99 Minutes and 30 Seconds

Felt like a win at the end and I savoured that thought until I heard the Forest result on the train! The best little Lego head let us down, luckilly auld Ginger bonce remembered us and beat that fat bloke who got us to eighth (don't forget).
My last game of the season - even if I could go next sunday I wouldn't. I didn't go "the Great Escape" spit! nor the Coventry game - I managed to get away from TVs or radios for the day, and I'm not going to this one either. I don't know if I'd be angrier at the end if we win or if we lose - I'm just angry at what we've become. Summer off to chill and play crcket. The only thing I'll miss is some cracking days out with good people like Danny'O and Martin (I'm tellig you, he's ok is Martin!) - every game I meet new people, like Brent an dNeal this week, Paul my fellow wool at Palace and Brighton, and old friends from the NTAS, and I swear our fans are a different, much more betterer than the rest, breed. Re the game, Danny said it all. Doucoure had a mare as did Dyche. Putting Keane to right back was mystifying and Holgate (yes, even Holgate) should have been brought on at that moment. The sight of Traore literally accompanying Keane across the pitch in readiness, probably licking his lips as he went, was almost comedy gold! BUT, having had a go at Dyche, Keanes presence made the goal. We got a point having lost our right back and Balsa boy up front before half time and a hastily re-configured team that resembled a Subbuteo game played by 12 year olds. I agree about the police presence - I'm used to the stewards lining up against us but not a doubling up from the law - what did they think we were going to do? Strangle some poor blonde lady millionaire?
And Wolves fans ARE weird, taunting abuse for 98 minutes - which made the 99th minute sooo much sweeter! UTFT

Danny & Mark,

Re the Wolves fans taunting, I listened on Radio Merseyside and after a loud chant about us going to the Championship, they were met with an even louder one asking who they are !!!

The heavy presence of police and stewards, is this because of fallout from the directors' non-attendance at Goodison Park?

Thanks for the report, Danny. Having not been able to get a stream working, even a bad one you do bring a sort of "our man on the spot" slant to the games. I had read reports, watched MotD etc but almost feel like I was there having read that.

I know we still have much to do but I felt like I had won the lottery when the live forum lit up with "Yeeesss..." - "Goooaall" - "Fuck, yes - MINA..." etc etc. A point snatched from the jaws of defeat. For a change!

Leeds, or West Ham to be more accurate, have made our task marginally easier and if the Geordies (I don't like to call them the skunks as being a Geordie by birth myself) can turn over Leics this evening, preferably by 8 goals in case the worst happens, it leaves us just needing that draw on Sunday assuming Leeds don't put 3 or 4 past Spurs. Having said that no-one would have expected forest to get three points from Arsenal so watching from behind the sofa tonight.

Good luck next weekend to you and all lucky enough to be going.

IF...IF we survive it will be interesting to see the reaction. Joy obviously but I suspect many fans, especially any born before the mid eighties will have their feet firmly planted on the ground. I think last year the explosion of emotion partly came from the perception that we would move on this season. There seems to be a sort of resignation this time 'round but with this latest MSP gossip I personally feel somewhat encouraged about our prospects.

As you might say "Keep the faith"

Danny you're a star. I very rarely if ever now comment on here but I still read regularly and am always impressed with your stuff. Your commitment, self-sacrifice and enthusiasm is beyond belief.

I'm not sure the club and team deserve the incredible support you and the other guys willingly give each week. God knows where we'd be without you all.

Total respect to all of you and all the travelling fans.

It wasn't so much that Paul, that's fair enough, it was the sign on, Liverpool slums and bin dippers shite. The even roundly abused the ref as “the scouser in the black”.

That bit them right in the arse didn't it!

Mark,

I used to work in Norwich for a couple of years and went to watch them if not home for the weekend.

One time, they were playing our lovable neighbours and I was sat in the home end.

The absolute shite about the city of Liverpool getting screamed out was ridiculous, I ended up wanting LFC to win!!!

Danny, thanks for the report, a good read as always and pretty much the way I saw things too.

As always it was good to meet up and put faces to names with Mark, Martin and Brent.

I was in row B which is one from the front and you are right about the sun, it was merciless. Those flame thrower things they had going off before kick off were worse though. They were that hot that I felt myself checking I still had eyebrows!

You are right about the Wolves fans, a right odd bunch. Strangely enough and although they were my favourite band in the early 70s I always thought Slade were a bit odd too. Must be something to do with the water in the Black Country.

