A rubbish game of stop-start and self-destruction

Yeah I assumed he’d start up top. If he can’t get a game now, what chance once DCL, Rondon are back and we have the two new midfielders?

Doucoure hasn't learnt not to tackle with his arms. It's not rugby. Get the silly sausage off the pitch. He could have cost us the match.

No excuses for for poor players. We need better, a high standard and consistency is needed.

Felt like a preseason friendly to be honest, even the atmosphere was flat as a pancake, almost like the majority of the support have given up the ghost.

It's apparent that none of those attacking players out there are ever gonna be the answer in terms of goals.

If we don't sign at least two or three quality attacking players this month then we'll struggle for 30 goals.

New season, same old shite problems.

But none of them are the answer to our lack of goals.

On the basis of that display nobody should be in doubt as to whether Patterson or Mykolenko are good enough and indeed Tarkowski and Mina looked good but it might be interesting to see them against an old fashioned English centre forward.

We really do need a striker rather than three wingers none of whom seem to know how to score. Much work to be done and difficult to see how two defensive midfielders are going to improve that.

None of them are consistent and have end product.

Gray does something good then just looks absolute shite for an hour.

Gordon seems to have developed a rather annoying habit of just running into blind alleys all much John Oster-esq.

McNeil needs game time but his overall career total isn't promising so far to suggest a goalscoring player.

Dele Alli is at a stage where this is probably his last season in football if he hasn't got the hunger for it, I think he'll quit the game.

I'm catching up as been travelling back from holiday today. It sounds like the full backs did well - along with Iwobi in patches. But is the 3 man defence working or is it still looking like a muddle of defenders with too few in midfield?

We need a striker.

I know there was no legislating for DCL's injury, but still very amateur to have no cover or one of our loaned players available - and the money excuse doesn't fly, in view of other signings we've made.

The team spirit and effort looked so much better at least.

Invisible like our attack lol

We weren’t outplayed. Our heads didn’t drop. We desperately need a goal scorer to build on that game but it was night and day compared to the shite served up last season.

Yesterday I was nervous. Tonight I feel a lot mor confident and look forward to our next game.

Maybe I'm unwell, but I kind of enjoyed the game.

The last time I saw these play was in person in Minnesota so my anxiety level was greatly reduced by what was a professional (for the most part) performance against a team that while out-of-sorts have the caliber to be title contenders. I'm a bit perplexed by some of the relegation comments being made on here on the back of that. It's not like we got ripped apart.

Whatever you've had a drink or snort of let's have some lol

I felt more positive yesterday but today just reminded me why we will barely score any goals again.

It was organised against a half bothered Chelsea team, they didn't get out of their comfort zone, didn't need to.

We won't be scoring goals to win many games.

Wait, the Tree (Rondon) is back next week? No?

Gordon ran his socks off, but he wasn't going to be the focal attacker, Gray was Gray, neat feet, no strength and not really a football brain.

The penalty was so Everton, a mistake, Holgate followed the dummy runner, Doucoure panicked when he'd have been better to hope the angle and Pickford would do the job.It wasn't the slaughter of the innocents, but it wasn't really a game in which we deserved to end up with a point.

Mykolenko again was reassuring today, and as Digne had been in poor form for over a year. It was a good decision to let him go to Villa.

Last season we looked a flaccid mix of scared and not bothered. Today we tried to play a football match. A much better base to build on.

No doubt I'll be moaning at some stage of the season but I'm not starting yet.

We need some serious firepower up top ASAP and need to get back to basics... like 4-4-2.

The absence of goal threat is, of course, the main problem. If we don't get at least one serious striker in then we will be in massive trouble. That's obvious.

Broja or whoever must be signed by Tuesday to give us a CF option. Rondon can play 15 minutes in an emergency.

Negatives. Chelsea, for a supposed top 4 side they were shit and there for the taking
Gray wasn’t just poor he was abysmal
Gordon and McNeil very poor.

Positives. Iwobi best player on the pitch, never thought I’d say that!
Tark, Myko and Patterson very good as was Holgate when he came on

One stupid mistake and we come away with nothing

Hopefulky we can get a bit of creativity and another striker in
If we do I doubt this season will be as bad as last

He had a thunderous start to his Everton career but he's showing now why he's never been able to nail down a club.

I'm afraid at this moment I haven't been able to jump on the Gordon bandwagon either.
I see a player that runs lots but I don't particularly see anything at the end of it, I don't see craft or a football brain, I don't see anything more than a John Oster or Dan Gosling at this moment.

We big players up too early.

And Iwobi must be one of the first names on the team sheet now.

Overall, not bad considering the absence of a striker and our midfield lacking options. I'm actually quite encouraged, as long as we get Onana/Gueye and a striker in.

We were poor in the final third but decent everywhere else which is a huge improvement over last term.

I thought we done well. Putting the result aside, that was a decent performance in the context of having no striker on the pitch and playing against a team that will likely finish in the top 3.

I didn't feel threatened aside from when Doucoure had his moment of madness. Until then I was commenting to my brother that it's the best I'd seen him play for a while. The annoying thing is Mina had that covered so it was unnecessary.

