabotage

(1) Tom Davies' weak attempt at a header as the ball was floated into the penalty box. He was never a good header of the ball anyway. This prevented Mason Holgate from an attempt and the ball landed on Newcastle's feet.

(2) Pickford's poor positioning when he actually behind the line as the shot was taken. If he was in front of the line, it would have been a routine block.

Davies while energetic is too light weight to be a CM in the Premier League. He needs to bulk up considerably and maybe lose that ponytail if wants to avoid being shoved off the ball by more muscular players easily.

Let me know if you agree or disagree.

Pickford worries me and unless he eradicates these stupid moments from his performances he may well go the way of Joe Hart. He was most probably forming his put down of the barcodes for his after match tweet instead of concentrating on the job in hand. They'll be cheering his name up and down the Tyne tonight as Bill Maclaren used to say.

I have stated before that the fitness of a lot of the players is not up to competing for 90 minutes plus in the EPL maybe we should take the waters at Mordor. They seem to run for ever and ever.

2 bloody 2 !!? WTF!! I haven't bothered watching the bit I missed. I don't want to know how we screwed up this time. I haven't read any of the threads or watched the highlights.

This is getting old.

Unbelievable. We should have been out of sight by the closing stages of this game.
Look, I know this was a ridiculous end to the game but there were many positive moments, too. Kean played a great game and scored a well-deserved goal. The work rate of the team was excellent and there were many coordinated team moves. Bernard had a stormer of a game and I agree with Paul picking him MotM.

I question the timing of their second as it was at about 94.75 minutes when there was supposed to have been only 4 minutes of time added.

That's because we have players that have no bottle, never learn from previous mistakes and can't manage a game.

A bunch of kids wouldn't have thrown that away last night.

Pickford needs replacing in summer, too short, too erratic, too weak on too many key moments, think Tim Howard in his last season, flapping around behind his line, simply needs replacing with someone else now, I can't be having him anymore.

Our subs were defensive minded, it almost cost us against Brighton, it DID cost us last night, you reap what you sow.

Can we stop saying Tom Davies is a good player.

He has not improved one bit since his debut four years ago and his lack of speed, lack of strength, lack of intelligence is alarming, he would not get into any team in the top 7, he is NOT good enough now let's face it.

Lucas Digne needs bouncing for a few weeks and Baines needs to come in, I've felt this way for a while now.

Pig sick with that result last night, it's arguably worse than that pathetic Merseyside derby loss a few weeks ago.

Credit to Newcastle, they were shocking but can anyone here imagine us going for the equaliser with that much velocity instantly? (Think back to our meek surrender at Anfield again)

Finally, Fabian Delph.

Experienced, self proclaimed mouthy leader, can I just ask why you straight away twat the ball into a 50/50 area from the restart rather than just pass the ball back and hold possession for the final 20 or so seconds?

This guy is meant to be a calming influence right?

Utter gobshite.

I feel the same way now about Pickford as I did in Howard's last season here, or when we had the likes of Richard Wright, Steve Simonsen ect ect.

Having seen goalkeepers like Neville Southall and Nigel Martyn I know a quality goalkeeper and I can't be having Pickford and his pathetic jumpy “One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest” antics again next season.

The fella either has some undiagnosed mental issue going on or he's just an absolute tool.

I'm not arsed about the shots he saves, a goalkeeper will always save some shots even the worst ones out there.

It's about decision making and the major key moments late in games like last night, several Anfield derbies in the last few years, and many more with Pickford in the last 18 months that have convinced me that we need a different goalkeeper.

I just can't be having him anymore, I can't have his attitude, his pissing about (the amount of times he kicks the ball out of play dicking about) and his off field antics for a guy that's not absolutely spot on when he plays also rankles me.

Regressed badly since that World Cup in Russia and needs replacing.

There's certain players that can't be here next season if we are to see any improvements on this pathetic waste of a campaign, Mr England is one of them.

Nah, we can't blame this one on timekeeping. When the stadium announcer says "the fourth official has indicated that there will be a minimum of X minutes of added time", the word "minimum" is there for a reason.

No need for analysis, rhyme or reason. We are crap. Please feel free to lambast me... if I'm wrong.

He needs to be ruthless with certain players now and say to them that they are no longer safe in the team.

Too many flakes in our team, whether Ancelotti, Silva, Martinez or Moyes are in charge of them, nothing will change next season.

Serious not sentimental decisions need making this summer to avoid yet another shipwreck of a season that is once again all but dead in January.

Why can't we defend set-pieces still either? It's over 10 years since Moyes left and, in all that time, we have mostly gone backwards in this area. How can that happen? Do they not practice and drill these things in training? I know zonal marking is at play but at least if they drilled it and drilled it, they would be good at it.

Until we can defend set-pieces, we will carry on chucking points away and not winning games. Why hasn't any manager since Moyes left got their head around it? It's all too easy when you play for Everton right now, I think... someone needs to shake them all up a bit and get them going.

At 2-1 last night we needed someone barking “What the fuck are we doing here, calm it down and hold the ball”.

We got nothing, no leadership and nobody with a footballing brain or savvy to see that game out.

We can't blame luck because this type of thing seems to always happen at this club, there's a reason for that, it's called unprofessionally trained players with a weak mentality (something you can't coach).

Ancelotti has his work cut out, any hopes that he could turn it around with the players he has, has now been totally put to bed.

Even the missing players wouldn't make a difference on nights like last night.

That was just bad old Everton at its very very worst yet again, two weeks after the appalling derby debacle.

We need a whole new wardrobe in summer otherwise just expect more of the same.

I'll take the positives from this one because 2 minutes of madness shouldn't detract from 91 and a half of good work.

I've been one of the ones defending Davies - however he'll never get a better opportunity to stake his claim for a place in the team than now, and he's not doing it. He won't get a look in when Gbamin and Gomes are back (neither should Delph or Schneiderlin).

I think one of the biggest grumbling when it comes to Davies is when he gets singled out for criticism when others who are equally as bad don't. You haven't done this, your post is balanced and doesn't just focus on the one player.

There are still many posters who will single him out but not mention Delph, or posters who are itching for Holgate to make a mistake so he can be re-labelled “championship at best”, or for Calvert-Lewin to go on a 3 match spell where he doesn't score so he can go back to being a “1 in 7” striker.

Of course, we can't forget the last 2 minutes and that will cloud any sensible judgment. I don't know how you can go from being so comfortable to literally shitting themselves in the blink of an eye. You're right Robert@22, they need someone to say "everyone, calm the fuck down and play". It should be the senior players, Delph surely should know better with his experience at City as should Pickford.

We didn't win a football match that after 93 minutes we were winning 2-0.

We played well for an hour but to be honest we got what we deserved in that last 25 minutes for getting over confident pissing about with the ball too much, and got sloppy to the point of throwing the game away, I'm not sure where positives are?