Overall it was a very hard earned point, disappointed not to win as always but mightily relieved at the end and it was clear to see amongst the whole away support.

Hopefully, it will be back in our hands for Sunday. I feel exhausted after this season, one last massive effort to come.

I felt every single bit of your emotion Danny, as I’m sitting here now, feeling very, very nervous, hoping that Newcastle can get the points that get them into next season’s champions league, tonight.

Neil (not Neal sorry) I forgot about those bloody flames at the start! I was in row N and they were hot there! I noticed they had those orchestrated flag wavers that Arsenal started and the shite have taken on. I hope we never get that bloody theatrical! I wasn’t big on Slade - I was a TRex fan and Merry Christmas everybody is as tedious as the Wolves fans taunts! UTFT!

Your description of West Midlands Police doesn’t surprise. They treat football supporters with contempt. Always have. Archetypical woodentops.

Brilliant, Danny, great stuff. I don't know how you and the other Blues cope. I am burnt out hundreds of miles away. Already nervous about Sunday but I take comfort from the fact that this depleted, patched up rag bag team will be driven to victory by the best supporters in the world. Bring it on!

Danny,

Great report but I cannot agree when you say Pickford was unfortunate. But as you know by now I am no Pickford fan because time and again when he saves he parries the ball back into play. This has been a constant failure of his and has cost us many a goal.

Cannot understand why he can't push it out for a corner if he can't hold it. This would at least give us time to regroup.

Neil, Pickford is positioned somewhere between his left-hand post and the centre of his goal and the shot goes to Pickford's right. The only place for him to parry is further across goal. I don't think there's any way he can put that behind the goal to his left, nor to his right.

An awful, scrappy game and yet another goal conceded through one of our players (Doucouré this time) passing straight to the opposition from a promising attacking position.

I must have missed the Onana 'sometimes great' bit as I thought he had an absolute nightmare of a game. He may be a prospect but he constantly fails to show when it matters.

I've long advocated trying Keane up front, especially if we're chasing a game in the last 20 mins. He's good in the air and can shoot. Dyche doesn't seem to have any confidence in Simms and Keane would surely be a better option than Maupay.

McNeil is currently our best forward and must be played further forward against, Bournemouth. We have to go for it on Sunday and, if necessary, Dyche must be more proactive with his substitutions. Although he doesn't have a great bench to choose from, it's usually too little, too late.

I think it's 3 home defeats on the bounce but, if we can't beat a Bournemouth side with nothing much to play, for we'll deserve to go down.

Frank Lampard ranks right up there with Mike Walker and Rafa Benitez as the worst-ever Everton managers; had he been dismissed after the two Bournemouth debacles, I doubt we'd have been in this mess.

I agree, Brent, but I thought he could have got more of his palm on the ball which would have sent it back towards where the initial shot came from.

He made a very good save with his feet though and hopefully he has one of his better days on Sunday especially with his distribution of the football.

Good post, Bill. Why Onana didn't go to ground and take either the ball or Traroe or both on Saturday showed his inexperience. For all his obvious talent, I don't think he improves us in any way right now.

I totally forgot about the Doucoure pass that carved us open, Bill.

Good spot. It shows, you don't always catch everything.

I'm usually watching where the ball is going next.

But once they gained possession, you sensed what was coming.

Tony @15,

If you watch the goal again, you'll see that Onana stops running and just jogs back towards our goal. If he'd kept running, he'd have been able to challenge Hewang who was left unmarked. Onana will be a good player in a good team, but he's not much of a fighter.

A great report Danny, a lot of life in it, almost like being there. Yet again, our away supporters were outstanding, backing our lads all the way through the match. And what a great present for them, right in the very last minute! Brilliant! and shut those illiterate scumbags right up!

I thought with their goal, we allowed them a free run at our goal, which was poor, but which was worse was where was the cover at the back post?

I think it's a bit harsh on Jordan to say he could push it out from where he was standing. There wasn't a soul to cover him at the back of defence.

Mind you, for a patched up side, we never gave up right up to the last second! Well done lads.

Surely with the Pickford parry he made a superb save, there was only one way the ball could go with a shot from that angle and Jordan stretched to the extent that he was. Surely the mistake was that there was no Everton defender back to complete the save. At the limit it could be said that a save was possible but for me never that it was poor keeping not to have made it.
Poor distribution? I say none better as he is passing 50 yards plus like no other outfield player would ever do and he is trying to find non-existent forwards and other players who'd struggle to trap a bag of cement? Jordan is the best keeper in the UK and for me and most commentators there are none consistently better in world football; for me he's the single reason that we are still in the EPL.