Quite a lot of positives to take from that performance though.

We looked organised and disciplined at the back. When you consider how bad we were from set pieces last season and how many corners Chelsea had today, we defended very well and comfortably. I never needed my inhaler.

A bit fluid up front, but we had no out and out striker on the pitch.

I thought Patterson looked solid and given his age, alongside Mykolenko, we have 2 promising young full backs on the books.

I thought McNeil looked a bit off the pace to be honest. But aside from that, I think we played well considering the loss of Calvert-Lewin 3 days ago and the injuries to 2 of our centre backs during the game. On that note, kudos to Holgate who was fantastic in winning that first ball at the first post on most of the corners that Chelsea threw at us. And there were a lot of them.

Considering we played a team that is in the Champions League and could potentially win the league whereas we are looking to finish 6th or 7th, I was happy with that performance. They put the effort in and penalty aside, matched them.

Everton man of the match. I'm torn. I'd probably go for Gordon. But I thought Patterson showed what potential he has and Mykolenko continues to impress. Doucoure until that penalty moment. Tarkowski is our captain in waiting. Yerry, can you just please stay fit.

Final comment on the opposition. Note the player who opened up the play with a splitting pass that led to us being on the back foot that led to the penalty. Koulibaly. I called it 2 or 3 years ago when we had the potential due to the links with Ancelotti. We had a debate on another thread about age of centre backs. It's an area of the pitch where experience and maturity is key. He was quality today in my opinion.

Result aside, I'm okay with today and it sounds like the crowd were too??

Coady next and a back up striker. We're marching.

All opinions, but I don't think he's a wide player, which is generally where we've been using him.

I don't think he's a striker, which is where we played him today.

I think he could end up being a modern number 10 supporting a striker.

- we were competitive against a good side
- Patterson, Iwobi, Doucoure and Tarks
- atmosphere

Negatives
- Grey, Pickford and Mina (whats the point)
- Still playing gordon central
- hitting long balls to gordon (against 3 cbs!)
- Under use of subs
- own mistakes again

All in all, i’m not giving up hope yet, but if we don't sign at least one (ideally two) decent strikers its going to be a squeaky arse season again.

Silva was the best player on the pitch today.

We've been competitive under Lampard at Goodison narrow defeats, narrow victories. The real indication will be our away form starting with Villa away next week.

I really think we should try and get BUPA as our next sponsors though!

I called McNeil as the change before it happened. Not that I'm slating him, he just didn't seem to be having a good game. It could also have been Gray as he was probably the only other player I thought had an off day. The rest performed. That's all we ask of them.

I did enjoy Gordon's Phil Neville movment in around the same area of the pitch in the second half.

That's the spirit Phil. See you at Wembley next year and Europe next season!!!

That said got to agree with Jim 56 Gordon was dreadful tonight and I'm sorry but I just don't know what people see in him.

Ditto Gray keep expecting things to happen when they get on the ball but nothing ever does.

Thought Chelsea weren't much better either to be fair but deffo a pen, and its settled the game.

A fit CL and we'd have got something there tonight or any striker to be honest.

We go again with a couple of tweaks next week

Quality they may be but at Chelsea they are surrounded by quality and pace in abundance and I don’t think you can underestimate how much freedom that gives them to be themselves, and I very much doubt they would have been tempted by us.

So it’s a very hypothetical missed opportunity.

I think Allan is still some way from being fully fit so probably on the bench for extreme emergency use only.

Imagine if that had been Gordon diving, or Richarlison last season. Sterling does this all the time and gets away with it more often than not.

Tarkowski should be given the captaincy immediately to let Pickford concentrate on his goalkeeping job, I don’t think he had a serious shot to save today except the one he cocked up for the offside goal but his kicking was poor and he nearly gave a goal away getting caught near the end losing the ball outside the penalty area with careless play.

The improvement shown today defensively needs to carry on further up the field right into the opposition penalty area.

Wow what a match report!!

Chelsea were never in trouble at Goodison park which would have been 'rocking' if Everton had scored.

I can't believe Everton can wait for the return of Calvert-Lewin in 6 weeks time. At the moment, Everton are in desperate need for 2 goal scorers.

Maybe Everton took a risk on strikers because of the short start to the season, with the intention of signing one or two strikers in January. Defence and midfield being the priority this transfer window.

What other explanations is there for no apparent interest in strikers this transfer window? Everton that.

I honestly think Ian is taking the piss. To be fair he's got previous.

Waiting to see what they say on Match of the Day but not holding out much hope – never a free kick.

I thought we looked much, much better than I actually thought we would. I seriously feared a relegation battle, and I still think we will need to dig deep to avoid one, but based on today I wouldn't see that being the case. I think we'll be fine in the end.

Some observations:

Gray was awful. Can he maybe once use that pace to get down to the goal line and not cut inside? He cuts in every single time! Try going wide just once, son! You don't have to cut in and lose possession or blast it over the bar every time!