Build on it in what way?

If any think we have the mental strength to go and win at Watford (a team much improved under Pearson) and fighting for their lives, then people really don't know Everton.

I take no consolation from being unbeaten, it's wins that get you up the table not draws, that draw last night cost us 4 places.

Put simply Everton are just not clever enough to win football matches that they should.

Davies was poor when he came on but a bit much to blame him for the loss. He was stuck on the left again, despite looking poor there in the past and was a late sub. Great manager he is but poor game management from Ancelotti cost us. Took off all our out balls, save for DCL (Niasse doesn't count), flat back 5, invited them on and sat deep, when Pickford cannot command line he box. Should have kept playing like we did for the first 70 with changes like for like, because they couldn't lay a glove on us.

Why are people obsessed with Davies's hair btw? Sound like a bunch of old grumps moaning about long-haired kids in the '70s!

The lad is clearly premier league calibre, when playing in the correct position. Some of our fans like nothing better than putting the boot into our young players. Within the past couple months both Holgate and DCL have been derided as being "Championship standard, at best". People do not learn.

I have no issue with Carlo's comments (that it's just basically one of those things) in public, or even in private. His job is to keep confidence high and get those players playing to the best of their ability. This then needs Carlo to assess why this keeps happening to our players and to fix it. Whether that's why a sports psychologist or simply buying a couple of players with mental fortitude. It will probably have to wait until the summer either way.

We needed a bit of common sense, a cool head and some decent game management in injury time. Instead we had Niasse, Davies, Digne, Pickford, and Delph doing their Keystone Cops routine.

1 Niasse breaking forward before the 1st goal, why didn't he just head for the corner flag with the ball under control, force a foul, a throw or a corner, or waste time so we can regain composure like any other team would do in any of the leagues? The lad cannot control a football, full stop, who scouted him? Has that scout got a swiss bank account?

2 Davies and Digne, why not just clear the ball away from the danger zone, stop faffing.

2nd goal

3 Delph's panic attack clearance giving possession straight back to Newcastle from the kick off with 45 seconds left then compounded by Tom Davies giving a clumsy free kick away and failing to win or challenge properly the defensive header.

DCL Bernard Kean Holgate brilliant at times last night, the best football I have watched from us for ages. Those lads didn't deserve the mental lapses that caused this aberration of a result.

Everton never seem to learn from mistakes made.

James, I always looked out for Matteo Ferrari. I'm amazed he played so few games for us, I honestly thought it was a lot more. I remember him looking a very promising player and then he got injured and we let him leave when the loan expired. I expected him to come good elsewhere and come back and haunt us.

I suppose it's similar in that regard to Manuel Fernandes, who we all thought was going to be a superstar. After his loan expired, and even on a second loan spell, he just drifted into nothingness before emerging from the wilderness for a swansong for Portugal in the last world cup.

If you don't score by 60 mins they get stronger and more resilient but if you do they look a poor team because they have to come out and play which exposes them.

For 70 mins Carlo did everything right and if there is one team in the league you want to be 2-0 up against its Newcastle. The only way we could have self destructed was to invite them into a long ball game into our penalty box. They had actually given up when the manager began his rotations.

The substitution of Niasse was totally unnecessary, and I'm sure I saw Ancelotti turn his back on the pitch when Niasse fell over his own feet when he made that run forward. I'm convinced Niasse has now played his last game for us, as I can't see Ancelotti ever picking him again. I've always said that no premier league player is shite, they are just not good enough to reach the required standard for the premier league, but in the case of Oumar, I'll make an exception, and say he is shite. I honestly don't think he is good enough for the championship or even league one.

The thing that infuriated me most was when he came on, he's there walking about, barely breaking into a jog, and Delph had to almost push him out the way to close down a defender that Niasse should have closed down.

Surely, Niasse was brought on to race about at sprinting speed for 10 minutes and not give the players a moment's rest. He does this brilliantly in the past. He got half his goals from doing that and robbing players. If I had Niasse's pace, I would fancied my chances of robbing their defenders of the ball, scoring and giving Carlo Ancelotti a reminder that I'm still here and worthy of a contract next season. Surely, the lad realises that he's out of work from July? Surely he can muster some determination to alter that? Obviously not, because he did not want to drop down to help Leeds up. Imagine if he had done that, done it well, then he could be back in the Premier League with Leeds next season? I really do not understand the lad at all. He's 30 now, and this is probably his last ever game in the top flight of a big 5 European League.

I really pray this team doesnt get sucked into a relegation fight as they lack the fighting quality needed to get out of trouble.

For over 70 minutes we played some of the best football of the season admittedly against a very poor Newcastle side, who gave us time and space to play something we are not used too. I thought what a perfect game to that point, Kean had finally opened his account and another clinical finish from DCL. I thought Delph had by far his best game and Holgate was imperious at the back, and amazingly Schneiderlin had a good game. The back 4 looked very comfortable and our midfield were running the game.
Bernard did a lot of good stuff but also mixed it with losing the ball on many occasions. First to be subbed was Kean, yes he had put a shift in and was tiring, but its a worry that a young fit 19 year old cant see out the 90 minutes. But when we sent on Coleman to replace him it sends a message, to Everton the message was we have won the game just keep possession and see it out. and Newcastle think lets throw a few forward as we are getting battered anyway. I didnt understand the Davies substitution for Bernard as it was another threat to Newcastle taken off, and with the best will in the world trying to play Davies on the left as a holding midfield player is asking for trouble. H e is not in the best of form and his mistakes indirectly lead to the goals. Then the final substitution of bringing Niasse on was a complete no brainer, 4 managers have rejected him even matinez who bought him didnt fancy him in the end. I have seen camels with more control of a football than Niasse. But what I cant understand is he quite rightly brought on Gordon against West Ham and Ancelotti said he didnt look out of place, so why not use him to replace Walcott and you could argue he should have come on when Bernard was taken off.

Finally my pet hate, I am sitting in the Upper Bullens with 5 minutes to go and half the Park End is empty, now I know people have to get home but is that 5 minutes going to make all that difference. Why pay to go to the game and not see it all through, I mean you don't go to the pictures or the theatre and see people pouring out with 5 minutes left. I think Warnock a season or to back criticised his supporters for leaving early. Also can we put this myth to bed how great the Newcastle fans are, they only took up the bottom half
of the Lower Bullens and none in the Upper Bullens, top supporters my arse.

Rant over.

For me, we need to get rid of Pickford before people realise how shocking he actually is and we can still get our money back.

Get rid of him, this month if we can. Got to be better out there and cheaper.

The cat at the other end for the barcodes was impressive and far better than the windbag in out net.

So if this was his thinking, that he had a chance to get games for Everton, then surely he saw it as trying to prove himself to Carlo to get more games or even a new contract, or to potential suitors that he's worthy of a move.

