Everton’s second-stringers disgrace themselves with pitiful cup exit

08/11/2022 51comments  |  Jump to last
Bournemouth 4 - 1 Everton

Everton made their ritual exit from the League Cup, this time in especially humiliating fashion after being thrashed 4-1 by Bournemouth’s reserve side at Vitality Stadium.

In an indication of how high up his list of priorities the Carabao Cup features, Frank Lampard had fielded a largely second-string line-up of his own that represented a wholesale series of 11 changes to the team that had started against Leicester in the Premier League last Saturday.

But despite the presence of the likes of Anthony Gordon, Neal Maupay and Nathan Patterson and former first-team regulars like Abdoulaye Doucouré, Tom Davies, Yerry Mina and Michael Keane, the Blues were largely schooled by the Cherries’ young outfit.

Though there were huge elements of fortune around their opening two goals, Bournemouth were decent value for the 2-0 lead they established by the 47th minute and Everton’s attempts to fight their way back into the tie had been fairly embarrassing despite a spell where they carved out some decent openings.

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The Blues had been chasing the game since the seventh minute when Jamal Lowe’s shot had looped over Asmir Begovic and in off the underside of the crossbar via a heavy deflection off James Garner who was making his first start since joining Everton from Manchester United in the summer.

Tom Davies should have levelled just four minutes later when Gordon won the ball in midfield, knocked it to Maupay who in turn found Doucouré to thread a perfectly-weighted pass between the centre-halves. Unfortunately, Davies skied an ugly shot into the stands and the chance went begging.

Garner forced a decent save from Mark Travers in the hosts’ goal three minutes later with a lovely left-footed effort that the keeper tipped over before Mina connected with Ruben Vinagre’s cross but Gordon could only steer the Colombian’s downward header well over.

One more opening in the 17th minute arrived when Patterson drove forward purposefully and picked out Gordon with a through-ball but the winger delayed his shot and it was eventually charged down for a corner.

In general, Everton’s players were wanting too much time and too many touches on the ball and any impetus they had after conceding the goal dissipated as the first half wore on, with the collective performance degenerating into a disjointed, largely aimless exercise in futility.

Not for the first time, Gordon took his frustration out on an opposition player with another ugly, petulant challenge that rightfully saw him booked and though the 21-year-old would start the second half, he only lasted six minutes after the interval before he was hooked in a treble change from Lampard in response to Bournemouth extending their lead.

The half was less than two minutes old when Holgate lost his footing trying to gather a ball across the front of the penalty area from Mina and it was seized upon by Ryan Christie who delivered a low ball towards the six-yard box, Lowe mis-kicked in front of goal but it fell to Junior Stanislas unmarked at the back post to net for the first time in 18 months.

Holgate joined Gordon and, strangely, Garner on the bench as Dwight McNeil, Demarai Gray and Alex Iwobi joined the fray in their stead while the ineffective Davies remained on the field, and after Begovic had had to deny Lowe and Zemura had despatched a free header over the crossbar, the visitors gave themselves a lifeline with a goal that made it 2-1 after 65 minutes.

Gray received the ball on the edge of the Cherries’ box from Iwobi, did well to hold off Ryan Fredericks and then curled a beautiful finish into the top corner.

Maupay blazed well off target a few minutes afterwards as Everton briefly threatened to equalise but with 12 minutes to go, Bournemouth effectively put the tie to bed when they counter-attacked down their left. Everton regrouped but still couldn't prevent Dembele from centering the ball, Lowe’s effort from close range was beaten off by Begovic but Emiliano Marcondes was there to tap in the loose ball.

Four minutes later, an awful slip-up by Patterson gifted Bournemouth their fourth, with Siriki Dembele robbing the young Scot who was the last defender and teeing up Jaidon Anthony to sweep the ball past the stranded keeper to complete the rout.

Youngsters Stanley Mills and Tom Cannon had been thrown on to get a run-out and the latter did win a free-kick with a neat turn down the touchline but otherwise it was a miserable, wet night to forget for those Evertonians who had made the trek south and were rewarded with a simply horrendous display.

Lampard now gets to bring his Everton squad back to the same venue this weekend where, presumably, a number of familiar faces who were rested for this trip will be back in the line-up, albeit against a stronger Bournemouth side than was on show this evening.

 

 

Reader Comments (51)

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Larry O'Hara
1 Posted 08/11/2022 at 22:57:07
Only a couple of saving graces:

1) shows how vital Coady/Tarkowski are
2) we can make amends on Saturday
3) Bournemouth will be very cocky, hopefully their undoing.

As for the game, words fail me…

Mike Doyle
2 Posted 08/11/2022 at 23:00:13
While Saturday will be a very different game - with 2 very different line ups - the issue of our inability to score looks likely to remain.
Mark Andrews
3 Posted 08/11/2022 at 23:01:28
We're an embarrassment of a club. When these second stringers come banging on Lampards door for a game he'd do well to show them this game. Mind you, they'd probably knock on the wrong door and Lampard nay not even be here.
Matthew Williams
4 Posted 08/11/2022 at 23:04:26
It comes to something when I look forward to another ToffeeWeb podcast dropping then an actual match day these days... maybe it's a cathartic thing or am just getting weary of another shite performance looming!
Lyndon Lloyd
5 Posted 08/11/2022 at 23:11:46
Nice to hear, Matthew, albeit I wish it were for better reasons! We were planning on doing our first instant match reaction after tonight's game but work and other commitments meant we couldn't get the gang together. We might wait until after the PL game on Saturday now and deal with both games together 😬
Justin Doone
6 Posted 08/11/2022 at 23:17:18
What was the point. It would have been cheaper and greener to just call the organising board up and said no thanks not this season, maybe next.