The injury to Godfrey was so, so unlucky. Then couple it with perennially injured Mina going off and that's our back three screwed. To have two injuries on opening day is unlucky. When they both occur on your back line you wonder if you kicked God's dog?

All-in-all not terrible. We didn't look hopeless in the least, as we did so often last season. Frank is improving the squad and we need to be patient. Give me Gana and Onana and we're looking up. Tough loss, not negative today though.

I wasn't taking the piss. Credit where it's due.. Holgate was excellent today. Anyone saying the opposite is just being over-critical and moaning for the sake of it.

Thanks, Lyndon.

Disgraceful he wasn't playing for us today and isn't at least on the bench going forward.

Keane could not come on because he was not in the squad. Illness or knock I suppose. Frank made the only possible substitution when Mina went off.

I thought that Doucouré was lucky not to be called for a penalty earlier when he was on Sterling like an octopus before Sterling went down.

Simms's goals were both pretty lucky, a better keeper would have kept both out. I don’t see those going past Mendy. Plus he’s hardly a state secret having played at Hearts and Blackpool.

Assuming Frank is an idiot and can’t spot talent, what about the other 19 Premier League managers and all the teams better than Sunderland?

I definitely think we need two more forward players, although it’s possible that the players who I thought were our two worst players, also really struggled because we never had a focus point.

Gordon and Gray apart (Demarai still put in the cross of the game, but although Anthony leapt high, he wasn’t quite brave enough), I saw loads of organisation, a leader at the back, plenty of effort, but players in good positions, sometimes rushing, instead of being that little bit calmer and more careful with the ball.

The atmosphere was flat? I thought it absolutely brilliant, but I think one of the biggest problems inside Goodison, can sometimes be that a lot of Evertonians are realists, and could see we just never had enough going forward, once Chelsea had got in front.

Mykolenko is looking one hell of a buy, Patterson was decent and Tarkowski looks a natural leader in the defence.

Add Gueye and Onana to that midfield and hopefully a striker and I would forget about the game today, it’s gone, we gave it a shot, now for the reinforcement to come in.

Be a little patient, we looked much better today.

I thought the likes of Patterson, Iwobi, Tarkowski and Mykolenko gave encouraging performances though I was a bit disappointed with Alli.

Obviously we need goals and whether we finish 12th or 17th may depend on who we can get over the line in the next few weeks.

It is not a match report. It is a description of the match in live time by a passionate Blue, and as such it is absolutely real and, in my view, spot on. It is restrained in comparison to the Live Forum.

Lyndon does the considered, reflective stuff allowing a bit of time. Paul does the fan's view and Michael does what he does. It is unique and authentic. I disagree with some of his stuff but the live match reports are excellent.

So it's kick and run with Doucouré and Iwobi playing attack and defence – constantly sprinting between the two.

Hopefully the midfield additions can change that. Then we can focus on what a striker would give us.

Pickford back to shaky antics. Doucoure erratic and ineffective. Mina injury prone again. McNeil, Gray, Gordon and Alli no threat whatsoever.

The plusses?

Solid competent performances from both full-backs. Tarkowski and Holgate are developing an excellent understanding. Iwobi looked comfortable on the ball. He's beginning to look like an important player for us.

The plusses far outweighed the minuses overall and the signs are looking good. We deserved a draw at the very least.

The new signings will improve the midfield immeasurably. If we can also secure another striker and, dare I say it, a keeper to put real pressure on Pickford, then a European place is not that far beyond the realms of possibility.

There are absolutely no goals whatsoever in our midfield. We are lucky if they get 5 goals combined all season!

Doucouré erratic and ineffective? You've got to be kidding. Nobody was more effective today except Iwobi. Doucouré covered more ground than anybody on the pitch, pushed the attack, made good passes (mostly), had our best shot and supported the defense very well.

Frank #93,

You are partially correct. Holgate was more at fault for the penalty than anybody. He had Chilwell tightly marked, then stepped away from him and left him open. Doucouré had to try to cover from a bad angle. (And having watched the replay several times, I think Doucouré challenged legally.) That said, Holgate otherwise had an excellent game, and his mistake cost us one point, not three. We would have gotten a 0-0 at best.

I expect the plan was to have a back three of Godfrey, Coady and Tarkowski, with Holgate as back-up, with Coleman and Mykolenko filling in when needs must. Keane going to West Ham should bring in £20 - 25M, given the length of his contract and the fact he is English. Given the money we are spending on Onana, I expect the centre-forward will be a loan, maybe even 2 loans coming.

We just need to get Gomes and Gbamin out the door, even if it's on loan, to get them off the wage bill. I would love to see the Excel spreadsheet Thelwell is using to make sure he is balancing the books. It must be a nightmare.

Our squad, come the end of the window, may look healthier than it does now – in fact, it has to be. The forwards (plural) that we bring in will decide that.

Pickford, Begovic, Lonergan.

Tarkowski, Coady, Godfrey, Holgate, Coleman, Patterson, Mina, Vinagre, Mykolenko, Nkounkou, Keane (he may have to stay given Godfrey's injury).

