That, my friend, is what you call a bogey team

Everton 0 - 2 Aston Villa

We were pretty buoyant for our second home game in a row, knowing that a win would elevate us a place at least. And despite our paucity of attack, with Aston Villa conceding 11 goals over their last three games, I fancied our chances of getting one at least in the onion bag. We certainly had the opportunities, though were undone by a lack of conversion… we all know where that fault ultimately lies, of course.

Dan did the driving this time, and it was good to have a few jars with the guys in the pub before the game. We were saying in the pub how refreshing it is to see our team unchanged for the right reasons, whereas under Frank Lampard you were scratching your head as to why he wouldn’t change the team, despite how bad it got.

This is in part due to availability, of course; this exemplified by Aston Villa’s ability to swap out Philippe Coutinho and Emi Buendia with Jacob Ramsey and Leon Bailey. Quality options we just don’t have.

It’s always nice to see a full away end at Goodison Park, and Aston Villa took their full complement, and were pretty noisy in the early stages of the game. They were spurred on by their team at this point, who made a positive start, at one point having us rather pinned back with several players unable to clear their lines effectively. In another moment, a ball over the top caught out Conor Coady way too easily, though thankfully Jordan Pickford was out quicksmart to thwart Ollie Watkins.

Once we became competitive in the game, we tilted the balance in our favour. We really had Aston Villa pushed back and created a number of positive opportunities, of which surely one should have been put away.

Dwight McNeil seeking out Neal Maupay who was free in the area really highlighted our issues. A top striker smacks that into the net first time with no hesitation. Neal, and it may be down to his eroded confidence, took a touch to set himself before striking weakly at goal. Emiliano Martinez easily saved.

The Argentina No 1 also thwarted us when Amadou Onana arrived into the penalty area and headed at goal. There were further opportunities too for Alex Iwobi and another Neal Maupay chance, though at the break, you had to be satisfied with our efforts, but the nagging doubt that not capitalising on our opportunities would come back to bite us remained.

In the second half, we kept up the tempo and couldn’t really have come much closer to scoring than when Neal Maupay bravely headed goalwards under pressure from the onrushing Martinez. Unfortunately, Tyrone Mings was on hand to clear off the goal-line. That was a real key moment in the game. If that goes in then, you’d say we probably would have had a good chance to take all 3 points. 

As it turned out, it wasn’t long at all until we were clearing off the goal line ourselves when Lucas Digne got beyond Alex Iwobi and put in a good ball for Ollie Watkins. His header was superbly kept out by Jordan Pickford who dived acrobatically and palmed the ball onto the post before James Tarkowski wellied it away.

Sadly, this was a pre-curser to what happened next. James Tarkowski mis-controlled under limited pressure and overhit the ball out for a throw-in, which allowed Aston Villa to make a couple of substitutions, one of which saw Emi Buendia enter the fray. Everton switched off sadly and were punished, Buendia flicking the ball inside for John McGinn who ran into the penalty area and was brought down by Idrissa Gueye.

Or so it seemed at least. The replays show Idrissa Gueye getting a tiny nick on the ball, though this wasn’t picked up by the VAR and the penalty, and subsequently the goal, stood. In pre-VAR days I’d be wondering why Idrissa is taking such a risk in the penalty area making a challenge like that. Though now we have the VAR, I’m as bemused as I ever am with it as to why this wasn’t given a proper look.

I watched Match of the Day earlier and saw Leandro Trossard’s excellent strike for Arsenal against Leicester City chalked off for an apparent foul by Ben White when Danny Ward flapped feebly at a ball in from a corner. I’ve seen the replay time and time again and still don’t know what the foul was.

In Idrissa Gueye’s instance, it looks to me like he gets a clear foot on the ball. With my blue-tinted specs, of course, I don’t know why this wasn’t looked at.

Which brings me on to the officiating because, let's face it, Everton had no answers after the penalty. Aston Villa doubled down, and we couldn’t break them down, ultimately losing 0-2 when substitute Buendia (yes – a quality player who could come on from the bench and make a telling difference) rounded Conor Coady, who was pedestrian at best, before finishing well to seal the game.

The referee irked throughout. He’s a referee I’ve generally thought was decent quality, but he really stunk the place out yesterday. The early yellow card for Amadou Onana was as ridiculous as it was harsh and only seemed to happen once he went over to check on Douglas Luiz. Obviously we’re not privy to how much of a knock Amadou is carrying, but this could have had a massively negative effect on the game.

Following this, the referee made several inconsistent decisions throughout, many of which were very late and irksome to the crowd. I try my best not to be critical of officials as I believe they have a tough job, but this was really poor from supposedly one of the best.