But this thinking only makes sense if he came on revved up and full of aggression and determination and played at full throttle. Yet, like Davies, he came on looking bewildered and like he couldn't really be arsed.

So for me, if Richarlison is fit, then Niasse does not make the bench, if he or anyone else gets injured, then you go with Simms. If Carlo doesn't think Simms is ready, then Walcott should be considered the other attacking option.

All of the Premier League goalkeepers are good shot stoppers, the best however have a calming presence and influence which this guy clearly does not possess.

Please get rid.

The last 15 minutes we should have simply controlled the ball, kept possession, but for some unfathomable reason, we gave the ball to Newcastle and asked them to attack us.

I hold out hope for Davies, but yesterday he was very, very poor. And I do believe that the introduction of Niasse was a kind of 'this is what I've got to work with' message to the board. But both backfired badly. Niasse is beyond woeful.

If we had brought on Gordon, I think we would have won simply because it would have been more positive of a move. Ancelotti got his subs badly wrong.

But none of that is an excuse. We lost 2 points due to mental fragility.

Hopefully we'll learn. On the plus side, Kean looked a player finally and that goal could change the path of his Everton career.

And DCL scored a great goal, and that is becoming a regular feature of his game now. Well on the road to getting 15-20 for the season.

Digne finally looked a better player too.

Bloody infuriating

Carlo now knows a few things;

A mid table team in England cannot defend the basics like a mid table team in Italy. It is not a natural quality and not trained through the academy system.

The squad depth does not allow "out balls" from the substitutes to allow the team to sit deep ands absorb. Keep your best players on the pitch.

Momentum is king. if it's working don't change, if its not working, change it

Today's game is always 95 minutes long.

The Premier league is the world's hardest. Not the best but the hardest. Nobody ever gives up, nobody is completely useless or hopeless, nobody can be underestimated. Everyone can beat everyone.

Back to Kean, it's up to us to show him we haven't forgotten his contribution to this game and to continue the encouragement to grow his confidence. There is no doubt he is raw and the pace of the league has passed him by but by jingo, he is strong, powerful, full of heart, willing to chase and force his way through. Plus, he's certainly got a strike on him!

Keep going lad.

As for Niasse - well, he really is a joker. Completely useless.

Ancelotti can only use the dearth of talent he has at his disposal. Last night he had us playing really well, but then a few brain farts cost us.

"...this maddening collection of players" as Lyndon wrote, sums it up perfectly.

The responses to the article were for the most part understandable given the disappointment and frustration of losing. We all handle these significant challenges in different ways. Usually one response is sufficient to express concerns.

However there are some loyal Evertonians who always assume the responsibility for answering to many of the posters instead of focusing on the very well written article which is open for debate.
After the debacle which we witnessed I must say I am not in the least interested in the hirsute adornments of previous Italians who have played for us. Why is it necessary to constantly respond so often.

Without mentioning any names please give me a break or sit down and write a book. And please don't tell me that I am just envious of said persons constant responses. Agreed many accurate findings and worthwhile information along with drivel about hair and other tripe

Positives, as other hAve said, Kean and DCL up front and Bernard in a roving role behind them. I wouldn't bother with Siggy when he's fit again. Bench him and keep Bernard in that position. Also some delightful joined up passing at times that we haven't seen since the arteta/Pienaar/baines era. One of kean's little dummies was wonderful as were some of his, DCLs and Bernard's little flicks and backheels.

Everything overshadowed by injury time sadly

What he didn't know was the verb-noun collocation 'to do an Everton'. But he'll pick it up over time.

Against Brighton, his subs did forfeit territory and allowed the visitors to get a foothold for the final 15-20 minutes in a game we had dominated until then.

That was not the case with his subs last night. I did not feel the growing nervousness I most certainly did (and expressed) in the Brighton game following his subs.

71 mins - a tiring Kean, who is always subbed in or out since joining Everton, is replaced by Coleman. No radical change to the formation. Coleman slips in at right back. Sidibe moves forward to his more comfortable position. Walcott - who had his best game of the season - moves inside and alongside Dom. We continue to absolutely batter them.

73 mins - lovely interplay between Theo and Dom creates a chance for Bernard. Only a full-stretched save prevents a goal.

74 mins - from the resulting Digne corner, the ball arrives on the opposite flank where Theo does superbly to beat his man in a tight situation and crosses for Mina. He should score. He heads badly wide.

75 mins - another flowing movement through midfield. Dom feeds Sidibe wide right. Sidibe returns the ball to Dom centre of the penalty area. A clean 1st time hit rebounds off the post, onto the keeper's back and out for a corner.

76 mins - from THAT corner, the ball comes out to Digne a 2nd time and with Holgate challenging, a Newky defender almost scores an OG.

77 mins - from THAT corner, the ball gets recycled to the edge of the penalty area. Schneiderlin makes a clever chest pass and Holgate fires off a clean 1st time shot the keeper has to save.

So in the 6 minutes following the 'defensive' subbing out of Kean as some describe it, we created five very good chances, all of which could have gone in.

78 mins - Bruce is so desperate, he subs out his centre forward Joelinton for a centre back, Schar.

Things calm down.

83 mins - Davies replaces Bernard, another who never completes a full 90 minutes under any manager during his time at Everton.

Newcastle seeing a little more of the ball, but really not getting into our penalty area.

88 mins - Niasse for Walcott. Again, Theo is another player who regularly gets subbed out. Not my choice of substitution. Niasse clearly has no present, never mind future, at Everton. Give Gordon the minutes.

Was this one of those subs in which a manager takes off a player who has played well a couple of minutes before the end so he can milk the deserved applause for his performance? Was it intended as a final Goodison farewell appearance by Niasse?

Who knows? But these things do happen.

On 90 minutes, we win a free kick in an ideal position for Digne to have a right go. He blazes it over the bar.

90 mins +3 - Davies and Digne dick about tight and deep in our corner of the field. No need. Launch it down the line to allow the defence to regroup. This eventually leads to an unnecessary corner.

Pickford's punched clearance doesn't get enough distance. Coleman is yards off the man who fires the ball back into the six yard box and in the resulting ping-pong confusion, Lejeune gets lucky with an overhead kick that 99 times out of 100 he wouldn't connect with as he does.

Annoying to lose the clean sheet so deep into the game, but...no problem! We have possession of the ball from the re-start. A simple matter of retaining the ball and running the clock down for the final 40 seconds the ref told the players that remained.

We brought in Fabian Delph (who otherwise had a fine game) as a wise old head to help give more experience to a young team.

So what was wise or experienced in his meek surrender of the ball to Newcastle allowing them to launch one final assault? Keep rolling the ball back to Pickford. Or, if you are going to lump it forward, at least find touch as deep into their territory as possible to eat up more time. Delph does neither.