Allan, Davies, Onana, Gueye, Doucouré, McNeil, Mills, Alli, Warrington, Iwobi, Gordon, Gray, Townsend

Calvert-Lewin, Rondon, AN Other, AN Other (hopefully Broja will be one of them).

[As an aside, given Broadhead played 27 games for Sunderland last season and scored 13 goals, why are we sending him out on loan? If he's not up to Premier League standard – he is 24 – sell him and bring in some cash!]

The big conundrum is whether we allow Dele Alli to reach 20 games. If he does, that means we will have to pay Spurs £10M immediately. Can we afford to do that or do we cut our losses? After today, he's played 12, so 8 to go.

The gap between defence and attack is huge and we simply don't have the quality to retain possession and move up the pitch as a team.

I'm picking your post to reply to, but many, many people have said this over time.

As an American finding soccer like 14 years ago, this is something I'm not as honed in on. So many people have mentioned this – it started for me with "Sir" John Pierce who isn't on TW any longer – it gives me another facet to analyze. I honestly don't pay enough attention to the gaps in midfield. It's clearly a key facet of successful soccer.

Personal note: Yes, but I think your post is the switch that will turn me on to this personal next level of analysis. Thank you, and to all the others who have mentioned this.

How true that is, I don't know. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable can confirm?

Having said that, I was disappointed with all the forwards today, including Dele.

However, I was very impressed with the overall confidence and play. Kudos to Frank and his boys for at least making us competitive again and particularly for addressing our soft spot from dead balls and crosses which I thought we dealt with brilliantly today.

With the two or three new midfield additions and hopefully a striker, I feel a bit more optimistic for this season.

Godfrey or not, if we can sell Keane, I’d sell him. The Lisbon fellow, Mykolenko and Welch can more than compensate for his absence at much less cost.

Negatives, absolutely no movement upfront forcing the ball sideways and backwards, Gray should be nothing more than an impact sub when the opposition defence is tired. Both him and Gordon continually run into dead ends and produce nothing.

As well as the two new midfielders, we still desperately need another out-and-out striker and an inside forward.

That takes some doing and I couldn't do it. You'd either get a rant full of nonsense or an emotional blub that you wouldn't be able to read through the tears.

I enjoy Michael's reports as much as Lyndon's, Paul Traill's and the numerous diverse posts we get on here. Even the ones I don't always agree with. If we were all the same and agreed with each other on everything, it would be dull.

I said at the time, Dave Abrahams, Pickford got out of jail with that offside goal. He seemed a bit jittery again yesterday. Often taking an extra touch and that additional second or two, which put him under pressure to rush his kicks. I've never been a fan of keepers being captain. I said earlier, Tarkowski is captain in waiting despite his new signing status at the club.

I keep saying, I think we're going to like Tarkowski. Along with the new signing from Lille, potentially Gueye and Coady, we are going to look solid and full of leaders.

We will have closed that gap. Now for the one up front.

I don't ask for much!!! Just 6 points from the next 2 matches please Everton.

Chelsea are a very good team, and in Sterling they have one of the best forwards in the country. They were largely nullified.

With the new signings coming in, hopefully including Coady, the defence and midfield look well set if not full of flair and excitement.

Clearly a forward is now essential, probably two. I doubt Chelsea would have done any business for their players before the match. Hopefully there are a couple of deals pushed through in time for Villa.

For me too, we need another striker and inside forward, a Dennis and a Broja. Or two similar, the Senegal lad from Dieng at Marseille worth a look.

Yesterday, Gray, Gordon, McNeill didn't come close to having the menace that Richarlison brought towards the end of last season. Gray particularly continuing to frustrate, poor final balls and decision making and lacking in any meaningful penetration. He needs to step it up or he's dropped.

I give a little more leeway to McNeill as he is new and needs time to adjust. Still I expected much more yesterday, I expect him to make some sort of impact so that's slightly concerning. I'm still asking myself would Cornet have been a better investment?

Gordon was below average too but I thought it was a poor strategy to play him through the centre. Still he needs to give us more end product, but I have a feeling that will come if we stick by the lad and back him.

When Dele came on I thought he looked the best player out of our forwards on the day, but even so still not great either. Got himself in a good position from Patterson's cross and if he hit it first time could well have scored. He should know better you don't often get time in the PL in the box for two touches.

Overall I thought we were miles better than last season. Tougher, organised and no pushover at all for Chelsea. In fact, even without a striker, we should have had a 1-1 draw. With a striker, we would have definitely drawn this game and could easily have won it.

With the right attacking reinforcements, we will have a decent season. From what I've seen, despite yesterday's narrow defeat, Frank has us on the right path.

Encouraging that we’ve new players coming in but a striker is essential as we were completely toothless yesterday. Hoping we fix this before Villa rather than relying on Rondon.

Many Wolves fans comment that Coady can’t play in a back four and it’s why he’s leaving as they change formation. Interesting to see if we go for him.