Tony #15 "I agree Brent, but I thought he could have got more of his palm on the ball, which would have sent it back towards where the initial shot came from?"

Tony, it looked to me as if Pickford was diving to his right to have to make the save, so I guess he would have had to scoop the ball from his righthand side, all the way across his body to his left.

Ray, at 1-0 down Wolves broke at pace and Holgate did exactly the same.

This is an unforgivable offence for me. If you can’t bust a gut for us, you’ve got no business being here. End of….

I agree about players not busting a gut. Jack Grealish, a £100m forward, on a billion quid a week or something, at a club full of elite players who beat everything in front them every week, and yet he still bombs back to make last ditch tackles.

If you're in a team like Everton, scrapping for your lives, then - as Dyche says - maximum effort is the minimum requirement.

Well, if we had been offered the position of being 2 points clear of Leeds and Leicester going into the last game, we would have accepted that. They both have to win to have any chance of avoiding relegation and, if Leicester don't win, then maybe a draw might be enough to secure Premier League football.

But the mindset has to be never mind what other clubs are doing and just concentrate on beating Bournemouth. I think if we can't beat Bournemouth at home in the last game of the season, then we probably don't deserve to stay up.

I am sure Goodison will be nervy and tense on Sunday but, with Dyche in charge, I think we will get the win we need.

I'm the world's worst predictor but I'm going out on a limb on this one and predicting a 2-0 Everton win.

Keep the nerves for next season if wholesale change doesn't come to Goodison this summer.

Re the Wolves goal, I watched Match of the Day and in almost every game a keeper parried a shot into the danger area but in every game apart from ours a defender covered and cleared.

Onana should have (1) fouled Traore, and/or (2) carried on running to cover the parry and mark Hewang.

And Jim, this is almost like committing blasphemy but I'm sorry you're wrong. We (I was there and I was the same) did not back the team until the end. We never urged them on when we were one down, we just watched in subdued silence and only got loud with indignant fury when the Wolves fans baited us.

A lady steward near me was trying to get us to sing but it fell on deaf ears. The only time we got loud again was after the goal. I'm afraid it was a “sing when we're winning” performance from the support. Sorry, I feel dirty saying it, but we didn't perform either.

I think we are incredibly lucky to be taking this to the last day of the season, we should be thanking our lucky stars. Supporting Everton over 40 years I believe this is the worst side we have ever had, the stats prove it in all aspects. Apart from Southampton I'd say we have been the worst side in the league all season, those last minute goals against Spurs, Chelsea and Wolves are proving to be vital not to mention the point at City.

We didn't give ourselves a chance this season, not only in the transfer market (summer and in January), playing the majority of the season with little to no attacking threat. I'd say if it wasn't for our defence (mainly Tarkowski and Pickford) we would be already down.

We are incredibly lucky to be on only 33 points and for it to be in our hands. We are incredibly lucky that when a season when all 3 promoted sides have stayed up we have a season where 3 sides have accumulated lower points, including Leicester (who were going for champions league last year) with a talented side.

To lose the games we have at home against the sides in the bottom half of the table should have seen us with no chance, yet with the recent upturn in form grabbing points where possible we have it in our hands. I personally can't believe how lucky we are, now let's not chuck this opportunity away, it's all or nothing for Sunday.

Martin @ 20.

Not sure Jordan is the best keeper in the UK. If you are talking about British keepers, then probably but I think I'd take my chances with Ederson or Allison. However, to be fair to Jordan, those guys don't get as much practice.

Whilst I generally agree that he is a huge factor in us still being in the Premier League, could it also be that because of the way he comes across in matches, he may not give as much confidence to his defence as other keepers and so could also be a reason that we struggle at times. Granted, a goal scorer would alleviate the pressure on the team as a whole.

It's a case of be careful what you wish for. Would we currently get a better keeper than Jordan.

I'm currently supporting the players we have. Romelu used to frustrate me, even when he scored, and thought take the money...but I miss him!

Bill(#14); I have to disagree slightly as for me the instance that led to the Wolves breakaway goal was down to Gana. He played the ball to Doucoure who was sideways on to their goal and marked and played a return ball, not the best, which would have put Gana in a shooting position (yes, I know) but Gana had played his pass and as usual stopped to watch, he rarely moves for a return, he looks like he feels he's done his bit. Although I'm not in any way denying that Doucoure had a shocker of a game.