A cheap free kick is then coughed up by Tom Davies, but still 50 yards from goal. They even initially play it short as no Everton player is within 30 yards of them, as we retreated too deep into our own area.

Again, it pinballs all over the place before being thumped home.

Pickford being behind the line looks bad, but watching it again you can see how and why he ends up there. This is not to excuse him or exempt him, but initially he is correctly covering his near post when the first thunderous shot rebounds back into the area off the post.

Both our centre backs are off the pitch and on their backsides having slid in to block that attempt. This effectively leaves a Newky player free to shoot on goal. Coleman and Digne are not in position to influence play, Coleman because he rushed forward too late when they played the short free kick in the centre circle. Dom, Delph and Schneiderlin are the three deepest lying players who attempt to clear the ball.

Following the shot off the post, in covering that Pickford clatters the post and is almost on his knees. He recovers and reacts anticipating the follow up shot which never gets to him because it hits players in front of him. Unfortunately, off balance, he ends up behind his line which makes it look bad when the scoring shot is made.

This all happened in nano-seconds. Not great. But possibly not as bleak and forlorn by Pickford as some paint it.

So, yep! As annoying as hell to drop two points so late in the game and fall from 8th to 12th and being just two points off 5th and 6th placed United and Wolves.

But I won't be jumping on other people's hobby horses and blaming zonal marking, poor subs or dinosaur tactics by a 'yesterday's man' manager.

For me, that was more down to in-game management by the players on the pitch making poor decisions at critical times that had extreme consequences.

Carlo very sensibly is not cursing our luck or blaming the players. He is right to focus on the overwhelming good things that were on display last night, by both the collective and individuals. To focus on the performance, not the result.

Because that performance was as good as, if not the very best, we have played all season.

There was a lot to like about the performance last night, we created lots of chances and dominated for most part. However, no matter how much you dress it up, the last 10 mins or so ruined it. Lyndons quip about Moyes like substitutions would be valid if Moyes defence crumbled like that but his defence actually knew how to defend unlike our pretenders.

Lyndon is quite correct in that any of the players on show should have been able to see the game out, but there is no doubt that the substitutions changed the course of the game. The only one I understood was the change of Kean which was dead on his feet. He even had 5 mins on the wing to try and get his breath back but had to be replaced. Why change Bernard and Walcott? Both were playing well, both looked fine! It completely changed the dynamic of the game. Instead of playing on the front foot we started playing on the back foot, getting deeper and deeper and the last thing we needed was to give the barcodes a sniff of a chance. They'd barely had one all game.

To be fair to Ancelotti hes not the only manager who does this but then again, he knows we have a defence as solid as a wet paper bag when on the back foot. It drives me batty. If you're 3 or 4 goals up then fine but 2 0, as we all know is such a dodgy scoreline as witnesses last night. Stay on the front foot and kill the game off that way, let's face it holding on to what you've got doesn't pay dividends.

We were joking at the game last night that you're never comfortable until we are 3 or 4 up with seconds to go, didn't realise at the time how prophetic those words were. Result being, crushing disappointment yet again and it hurts just as much as any other time.

Digne's free kick sums up the mindset, after he blasted over the bar he just shrugged his shoulders. I have doubts about his attitude during games and personally think Mina is a liability.

As a matter of interest how long did it take you stop-starting-rewinding-replaying-slowing down etc your recording to provide us with that forensic analysis of the last 90 seconds.

Thanks.... Genuinely. Because I've only seen it once - on a low def laptop stream. Still seems surreal.

Really pissed of with that injury time, listening to it on a crackling Radio Merseyside Signal. Make the mistake of looking a replay of it.

Stupid beyond belief.

Easy, they'd have 2 men to KO, one to pass to the other, he then launches into either corner get their players to turn and get DCL and Niasse to hunt the ball down, just to stop them getting the ball out. Even if they do it'll be a punt upfield to the halfway line, and we should see the remaining seconds out.

Yet again a lack of professionalism that's cost us dear. You NEVER see great sides collapse like this; they didn't call it Fergie time for nothing and the RS have taken over their mantle.

Carlo has a task on his hands, perhaps we only need 2 exceptional players, one of them a leader to stop this dumb football. How many points have we lost this season, not by being outplayed, which you can except, but thrown away with brainless football.

Saying that though, we had been playing with 2
strikers from the start of the game. Walcott moved to a central striker when Kean went off. Davies who a lot of supporters were surprised at not being in the starting 11 over Schniederlin replaced Bernard another player getting tired, Walcott started to play more as a left winger until he was replaced by Niassie this is the only sub I thought should not have happened, as for the time left either Baines or Keane should have come in, preferably Baines for the left side.

The last 2-3 mins were a shambles, yes Davies and Digne shouldn't have screwed around and Davies gave a free kick that was a long way from the penalty area. The Everton defense had dealt with corners and free kicks into the area with no problem for the previous 90+min so was it the subs problems that caused the goals, no, the first 1 was Pickfords fault the second was a complete lack of composure by the defense. People came in here after the Brighton game complaining about Ancelotti becoming too defensive with the use of his subs, the game against Newcastle he only made 1 defensive change and tried to keep the same shape as started with what was available on the bench.

It really struck me that the team we were able to field seemed to grasp the simple concept that Ancelotti spoke about before the game about possession not being the goal but being the means to achieve a fast forward moving winning style of football. We got into trouble hilariously when in the last moments when our possession became meaningless. The plot was lost and hopefully the lesson that concentration on the ball has to last until the man with the whistle eventually decides it's time to go home.

There was so much positive to see in that game but it did show up something that I think is both worrying and probably uncoachable. With Jordan Pickford I had thought we had brought in a young keeper who would be great for us for years.

He is a reaction capable of making brilliant athletic saves. He's capable of having brilliant games where he becomes world class. But I don't think I have ever seen a top echelon keeper that flaps around like he does. His almost total lack of command of his 6 yard box is not only ruinous in itself but it infects the players in front of him.

The club has to be quietly thinking about moving him out. He is too nervous. The one thing you can't have is a panicky goalie. What happened to Butland ?

Jay #71. Great post mate, thanks. Feels like I was there! Glad I wasn't.

"Have you ever seen a goalkeeper flap like Pickford?"

Yes I have. His name was Bruce Grobelaar

"He is the common denominator since out fortunes changed for the worse"

Not really. Things went downhill in 1997, he was born in 1994 just before we had a brief upswing

Steven@81, he's not shit. He's 26, which is still relatively young for a keeper. He just needs to sort his head out sometimes and hopefully that will come with age.

Chelsea are sniffing around Nick Pope, I'd really like us to before they make a move.

Newcastle were beaten and we stepped back for a crucial period. We were playing on the break both for Davies's run which led to the free kick botched by Digne and then when Niasse fell over his own feet, much to our hilarity at the time. We were looking to counter-attack on our own ground, 2-0 up and with 10 minutes or so to go.