Calvert-Lewin had injuries last year, Richarlison has gone, Rondon is a sub at best. All last season Everton's finishing was below par and Richarlison out of the blue goals saved the day often. Calvert-Lewin was his usual underwhelming best when he did play. It was a big risk to take a chance in not bringing in a proven striker. To rely on midfield runners is effectively the tactic at Everton. Premier League clubs will be quickly onto this.

As I said earlier, it could be that changes were concentrated on the back and midfield, with January being the window for forwards. The short beginning of the season till 13 November being assessed as being the opportunity to do this, but someone forgot about the early August start.

There are reportedly transfers going on, but none of these are strikers. Now panic will be the order of the day. What a way to start a season. The only club with no recognisable starting forward.

Your example of substitutions brings clarity to the new rules on 5 subs. I think I now understand the new rules!

So, are you saying that double (or more) substitutions are the way to ring the changes?

A manager/coach these days may need to consider using double substitutions when one player gets injured, in order to rejig the setup. Interesting.

This was a real chance to pick up points. I feel sorry for Godfrey getting injured but the lad is reckless and could easily have broken the Chelsea player's ankle with the challenge.

We did move the ball quickly and showed some slick passing, particularly Iwobi. Gray is infuriating and holds on to the ball too long, fails to spot the right pass, really displaying why he has been released in the past.

We just don't look like scoring.

If not, Little Miss Dynamite will be blamed and placed, face down, in front of the bus.

Apart from that, I thought we played quite well today and defended about 16 corners.

I, like many, were surprised that Dele didn't start up front and thought it was a big ask to have Anthony Gordon play in that role. I guess the thought was to play balls through for him against the 36-year-old Silva but it never really worked. I thought both Iwobi and Doucoure worked very hard but the final ball just lacked a little and maybe the incoming of midfield players had an impact on their game. Gray put in a couple of good crosses that a regular Number 9 may well have scored from, but too often his final ball wasn't good enough.

Seems like Lampard's selection and substitutions would mean that, despite giving Keane more minutes in the lead-up games, he prefers Mina, Godfrey and Holgate, so it looks like Keane may be looking to move on. Like Danny @134, I also thought Pickford looked very jittery and I thought he had cured that last season.

So not the start we wanted… but the manager, his DoF, and every Everton fan knows where we desperately need strengthening and hopefully we will start to address that problem this week. I know Lampard is a big admirer of Broja but I think, with Tuchel bringing him on yesterday, that may have signalled that he intends to keep Broja, so we may be forced to look elsewhere.

I know all my posts bang on about our lack of goal scorers but it's not just our strikers who don't score enough – there are very few goals from midfield as well, and for me this is our biggest concern – we don't look like a side which will score many goals. I do really hope we bring in at least 2 goal scorers before the window closes.

I know it's not our problem but although Chelsea have spent big they don't look like a side who will trouble the Top 2 or 3 teams in the Premier League on this form.

Chelsea will be vying for Top 3 again but we made them look very ordinary today and, but for a couple of bad decisions and some terrible luck with injuries, we could easily have come out of this with at least a point (the fairest result) if not another win over them.

This isn't to say we played brilliantly, but we did defend very well most of the game and created some genuinely good opportunities despite lacking a proper centre-forward – again this was in part down to bad luck (although I agree the transfer priorities should have been different).

None of us were happy with Richarlison leaving, but I think it's understood we needed to make a sacrifice for FFP and he was the only viable option. If Arsenal or Newcastle had genuinely put similar cash up for Calvert-Lewin, then he may have gone instead, but clearly that hasn't happened.

Assuming Onana and Gueye sign as expected and we can pick up one striker (that we are clearly trying for), plus defensive cover we now clearly need (I'd take Coady), then I think we can point to a solid window – given the constraints we were operating under – of building the spine and players with a spine!

Tarkowski and McNeil both look decent additions, some real bite in central midfield will address a key problem from last season where Doucouré and Gomes were often found wanting, Davies unable to rise to early promise, and Allan clearly not fancied. Vinagre is way too early to say but it's at least extra squad depth with Premier League experience.

Is everything brilliant? Not at all. Will we be challenging for top 4? Sadly not. Could we finish the window more balanced than we ended last season (Richarlison aside)? I genuinely believe we can.

Thelwell seems to be making the right moves, I do like Frank's passion (feels oddly the most Moyes-like we've had since Davey left) and I'm going to give them a few games before I declare everything shit and resign myself to a relegation struggle.

I'm feeling guardedly positive for the season tbh and defeat by a soft penalty decision against a team full of recent European Champions doesn't seem too bad.

With Richarlison sold to ameliorate FFP problems, Calvert-Lewin's injury record and the positively useless (and injured) Rondon as the only back-up, he allows the DoF to ship out the two youngsters who have worked so hard to earn a first-team chance.

No doubt this was in the cause of Thelwell achieving his wage budget targets rather than 'giving the kids pitchtime' but that is Everton today!

Much more likely a win or draw, given the loss was so marginal and unlucky on balance of play.

I still think it's madness to play 3 centre-backs when we're so poor in central midfield but there you go.