Anyway, trust the Geordies not to make the most of their own party.

the goal for me underlined what a poor side we are, fundamentally. Smart teams do not get caught like that in an away game on the edge of the opposition box. I don't blame it all on Doucoure although it was of course bad play. Why was the team so naive in the first place to leave itself so open like that, that one stray pass means curtains. And we do this all the time. Liverpool springs to mind. It is a major alarm bell for Sunday. Bournemouth will be practicing this drill all week.

'Right, so we let them have the ball (don't worry they won't do anything with it) and once the stupid bar stewards hit our 18 yard bo x, we pile in altogether at once'

Seems I don't agree with you Alan. Have just looked at the goal.

Gana definitely didn't stop to watch. He keeps running. Poor ball from Doucoure.

Garner recognises the danger and starts running back with a bit more effort than Onana and then ambles back. Everyone gets drawn to the ball and forgets about the eventual goalscorer.

Kevin. I agree with you that we often get caught out when we lose possession and in an instance we are in trouble.
Thankfully though, Brighton did this exact thing against us recently by playing suicide football and unbelievably we did to them what others have been doing to us.

Thanks for the report, I can feel your, energy, despair, frustration,desperation then finally blessed relief and happiness when we snatched a point at the very end, I only witnessed thirty minutes through the live forum then switched off to read a book, finally got back to live forum with the score 1-0 to Wolves and thought the match was over until the lines came through, Mina, Yis, Get fuckin’ in and felt the relief all of you there felt.

Now it’s the long wait until Sunday 4-59 and 30 seconds to see how fate has dealt with us!!

Thanks again Danny best of luck and happy safe travelling.

Post-match analysis last night after the Newcastle game showed how Eddie Howe had set up the defence for any Leicester break-away - essentially the fullbacks coming in from the flanks to make a small horseshoe into which 2 attacking players were channelled and "neutralised". At Wolves we seemed all over the place on the Wolves breakaway.

Bill(#14) & Ian(32); My apologies I was working from memory and have now reviewed it and gana didn't stop and it was a poor over hit pass from Doucoure.

Thanks Danny, we had the last laugh anyway.
I always think they are sad people who try to upset others when theres no need.

I've been giving plenty of odds on the football lately so I'll bore you with some more.
The odds compilers make us 4/9 to win with Bournemouth 11/2, I'm not sure I agree with that, I don't think we are that good a thing to win.

Leicester are 1/1 and West Ham 5/2 with 3/1 the draw. I wonder if Moyes will do us another favour and play a strongish team, I hope so.

Leeds and Spurs are both 7/4 to win and 5/2 the draw. I think Spurs will show up in this game they should have some pride surely.

I wonder if Bournemouth would take a back hander, I bet Moshiri would part with a fair old sum. Only joking but I bet its happened in the past.

I have to say I'm very apprehensive about us winning the game on Sunday especially if Dominic doesnt play, I suppose a lot depends on how Bournemouth approach the game.

Thanks Danny. Interesting comments about Wolves fans. I lived in Dudley between the age of 12-18. Baggies fans were always ok withme at school. Wolves fans were horrible. Not easy when you are the only Evertonian in the school. I used to dread the ‘pay-back’ on Monday morning whenever we played them - whatever the score.

The other half of the family are from Pensnett, Andy. A mix of Villa and Wolves.

Inevitably Liverpool and one was Manchester United until a certain age before switching to West Brom.

Thanks again Danny for your posting. I like the positive attitude always there on you posts.
Win vs Bournemouth at home this coming Sunday and we maintain our EPL status. That's it. Simples! Will we be up to it? YES! Of course.
DCL or no DCL, Patterson or no Patterson, we can win this game.
COYB.
Play Keane up front. Why Not. Have Conor Cody in the back line - Yes. We have the players capable of winning this, with Sean Dyche coaching (vs FL)
NIKE - Just Do It!

Maybe you are both correct, Brent and Martin, but I just thought he maybe could have bent his palm, and pushed into a safer area, although I think Ray is correct and if Onana would have carried on getting back, he might have prevented the Wolves player from scoring a tap-in.

Martin, I agree that Pickford can distribute the ball very well, and when he's on his game, he can pass the ball long, just as good as most outfield players, but sometimes he does become careless and rash, and Sunday is definitely a day for calm heads.

I'm sure Bournemouth have also got Russian owners, Ray!?

I didn't know that, Tony, that could be useful!

Hold that, I've just looked and it was sold in 2022 to an American billionaire.