And as I’ve set off on a bit of a rant, is there a team in the league as cynical as Aston Villa? We saw it earlier in the season at Villa Park, but all the rolling around and feigning injury to try to disrupt momentum really took the piss, and the weak referee failed to control it.

It’s part of the modern game and they aren’t the only ones that do it, but that left me incredibly frustrated yesterday. “We weren’t complaining when it was Richarlison” Gary said in response to one of my many vocal gripes. Touché. I can’t disagree with that!

And just to complain a bit more, shamefully, that’s four defeats in a row to Aston Villa, and no wins in eight against them (six losses, two draws) since they returned to the Premier League. I doubt there’s a single other club who has been in the league throughout that time who has failed to beat them once.

That’s pitiful and says everything about how low we have sunk. I would say though that the last three of them have all followed a rather similar pattern of Everton missing good chances, and Aston Villa making the most of the few that come their way.

That, my friend, is what you call a bogey team.

Player ratings

Jordan Pickford: Made two very good saves at 0-0 to deny Ollie Watkins though could do little about the two goals. I remember saying to Ste just as Ollie Watkins took the penalty, that Jordan should stand up tall. Ollie’s stance before he ran up had all the hallmarks of a player who was going to ram it down the middle. It’s hard to fault Jordan though as he had so little else to do. 7

Vitalii Mykolenko: He did pretty well mostly and joined in the attacks well, nearly getting an assist for Amadou Onana’s first-half header. There was a moment in the second half when he tried to put a ball into the box but it hit Dwight McNeil and went out for a goal kick. As you can make up to five substitutions now, if we’re losing the game anyway, I can’t see why on earth we wouldn’t put Ruben Vinagre on to try and get a better quality of ball into the penalty area. Surely it's worth a go? 7

James Tarkowski: He did okay. 6

Conor Coady: Defended poorly for Aston Villa’s sealer and was caught out in the first half with a ball over the top. Not the happiest 30th birthday for Conor. 5

Seamus Coleman: Defensively he’s rolling back the years. A real class act. 6

Idrissa Gueye: Yes he’s culpable for the penalty but, as with against Leeds United, I thought he had a good game otherwise. 6

Amadou Onana: He had a generally poor game despite a few good moments. I wonder how much the early yellow card impacted on that? 5

Abdoulaye Doucouré: He goes from the sublime to the ridiculous in the blink of an eye. A very frustrating player though he’s proving to be valuable in the midfield under Sean Dyche. 6

Dwight McNeil: Our best player on the pitch by a country mile for me. Showed a lot of industry, fought hard, was a constant nuisance for Matty Cash and got several balls into the penalty area. On another day ,he’d have got an assist or two. Keep going, Dwight. My Man of the Match. 8

Alex Iwobi: He did akay, though he doesn’t seem to be enjoying it out on the right to me. Maybe instead of hooking him for Demarai Gray, it was a chance to substitute Amadou and bring Alex into a more central position. 6

Neal Maupay: He missed some good chances, there’s no disputing that. Though I like that he’s at least getting into positions to score goals. Keep getting in there and surely a few will go in as the effort is certainly there. 6

Demaria Gray (for Alex Iwobi): He tried to impact the game and get down the line a few times but to no success. 5

Ellis Simms (for Neal Maupay): A few of us wondered if this was a chance to get two strikers on, as I feel having a strike partner up there would bring more out of both players. As it was, and such was the way the game had turned, Ellis wasn’t able to contribute a lot. 5

Tom Davies (for Amadou Onana): I felt sorry for Tom having to come on just when we went 0-2 down and I felt he was given a bit of a raw deal being asked to play on the right. Still, he got involved and did his best ,to his credit, and one good bit of play when we finally disrupted Aston Villa’s endless succession of throw-ins resulted in Everton getting back on the attack. Few recognise this from Tom though; most would rather concentrate on groaning whenever he does something that isn’t perfect. I think it’s all quite sad for a local lad who always tries his best. 6

And one final thing…

I’m intrigued to see what line-up plays at the Emirates Stadium. With a mammoth game coming up on Sunday away at Nottingham Forrest, do we rotate and keep our best players fresh for that, or go hard in both games?

I’m not talking about an XI changes surrender á la Bournemouth in the Carabao Cup, but we could play at our very, very best, put a huge amount of energy resource into the game but still lose.

I’d say it’s a good opportunity to play Yerry Mina, perhaps give Amadou Onana a game if he’s struggling with a knock. Could we give Demarai Gray a chance? Could we learn a bit more about Ellis Simms? I think that three or four changes might not be a bad idea in a match where, let’s face it, anything we get is a bonus. 

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