If one or two passes had hit their man then we would have taken something from the game. It was a tribute to our efforts that Chelsea spent 45 minutes trying to freeze the game.

COYB

We won this fixture last season thanks to Pickford's heroics and a mistake by Chelsea. Not because we played well or deserved to win.

Yesterday (IMO), we played better than I’ve seen for a very long while. Yes, we were light in attack but that didn’t stop us from creating quite a few decent opportunities which on another day could have won the game.

Our midfield held their own against quality opposition which is more than they managed for at least 35 games last season. With two new midfield recruits on the way, we look like we may have 3 or 4 combinations that could work well throughout the season without any drop in standard.

Also worth mentioning the improved set-piece defending. At one point, they had 4 or 5 corners in a row which would previously have guaranteed a goal for the opposition. We also conceded 3 or 4 free kicks in ‘Gomes’ territory which last season would’ve meant an easy goal or 3 against.

I for one have much more hope for the season ahead based on yesterday's loss than I would have if we’d won the game in the same way as we did last season.

Has anyone heard of him?

Derek, I’m positive Lampard would’ve wanted an immediate replacement for Richarlison but he doesn’t negotiate deals, or signs cheques or have the final say on who leaves or comes in. Those decisions are made by our Eternal Leader and his spiritual guide after she’s read his tea leaves.

I enjoyed our performance in the main. Passing was much crisper, we played with pace and energy and fought tooth and nail. Gordon led the way with his phenomenal workrate and what on earth has Frank done to Iwobi? He was the best player on the pitch by a distance and is now looking an essential part of our team. Young Patterson was excellent and Doucoure had a fine game apart from the crucial giveaway. Holgate was also very good.

We obviously need a striker, the midfield will be sorted this week from the sound of things and Coady alongside Tarkowski will make the defence solid. Sell Mina ASAP and give McNeil a chance to settle in. The forward players will be far better if we can construct a midfield to win and retain possession.

I hate to lose but that was far better than anything I saw last season. Frank is getting them to play much faster and it is taking shape.

I actually thought we looked a bit more balanced when Vinagre came on; this system benefits from wingbacks with real attacking impetus and, as much as I like Mykolenko, he’s unlikely to beat his man with a burst of pace and skill like Vinagre can. The Ukrainian did well as the left-sided centre-back and I wonder whether him, Tarkowski and Holgate (if he keeps up yesterday's levels) make a nice trio with Vinagre and Patterson adding penetration as wingbacks?

Chelsea bringing on the likes of Broja and Gallagher for the dying minutes really highlighted the gulf in personnel.

Tottenham are early contenders for the title alongside Arsenal.

Liverpool are shaky.

Fulham are going to be the surprise package. I think that one came about 20 minutes into the first game of the season when, pumped up on adrenalin, they were 1 - 0 up.

Forest are doomed.

Newcastle will qualify for Europe having regained their status as darlings of Sky who dine off the riches of billionaires wherever the money comes from.

They published the league table last night. Really? On day one when there are still teams who haven't played. I remember when it never got published until at least 3 games in. And even then, I still pay little attention to it until the Christmas fixtures are done. That tends to be when you know where you are.

I think I'm going to have to admit to getting old and slightly grumpy.

Forget the result. Good start. Good performance. If we hadn't lost our main striker 3 days prior, we'd have taken the points.

Playing 3 centrebacks, leaves us lacking in midfield, and less of an attacking threat. With Onana and Gueye coming in this week, and hopefully a striker, it makes sense to play 3 in midfield, with Doucoure or Iwobi in a more advanced role.

I thought Gordon, Gray and McNeil were average yesterday, but to be fair, their game is to cross the ball, and link up with a striker, which we totally lacked yesterday.

I was impressed with Patterson and Iwobi. I thought they played well. Dele is a conundrum, how he could have lost form the way he has is a mystery.

It’s okay criticising Frank for not bringing in a striker, but there’s not a lot decent ones out there for our budget. Plus it seems that every other team are after one too. And we’ve made the same mistake for the last few years by panic buying, and bringing in garbage. It has to be a striker that will suit the way Frank wants to play.

As for saying that 3 centre-backs don’t work, well, I think yesterday showed it does; we were more organised. 5 at the back, and 2 holders doesn’t mean defensive football, it means the 2 fullbacks are free to go forward, without being exposed at the back, which is more offensive anyway.

Bringing in Coady – who, whether you like him or not, has years of experience playing that system – will be a massive help in settling our backline down and organising it.

Well done lads, good performance and great effort.

incidentally, which centre-back would Evertonians prefer after yesterday’s performances: £33 million Koulibaly, or Tarkowski free?

My understanding is that ‘in theory’, yes you could make 5 subs in one go.

As per Lyndon’s (104) explanation 2,2,1 or any combination of 5 subs, has to be done on no more than 3 occasions.

Positivities from yesterday, the back 5 who finished the game and Iwobi.

Mina is another Delph. Godfrey has history with misplaced backpasses. Gray was ineffective.

We should enjoy a more comfortable season once we tie up the two central midfielders, a striker and a central defender.