We know the rest. I don't think it would have happened if we'd stayed fully on the front foot.

When such a bitter, yet unsurprisingly twist happens so late in the very last ‘knockins of a game it's colors everything. In fact you can stuff the point we contrived to deliver in the face of near certain victory, I don't want it. It's tarnished, forever tainted.

The manager does take a good portion of the blame because the substitutes destabilized a serene progress, ultimately he's accountable. The players shoulder the meat of the disaster as they became complacent. How a team who only weeks ago shit themselves at Analfield felt able to be complacent is another conversation entirely.

The substitutions completely trashed our momentum, at 2-0 we still looked more likely and the signs of wastefulness were there in the last 15 minutes. The passing and carelessness from Saturday crept back into our game, we defeated ourselves.

There's too many errors in both goals to go around. But two themes were prevalent. Set pieces and the goalkeeper. We have too few good headers of the ball, and it shows. We lose too many aerials, and if you employ zonal, losing the first one is nearly alway going to yield a chance. These players need to go man to man, the message is simpler and better suits our personnel.

Throw in the goalkeeper, who has for months started to show his mental agility is well below that of his physical traits. His decision making and how he organizes his defense is often panicked and terrifying to watch. He's not for me. I prefer calm, collected and organized. He's not our biggest problem but in the medium term needs to be sold. Actually he's probably over-valued and maybe we'd get decent money for him right now!
Anyhoo, just another chapter in the Everton 101 of how to screw a game up.

I am not sure how the players contract work if they are all like Niasse who had refused to be transferred unless it is a club of his choice, then Everton have dug a hole that is becoming nearly impossible to get out.

The financial picture from the AGM has already shown,that to buy we have to sell a lot of players to get rid of their monthly wages, not necessarily the transfer fees for them. As I said we will have to take a loss as I cant see anyone buying them at the price that Everton will want for them.

I'd have taken 30 points going into Feb after the Norwich/RS games though. No doubt about that.

Better for it to happen last night than in a derby or a cup final. If that had been a derby I swear down I would have jumped 40ft out of my bedroom window.

Knowing my luck I would survive the drop though

Sub 1-Kean off, Coleman on.

This was similar to the second Brighton change. Against Brighton however Sidibe was a nightmare defensively which had just led to our crossbar being rattled.
Against Brighton this was necessary, against Newcastle it was totally pointless as they did absolutely nothing down the left, nada.
"Kean is always subbed" yes because he has been poor but yesterday he was on fire.

This involved 3 more defensive positions on the pitch (rb on, rb to rm, rm to cf) and the shift in mindset. But Bobby Woods has just shown 6 attacking situations, yes because Newcastle had given up, we were in complete control and they had made their 3 subs to no effect.

Sub 2-Bernard off, Davies on.

This was the game changer (only Davies this time not Delph) which caused the seismic shift against Brighton as Bobby himself points out. Note Mr Woods was at pains to show us how many chances we had in the 70-80 minute mark but the Brighton catastrophe had been replicated and you will note Mr Woods exclusions from this point as we lost control of the game. Carlo has been damned by his own henchman despite the smoke and mirrors.

Jay kindly shows in the Don's defence that Mr Silva who got sacked largely because of his game management had the same idea of removing the same player, well it just shows you then.

Sub 3-Niasse for Walcott

We are now under attack with two minutes to go and invited pressure with our negative subs. Carlo has brought about a game where we need to defend well to see it out as we have conceded territory. Does he have the three centre backs on which so worked well in the reverse fixture to cope with the 5 CB's they have on the pitch. No he brings on Oumar Niasse. The rest is history.

But please don't question Carlo it's our eyes that our failing us, do you not know this guy has more bling than Mr T?

You could only introduce the guy in circumstances where you are chasing the game late on. He brings chaos to the scenario and in causing confusion to his team mates and opponents alike he might every now and them score.

I remember Roberto brought him on against West Ham a couple of years ago when we were ahead but down to 10 and we lost 3 - 2 at home.

I cannot believe that the Leeds manager, in the country for 18 months at this stage, could have any interest in the guy as he cannot link up play and at this stage of his career no manager could turn him around.

We won't see much if anything of him again!

I'm doing which every contributor to TW has the right to do, including yourself: express their opinion on all things Evertonian, as they see it through their eyes.

So ta very much, but I view and opine on the game not through your eyes, but my eyes.

I have never, but NEVER, claimed to offer the only possible and definitive word on anything about Everton.

I have never, but NEVER, claimed that my opinion is the only valid and possible one.

The clue is in the phrases I use in my posts when offering my opinion: IMO, 'I believe', 'as I see it', 'for me', etc.

The following is how I sit down and view each and every game of Everton.

I'm one of life's optimists. I genuinely believe we can win each and every game we play. I watch a game with no preconceptions about the manager, the individual players, the team collective, the tactics or the substitutions.

In other words, my starting point is neutral. The previous game(s) and performances are put aside. I judge all the above elements by what unfolds in the ensuing 90+ minutes.

You just have to read the pre-match comments once a starting XI is named, before a ball is even kicked, to see that plenty of TWers are not so generously inclined.

Even now, for example, today there are posters deriding Schneiderlin's performance last night. If they were less blinkered and prejudiced to the player they should be able to acknowledge that, like most of the team last night, he had a fine game and contributed in no small part for a largely very good performance. But they can't.

Why? Because they hot-wired to 'confirmation bias'. Ignoring the things a player may do well that is contrary to their preconceived negative notion of the said player. Inflating or even completely inventing what the said player may do badly.

Nor do I engage in the inverse. I do not slavishly accept and meekly submit to a view that the manager (or any player) can do no wrong or is above criticism.

I consistently demonstrate that in my posts over the weeks and months of a season.

To answer your specific points.

You: "Kean is always subbed" yes because he has been poor but yesterday he was on fire.'

This ignores that a number of match attendees posted he was blowing for tugs and already taking a breather on the wing and that post-match his manager said he was tiring. It was as much about putting fresh lungs and legs on the pitch as it was tactical. Not that this particular substitution dramatically altered or negatively impacted on the formation or the way we were playing at all, as clearly detailed in my previous post.

Comical Conor how you also attempt to dismiss the six scoring attempts in the five minutes immediately after Kean's removal into a negative. And you are factually wrong. As listed in my earlier post, Newcastle had not used up all their subs. After that continued onslaught, Bruce brought on a 3rd centre back for his centre forward.

You: 'Sub 2-Bernard off, Davies on' (with 7 minutes of normal time to play). Was there a seismic shift in the balance of the game in the way you try to portray it? No. Not at all.

As I myself criticised Carlo following the Brighton game, his subs in that game came a lot earlier and each one progressively had us playing more on the back foot with little or no out ball to our forwards.

For the one and only time in the last 15-20 minutes of that game Brighton gained the ascendency and had chances to equalise. Carlo did NOT get a free pass or endorsement from me that day.

That was never the case last night v Newcastle. Other than the shit-fest of the two injury time goals, name me one - just one - occasion when Newcastle threatened a goal or even breached our penalty area following Everton's first two substitutions.

You: 'Sub 3-Niasse for Walcott. We are now under attack with two minutes to go and invited pressure with our negative subs.'

As above, give examples that we were seriously 'under attack' or the penalty area being laid to siege

You contrive to compound that by now advising the inverse that you berate Carlo for doing with his earlier subs: that he should now withdraw a forward and put on a 3rd centre back, even though we weren't under siege AT ALL!

Really poor effort by you Conor. You have much to contribute. This was just childish and churlish.

This is Toffee Web not a "Dear Abby" or "Dear Whoever", advice column. And to quote:
"The more you say the less people remember" George Best.

"

And stop contradicting yourself while your at it.

Yes, Everton did play decent up to that point as they have done in quite a few games since the Analfield defeat on December 4th.
They have only lost one Prem. game in nine since then and that was against City but yesterday felt like a loss and still does.
We all hope that Carlo learned something from this game despite his great experience which will enable the team to see games out with authority from now on.

Your never too old to learn and even Carlo will be aware of the shortcoming displayed by his decisions on the substitutes.

Having said that, there is no way any team should have capitulated to such a poor team as Newcastle even with the eleven who finished the game.

I cant understand all the anti sentiment going on.

Tom Davies has been a regular squad member all season and should reasonably be able to come on and do a job for the last 20 or 30 minutes.

Lucas Digne was our player of the season last year god knows what has happened to him but he was certainly off colour before Ancelotti came.

As another poster said we have a very weak MF and GK when under pressure and panic sets in.

Personally I happen to think Pickford is the culprit. He cant keep his mouth shut and is a bag of nerves at the best of times. Not exactly a recipe for an organised and confident defence.

Davies had a nightmare at the very end, but as Jay Harris says, he's been a regular for us this season and should be counted on to come on for 20 minutes and do a job.

Hindsight is always 20/20. If Kean or Bernard were left on, then lost possession because they were gassed and it led to a goal, people would be going ballistic on here.

The three points were lost because Delph inexplicably conceded possession on the kickoff, then Davies committed a stupid foul, gifting Newcastle literally the only scenario in which they could steal an equalizer (the opportunity to pump a last-ditch long ball into the box and hope for chaos to ensue).

Jay - Before last nights match, trying to defend Ancelottis poor tactics at Mordor and the Etihad

"Ancelotti will not be changing his tactics from playing out from the back. This set of players has demonstrated both under Carlo and previous managers they are capable of playing through a press"

Jay AFTER last nights match - Trying to blame the players for what he claims are Ancelottis tactics

"The turning point was Davies and Digne trying to be too cute playing it out" . . . . "Both had chances to simply wack the ball down the line"..."Their overplaying it resulted in a corner.

Reading a couple of comments on here, I guess I'm not the only one who read Jays posts and had the the words Arse, chasing, up, himself and own, swirling around my head.

"Just like against Chelski a few days earlier The Barcodes got points they didn't deserve but that's football"

You bring up a good point. Could just be that from the 93rd minute on, Newcastle is the best team in the Prem.

We all have our obsessions about particular players and their lack of ability/ fitness/ motivation/ advanced age etc. and in recent times I recall Howard, Hibbert, Osman, Neville, Van der Meyde being the targets of our scorn.

Managers don't escape, either, and In this century almost all the incumbents of the post have attracted incessant criticism although none more so than Moyes, possibly because he was here so long !

So who is your marked man ? I'd bet that after last night even Ancelloti will already have a 'hate club' !

I mentioned last night that I or nobody around me thought anything of any of the subs worth commenting on, usually it's quite vocal about nearly everything!
God knows why but as soon as injury time came up we went crazy. Still can't take what happened in.
We are a laughing stock at times we really are

What we saw for 95% of yesterday was better than anything this season, with a lot to give us promise: Mina, Holgate, DCL, Kean.

There are the green shoots of a style that just may work '4-2-2-2' and will get the best of our best players.

But yes, we royally fucked it up in the last 2 minutes, showing our mental fragility. And I'd say the last 10 minutes we faded, failing to keep the ball - proving what we know, of central midfield is our weak link, and Niasse would struggle even at Conference level.

But, DCL is proving many on here wrong, and Kean gave a brilliant performance. There is hope.

And I really think we can push for European qualification, and hope we don't qualify for the CL (which is a long shot - but all teams below 2nd are inconsistent) because we'd get mullered.

Hopefully we never see Niasse again, Gordon can step up, and G'Bamin can hopefully enter the frame and shore up midfield.

A pity, as always, you have to resort to personal baiting rather than debating football. Hey-ho! Nothing new, then.

To put the quotes you attribute to me into context and to correct your associated comments, I never defended either the team or Ancelotti following the cup exit at Analfield.

At the final whistle I wrote but three words, thus:

THAT. WAS. PATHETIC.

I was left so bereft, so traumatised by what I (and others) regarded as the single worst defeat in Everton's history that I switched off from football and TW for 4-5 days.

As for the loss at the Etihad, I took issue with some posters claiming it should have been 4 or 5 nil to City. The performance was nowhere near that bad and as I pointed out, at 2-1 we were still in the game until the final whistle.

As for this quote:

"Ancelotti will not be changing his tactics from playing out from the back. This set of players has demonstrated both under Carlo and previous managers they are capable of playing through a press"

And...?

What is flawed in that comment?

Even last night, how did we play? And how well did we play out from the back, indeed, throughout the whole team?

You then reveal a paucity and inability to make any meaningful point by attempting to associate my above words to my observation of a pivotal game situation last night (the Davies-Digne to-you-to-me-to-Claude act) as...what, exactly? An example of a contradiction 'twixt my two quoted statements?

If so, that is a really limp-wristed effort, even by your standards Darren.

Anybody who has played or watched football long enough knows full well, even if the overall philosophy is to play out from the back and seek to keep possession, that it does not hold in all, any or every game situation.

Players also know that the two primary objectives in football is to score for your team and to prevent the opposition from scoring.

At the elevated level of PL football, whoever the manager, whatever his imposed philosophy is, there are moments when you don't do the aesthetically pleasing your manager demands of you. You just friggin' welly it! I'm sure Carlo Ancelotti the footballer did just that in his days and that Carlo Ancelotti the manager understands that.

The Davies-Digne-in-the-corner last night was one such scenario.

John Stones, a player you much admire, said this barely 3 weeks after first playing under the football purist that is Pep Guardiola:

“I was doing things before and then afterwards I would think, ‘Why have I done that? Why haven't I just put it in row Z?

“Already I can see a difference in my decision-making. We can all regroup from putting it in row Z sometimes.”