We also can't pass the ball forward, we can't tackle without silly little schoolboy pushes on the opposition. I can't understand how Lampard can stand and watch this week after week yet do nothing to stop it.

This squad of players would find it hard to get in a Championship side.

No never heard of him (Guirassy) which is by no means a bad thing as, depending on his contract and how skint his club is, he maybe worth a go. Just Googled him he is everything Rondon isn’t. Mobile for a start.

'How they deal with this striker emergency and other aspects of recruitment will form part of that judgement after a much-touted "strategic review" at the end of last season, the specific results of which seem vague, and currently looks very much like a case of those who have made Everton's previous errors marking their own homework.'

McNulty BBC

Really a summary of concerns on ToffeeWeb.

Who knows if Calvert-Lewin would have got on the end of any of those crosses, I think Koulibali would have marked him very tightly.

The club is totally amateur in its actions. That Chairman, the coach and Thelwell are responsible for not buying a proper striker whilst allowing two kids to go out on loan.

We hardly looked like scoring last season and, with Richarlison gone, we will be in the bottom again very soon because, if you can't score goals, you can't win games.

You say without Richarlison, but he only scored 10 goals last season, and if he had spent more time getting back to his feet and doing his fair share of tracking back, rather than rolling about like he had just been snipered, then maybe we wouldn’t have conceded 66 goals.

Yesterday was more positive than negative, but we still ain’t giving anyone any credit.

Even before Calvert-Lewin's injury we were far too light up front hopefully things will change soon, preferably before Villa.

Richarlison was targeted because he was fast and a threat. I know to some he will always be someone who went down too easily and will no doubt give that perception for Tottenham. Same drills for Andy Johnson back in the day and something Anthony Gordon is getting a tag for now.

Tricky quick players get targeted. If you clip them, they will go down and because of momentum it looks spectacular even though it's a genuine foul.

I don't want my strikers chasing back. I want them threatening the opposition penalty box. That's been our problem. Ancelotti tried to address it by his instructions to Calvert-Lewin. Stay in the box.

If they play for Liverpool, it's different. Salah rarely gets accused of going down easy. Even though he is the master of a World War 2 sniper shot scene in the best of Hollywood movies.

As for you saying you don’t want our striker tracking back, I agree, but he’s a wide man, and their job is to help the fullbacks.

Time to plan without them short and long term. Clocks ticking. We have a hell of a lot going for us on the pitch. The two full-backs will mature to be real players for starters. Midfield will take shape soon.

The clocks ticking on the striker situation but don’t we make things harder, loaning our players out? We could at least have waited until closer to the window shutting.

I won’t say "Everton that" as we want a new Everton. Professional on and, er, off the pitch.

Gordon and Gray don't look like they have five goals between them this season and personally I wouldn't play them both in the same team. It's all down to the next few weeks, that's crazy but not at all unexpected at Everton…after all, we did loan out Simms and Dobbin without replacement… breathtakingly bad management.

Who knows? A miracle may occur and we might do the right thing in the transfer market for the first time since signing Lukaku.

I think the plan was to fast transition through midfield or direct cross balls (including from Pickford) and hope we could expose a lack of pace in their back 3, mainly via Gray and Gordon but also with the full-backs bombing forwards. Sometimes it worked but not often enough. I wish Gray made more of his undoubted talent, he really lacks a good final ball.

The positives were Iwobi – amazing – the young full-backs, Holgate and Doucouré muffed up for the penalty but otherwise were very good, and Tarkowski looks quality.

I agree with those who say we moved the ball much quicker than last year. All that said, Chelsea were poor and I can only assume are not at the stage some others are in early season, otherwise they won't be qualifying for Champions League anytime soon. Clearly they have their own problems up front and have a bad habit of turning good strikers like Werner into stone.

My post had some positives- the crisp passing, Iwobi and our defence looks far better.

However, Richarlison worked his socks off in defence as well as his 10 goals.

I too saw a vast improvement in Everton's performance compared to those lacklustre games of last season.

I learned many years ago not to attend matches with preconceived ideas and was pleasantly surprised with the performance of the team at large.

I'm not one to pick on individual players, I tend to judge the game with the view of 'We win as a team and lose as a team'. I fear that too many fans demand perfection; "It's alright for the opposition to make mistakes but woe betide the Everton player who does so."

I'm looking forward to a much better season, but I'm prepared to expect any defeat to be described as a 'dross' performance.

As someone brilliantly put earlier, time to plan without Calvert-Lewin and soft lad Mina because worryingly Calvert-Lewin is picking up niggly injuries even at his tender age.

As for Mina, forget him; we'll be lucky to get 15 games a season out of him. And who's going to want to buy a crock of a centre-back?

A team can look good in defence and midfield, but that needs to be impacting at the other end, with goals being scored. If goals are not being scored, what is the point?

Signing a forward was the obvious priority for the start of the season and, given it was possible Calvert-Lewin might also be enticed elsewhere, the lack of foresight in the recruitment was lamentable. When fit again Calvert-Lewin will again be touted for another move if he hits the ground scoring before the next window.