As for your final paragraph, thank you for providing an example of confirmation bias as earlier referenced. I take it you blanked out the posts and posters agreeing with my opinion which far outnumbered the two who, like yourself, don't actually contribute to the football debate in this thread, but instead lean heavily on being snide, sneering and sarcastic to a poster with the temerity to post a different viewpoint than their own on last night's proceedings.

ALWAYS happy to be a source of annoyance to you Darren.

Let's hope when we play next, the players have had a good rest, Carlo has had some double sessions with them, and a midfield warrior has arrived.

And yesterday's finish was as cool and calm as DCL has looked in front of goal. He's definitely improved his ability to be in the right place at the right time. The guy continues to improve and confound many critics. He and Moise are a very physical and powerful looking front 2. Let's hope the partnership develops.

Source of annoyance ? As Del boy Trotter used to say. au contraire my friend, au contraire

You are very rapidly becoming my favorite poster.

Until the team, the captain all agree collectively to do their best for 95 mins, we'd have a chance.

This squad starting with the goal keeper is erratic and always has spontaneous combustion potential whilst playing around and in their 18 yard box.

Sick to the back teeth of school boy mistakes and pathetic excuses.

I'm not sure how we can pull any so called top players, in any transfer window, based on performances like this and the recent farce against the RS.

But some green shoots of hope and no more. Let's hope this summer we have a good clear out and start with fresh vigour, to improve, consistently.

Next up Watford, and that will be a game.

Oumar being put in the shop window needs to stop too - every appearance just decreases our chances of getting someone to take him off our hands. It's not his fault Everton offered him the contract that they did but playing someone that's not up to it and has no future is just compounding the initial mistake of signing him.

Davies not up to it either, remove the homegrown feel-good factor and he doesn't offer enough, the club needs to be more ruthless and demand higher standards

As soon a I saw Davies and Digne messing about in their own corner I got that sinking feeling that I have become so used to since Martinez' last season.

Once again the Blues vindicated the decision I took at that time not to loose sleep watching the game live but rather watch the replay. It is so much better for my mental well being.

I did in fact watch the full game later in the day. If possible it made the outcome even more disappointing because of the performances of most of the players, especially Kean, Bernard, and DCL.

We could end up with a front three of Kean, DCL, and Richarlison in the near future and I think they will be a handful for any defence.

We won't get the full benefit though until we sort our defence out. I don't “hate” any of our players but if it was up to me I would be looking for a new goalie who knows how to command his box, and in doing so inspire confidence in his defenders.

Nigel Martyn used to do that for us, he is the sort we should be looking for.

Carlo has been a world class manager and he's here with us now. I just hope he hasn't lost it. I'm not knocking him or doubting him.
QC ( quietly confident ) was OK for Roy Hudd but I'm not sure if it suits Everton.
Two points lost and it's their own fault. Two points that could have taken us to that mathematical safety when Carlo could have tried some of our younger players to find out what they're like. We won't find out what they've got standing in the reserve trench They need to be in the firing line.
We've too many, young and old that aren't up to it both on the field and off. I know it's only paper talk but all our interests for new signings seem to be from the Italian league. Our scouting team needs to be improved and increased. Other teams seem to be able to recruit players £ 5/6/7 mill. who are competent footballers but us ?
We've wasted millions on managers. Waste more on scouts. They need to be all over Europe not stuffing their faces with pasta. I'm not interested in seeing 11 world class players I want to see Everton field a world class team.
I'm only interested in Everton.

Ancelotti is not responsible for:

Niasse losing control on a good break
Tom Davies and Digne playing silly buggers in the corner.
Pickfords first brain fart flap
Delphs mindless punt back to the opposition after the kick off
Davies petty foul.
Pickfords Mindless panic and positioning for their 2nd.

A catalogue of errors made by premiership players who should be capable of seeing off an abysmal Newcastle team.

These things happen, but as we all know its usually to us. The players have to take the responsibility to see a match out, this one is very much on them.

Down to matters. The first sub at Brighton was a momentum swinger which seemed pre-planned and self destructive. The second and third subs I would be less critical as Carlo was reacting to what was happening down our right side and Potter had made 3 positive subs with the latter involving an ineffective holder replaced by Murray. To my eyes they were necessary reactionary changes brought about by the shift from the poor Bernard substitution.

Newcastle was soul destroying. A great 70 mins, got the early goal, forced them into a game they didn't want to play and continually got in behind them and seemed a matter of how many.

Then Carlo enters stage left. The first sub was ridiculous as we lost our best player, curtailed our threat in behind and allowed their centre halfs to play higher.Coleman wouldn't bomb like Sidibe who wouldnt advance like Walcott. Would Klopp/Guardiola make an unprovoked negative sub like this? This signalled he was happy with 2-0 regardless that the players were enjoying themselves and wanted more and Bruce was making changes just to KEEP it at 2-0.

The second sub was the game changer and he hadn't learnt from Brighton. This effectively killed our efforts for a 3rd goal and totally shifted the balance in play. Despite your attempts to misquote me we were now on the back foot in a game which could have been over and were now in seeing the game out mode.

The third sub was bizarre. I agree we weren't under the Alamo but once again I never said that. Their game plan as always is to stay in the game and pepper us late on but they were so poor they couldn't really do it. I didn't want a defensive game but the manager had brought it on so yes he needed to bring extra height to the defence. How would you have predicted they would score having watched them all season and the subs Bruce introduced? He wanted to see the game out well he should have replaced Digne with Keane.

It's my belief in both games Carlo entered us into an unnecessary game of roulette by repeating the same mistake. Against Brighton we got black, against Newcastle we got red. Even had we won 2-1 Carlo would have just got lucky as they had given up and were rife for the taking. This isn't a hindsight post.

Finally to answer you if subs were totally necessary he should have went like for like but I refute your claims. I know this a bullshit hypothetical but I believe had Carlo been stuck in the bathroom from 70 minutes we would have been celebrating between a 2-0 to 4-0 victory on his return at the final whistle. Unlike Brighton these weren't reactionary subs just incompetent ones.

Not going to rake over AGAIN the subs as you have done. I'll just say that once again, as you have done in all your posts since the final whistle on Tuesday, your focus has been exclusively on berating the manager and not acknowledging the many, MANY encouraging aspects and performances for the overwhelming majority of the game.

Your choice. I align myself with those who take a more balanced look at the entire game.

Describing my original post @ 71 as a 'hatchet job' suggests to me you don't understand the term.

Further, describing my history of posts (presumably on the topic of Carlo Ancelotti) as "passing the buck and...constant over praise and under attribution over the last few months" is not accurate on any level.

Firstly, Carlo has not even had a full month as Everton manager since taking charge of his first game v Burnley on Boxing Day, not 'months' as you describe it.

Secondly, you evidently overlook - even in this very thread - when I have questioned Carlo's tactics and subs.