The only positive I could take from yesterday was that we looked defensively better organised and more solid. There was no panic every time the opposition had a set-piece near our area.

These days I'd settle for a decent cup run. Any cup

Interesting call on Wolves. I agree on Leicester. Last year Rodgers said the team were crap and he was going to replace them all in the summer. Now the club have told him they’re skint. Vardy is a year for older, Schmeichel has gone, his favorites Barnes and Dewsbury Hall are just wannabe Llalana’s and not the stars he thinks they’ll be. I can’t stand him. Going back to his bizarre berating of Sterling on that documentary. His presentation of himself as husband and father of the year before he got false teeth and ditched them. His embarrassing failure in Europe at Celtic. Yeah I think he’s numbers coming up.

I agree, but Frank seems to want his attacks based on midfield strength and a supportive defence. But a proven goal scorer not only is going to score goals, but he can provide space for attacking midfielders also.

Man Utd are above Everton courtesy of their "goals for" column.

Can we not recall the lad Moise Kean from his 2-year loan spell if we don't sign a striker?

Any of my fellow Blues know the score on the above, please.

No recognised forwards. Shocking.

On Rogers (Andy Crooks and others), now that would be satisfying. Forget it was when with them. But a person whose first act was allegedly to put a framed picture of himself up in his office, followed by changing his teeth and swapping his wife for a younger model, clearly believes his own legend.

Wow, well you easily beat me. First match was in 1968. I was actually a Tranmere fan because I lived on the other side, but my Aunt, who had a couple of season tickets, took me to Goodison and I was hooked.

I hope our team can give you some nice escapism this year, even if only periodically!

I've said it from the start with Doucouré, he is a liability in a Premier League midfield. Receives the ball square everytime, panics and usually plays a safe ball back to the defence. He rarely cuts through teams or play a through ball and is clumsy in the tackle. Needs to be used as a sub.

I think Frank knows, same with Allan, but he has limited options.

I agree that Doucouré is a liability and not a top-level player. I think he fools a lot of people because he is energetic and athletic. Trouble is, he can't shoot, can't tackle, can't head it, gets caught on the ball, doesn't track runners well and gives stupid fouls away regularly. He shouldn't be getting a game – if we play the same dross as last season, we will get the same result.

The question I want answering is what exactly is the point of the Academy?! If you are not going to give players like Warrington a go when you are short in midfield and people like Doucouré have had plenty of chances to impress, when are you going to do it? Why bring these young players through if there is no real appetite to play them?

It's the same up front. We are short of strikers – even with Calvert-Lewin fit, he is the only decent one we have. The situation is even worse with his injury. Yet, instead of giving someone like Simms or Broadhead a chance to impress, we'd rather play someone out of position up top. It beggars belief.

Why bother with the Academy if you never give the lads you bring through their opportunity when you need them? At least someone like Simms knows where the net is and how to play in that position. Whoever thought it was okay to let him out on loan – this season of all seasons – is clueless.

The other thing that annoyed me at the weekend was not playing Dele Alli from the off. He had a decent pre-season and at least scored some goals. Yet he didn't make the starting 11 – I can't see any sense in it.

Chelsea have quality players throughout the team and I thought we gave them little opportunity to score. I don't remember Pickford having to make many saves Though I thought he had a bit of an off day on Saturday.

Two of our three central defenders injured and we managed Chelsea quite well. Except for Holgate and Doucouré combining to give them a penalty. If Mina can get fit (???) then, with Mina, Coady and Tarkowski, we at last, have a solid central defence with two good young full-backs as well.

It's midfield where we are shortest at the minute, though I think that. with Gueye and this new lad, we should have a lot more supplying the forwards as well as supporting defence; and if Allan stays, he is a decent sub.

Up front, until we get a goalscoring player (which I think we will by the end of the transfer window), we can make do with Gray and Alli. I'm not so sure about Gordon but let's see.

One thing is, we won't be the easy pushovers that we've been for way too long.

Ellis Simms bagging 2 for Sunderland rubs it in. Totally toothless. Against a very moderate team.

Unfortunately the days of saying "if Mina gets fit" are now over. He can't get fit and never will. He should not be considered in any planning Everton make (unless it's a transfer out).

It will be Tarkowski, Coady and probably Holgate. He also has the option of moving Mykolenko into the 3 and playing Vinagre LWB. Good that we now have some depth, although worrying to have long-term injuries so early in the season.

I don't think it was a tedious game, I was fearing an exciting (for Chelsea) battering. As it was, I didn't see Chelsea have many shots, or make many openings, except that one that lead to the penalty. If good teams are finding it difficult to get through our defence, then that's a massive improvement to what we've been putting up with for years.

Again, I say let's see who we get in by the end of the transfer window.

As someone said, we could maybe use him in the last 20 minutes of games we're trying to see out.

He shouldn't be starting games going forward, as not only can he not complete them – it often results in weeks on the treatment table.

Hello! We have not got any strikers and should've bought one or two or kept Simms and played him.

Mismanagement.