Evidently my posts, my opinions, how I present them - whatever it is - causes you disquiet.

Why aren't you contesting the numerous other posts and posters saying exactly the same thing as me in their own way?

The rhetoric of your earlier post was that of the school playground. Keep the discussion about the football rather than resort to personal abuse which completely failed to hit, never mind wound, the target.

All it did was demean yourself, Conor.

You say that “ a catalogue of errors made by Premiership players “ and then mention two “ Premiership players “ who were introduced by Ancellotti to detrimental effect. I'm certainly not unhappy with his appointment but I do think that, without the subs, we would have won the game by at least 2-0. I am well aware that the players made the mistakes leading to the goals but they shouldn't have been on the pitch. Niasse? Why? Not even Zingari League standard. Actually, when I still lived in Liverpool Zingari was a good League so I'm doing them a disservice.

With regards to me taking umbrage with that post and others, it's not your views or beliefs (many I agree with and others share) or your positivity (which I admire you for), what I have an issue with is you uniquely embellish things and offer praise for acts with no substance which grates at times yet I haven't commented.

I don't want or expect balance from you and neither should you from me. I will call things as I see them and you are right that I have only held Carlo to account and make no apologies. For 70 minutes I was proud of the manager but I was for once so proud of the players and felt they were ultimately let down by him. I know that's not a popular view considering what they have put us through this season but it's how I felt. I could blame Davies,Delph,Niasse,Pickford, Digne etc for their individual roles but they shouldn't have been in those scenarios in my honest opinion.

You describe my posts as 'a maliciously destructive critique or act which was aimed at the players to exonerate the manager.'

Hyperbolic invention.

By your own admission, you have simply engaged in the reverse side of that coin. So please, allow me (and others) exactly what you grant yourself:

'I will call things as I see them and you are right that I have only held Carlo to account and make no apologies.'

I 'maliciously critique the players?' Historically, I do exactly the contrary, especially the young 'uns. Read posts in this very thread in which I stand up for and defend maligned players. Read my player-by-player assessment @ post 155 in the matchday thread in which I praise them all.

As for you saying:

'what I have an issue with is you uniquely embellish things and offer praise for acts with no substance which grates at times.'

Like Darren, it's flattering that your give such attention and gravitas to my words, but on the point you seem to be taking particular issue with - my belief that it was poor in-game decision making and game management that cost us the win on Tuesday - that opinion is not 'uniquely' held by me.

Again look at this very thread (and others) where many posters - and I mean MANY - are independently, uninfluenced by that nasty, manipulative, malicious Jay Wood in Brazil, echoing the same thoughts as me.

Why aren't you naming and shaming them in the same way you are attempting to 'out' me?

Only Jay Wood 'uniquely embellishes things' on TW?

That's just daft, Conor. You need to look no further than your own posts to torpedo that notion.

So, tough titty if what I honestly opine and believe, based on what I see, hear or research, 'grates' on you. As you evidently do yourself, I will express myself in my way, with my opinion, at any time, on any Everton-related subject I choose.

And I hope and trust every contributor on TW is allowed to do exactly the same.

One of my sons friends has just been round talking about football, hes a Chelsea fan. He was moaning that only Chelsea could chuck away a game like they did against Arsenal the other night. I was amazed as only an hour or so ago I was in discussion with an Arsenal supporter who was going ballistic about how his team had been performing this season and moaning about the Chelsea game. 10 mins later I get a message on watsap from a Man U fan about the odds of Poch becoming their new manager after their defeat at the hands of the mighty Burnley.

Unfortunately my fellow Evertonians every football team in the Premier league are capable of beating every other team in the premier league with one horrible exception.

The epiphany was... We are all the same..mostly...every football fan, no matter who you support thinks we are having the equivalent of the poker gods hurl shit at us every week. Bottom line. unless you are winning every week you will always bitch. Imagine being a barcode - fuck me! when did they ever win anything??? 74 or 5, never won the league, imagine how they feel??
Chins up, we will get there.

Watched Howards Way the other day and the main thing that comes across to me is we had captains all over the pitch. Southall, Ratcliffe, Van Den Howe, Mountfield, Bracewell, Reid, Grey. 7 captains in 1 team!!!

Who is our captain now???

The gift that keeps on giving.

"Gravitas" ? I think most would see it as poking fun, You having your contradictory sycophancy exposed. Nobody contradicts themselves with the same authority and its hilarious.

I'm still laughing at the notion that I hang on to his every word... I must have a million fingers

We all have different opinions on what just happened and who is responsible so lets all have the freedom of expression that ToffeeWeb affords us and a bit less point scoring.

How Vivian the violent punk opens the recording saying Cliff is arriving?

"Look! He's coming through the doors! BRILLIANT! He didn't even open them!"

Reading post 143, I've just had a similar Vivian BRILLIANT! moment.

Without even being present. Without even setting the bait. Without even having a rod, line or hook. Without even thinking of fishing...

"BRILLIANT! The wee tiddler just jumped right into the boat!"

I've just found Nemo.

In order to progress, we ought to put the result to one side for a moment and be sporting and honest enough to applaud in particular, Schneiderlin and Walcott. These two players have the crowd on their backs often before a ball has even been kicked. They answered their critics, myself included, with near faultless performances.
In fact the team overall played very well for 90 minutes. On reflection, it is sad, that fans, like a pack of hungry wolves, have needed to rip scapegoats apart to somehow atone for those final 5 minutes of mayhem. That is not sport, it is a collective 'kick a man when he's down' mob mentality. I'm glad that your post has put a semblance of reality back into the events of the other night.
I am old enough and fortunate enough, to remember the days, when we would scream blue murder at players responsible for making stupid errors, such as the those leading to Newcastle's goals, but when our rage and frustration had died down, in the pub afterwards, we could actually laugh and make jokes about the ridiculousness of those players 'howlers'. Mainly because at some level, however lowly, we had played the game. We all knew, that these things can happen in football, even in the Premier league. That's sport. It's not a computer game. In a way, human error is as much a part of the beauty of the game, as is its finer points.
All over TW Tom Davies has been singled out as the main culprit. Admittedly, in the short time he was on the pitch he made mistakes, but let's be clear, the lad was not alone. This was a collective catalogue of errors. The bottom line is, we should take it on the chin and accept it. That's football. It's just the way it goes sometimes.
My memory lingers for the sporting days of old, when such matters would be passed aside by the start of the next match and the guilty players would be 'roared on' instead of roared at. Passion, yes please, all the time. Constructive criticism, yes of course. Mindless negativity, no thanks.

I went into the Winslow after the game somewhat bemused at what had taken place in the final 4 minutes.

There were guys sitting there speechless. I felt like we had lost.

5 days later I'm still not sure how it happened, however, Ancelotti's assessment gives me hope for the future, but not the immediate future.

Work in progress.