We have a first team that are in poor form, lacking confidence, co-ordination, creativity and goals.

Why not use this, the penultimate game of 'part A' to this weird and wonderful season to work on some joined up football, partnerships, how to press as a team.

F in U less Frank, you may think you do, but sorry, you don't get us, your not an Evertonian.

Another 'quickly move on' moment. Pathetic.

Tony Everan
7 Posted 08/11/2022 at 23:43:34
Lyndon, it should be an interesting discussion. Everton desperately need a win on Saturday , Frank Lampard’s future could easily depend on it. I am craving stability and incremental progress for the club but again I can see the optimism and positivity draining away down the plug hole. Frank has to put the stopper in fast. I’ve believed he was going to turn us around and gradually build something, I want to keep the faith.

Moshiri needs Premier League survival and options will open up after Saturday. The board have already courted Martinez before hiring Frank. There are other managers who are available and may be up for the job. There is a month out, followed almost straight away by the January transfer window. It’s an absolutely critical time in Lampard’s tenure.

Fran Mitchell
8 Posted 09/11/2022 at 00:48:43
if we lose on Saturday, then Lampard's position will definitely be under threat.

I am very conflicted.

We need stability. Too many changes, too many managers, too many mistakes.

He also seems a good man, and he has spoken well, done well to unify a club when it was broken.

But equally, we should be better.

Howe transformed Newcastle and his team, apart from Trippier and Bruno, is essentially the same players that looked League 1 standard.

Lampard has transformed Iwobi, and he has given us a solid defence with Tarkowski and Coady. But beyond that it's hard to see what he's done. Grey's form has nosedived, Gordon is still ineffective, and what should be a dominant midfield is still routinely opened up.

So the pertinent question: can Lampard make a winning team? and there I really don't know.

Was the Crystal Palace game a one off, a game where circumstances and opposition weakness played into our hands? or was it a game where the players managed to play Lampard's system correctly?

It's a tough time. But if we lose on Saturday, I expect we'll be discussing whic manager we'll get for Christmas I've rte next 6 weeks.

John Raftery
9 Posted 09/11/2022 at 01:21:46
The second goal came after three consecutive backward passes, the ball eventually reaching Begovic. We lost control of the situation when Holgate slipped before he could gather the pass out from Begovic.

My point is that in a team of low ability the more we pass the ball in our own half the more we increase the risk of a mistake or an accident. Abandoning this style is essential until such time in the future we have world class performers in blue shirts.

John Raftery
10 Posted 09/11/2022 at 01:33:24
Fran (8) I have been thinking about that Palace game and why the system worked so well that day but failed so miserably in other games. I suspect it had something to do with Palace’s attacking set-up mirroring ours with two wide players and a centre forward. As a result it was an even match in terms of midfield numbers and our midfielders were better than theirs on the day.

Control of the midfield is vital in most games. Without it the attack is redundant and the defence exposed.

Andy Peers
11 Posted 09/11/2022 at 02:05:43
The 3-5-2 formation will never work
Rob Halligan
12 Posted 09/11/2022 at 03:44:10
John #10.

Exactly what we were saying as we waited for the coach yesterday. We simply don't have the players who can play out from the back.

It's really idiocy when Pickford takes a 2-foot goal kick to either Coady or Tarkowski, only to get it back and he boots it down the pitch. As soon as Pickford passes the ball, the opposition forwards are right in there, forcing errors.

I've always said, let defenders defend, ie, get rid of the ball as far away from our goal as they can. After all, when the ball is 80 yards away from our goal, the opposition can't score, while the midfielders and forwards can play the “Fancy Dan” stuff.

May not look pretty on the eye, but it would save a heck of a lot of heart palpitations amongst the supporters and not put the defence under unnecessary pressure.

Just got in about 10 minutes ago, after a gruelling day, with it all to do again in 4 days time. The joys of being a football supporter, eh!

Paul Burns
13 Posted 09/11/2022 at 04:54:55
Everton's name is once again dragged through the gutter. The sooner all the fans realise that this will be so as long as Kenwright has his fingers around our throat, the better.

The disgrace has gone on too long, we're not even treading water anymore and I'm sick of being embarrassed and disgusted by the non-performance of the club I've supported all my life.

Words fail me. I feel fucking sick.

Jim Bennings
14 Posted 09/11/2022 at 06:36:57
Another disgusting day in the recent history of this rapidly declining football club.

Sad thing is these wastes of space won't care because they've got a little holiday to Australia coming up while the rest of us are all working our socks off in midwinter.

As I've said before no matter who the manager is or what player personnel we put out there, this club is simply not conditioned for success.

We are set up each year no matter how much money we spend, for failure, it's what we know best and somehow we always end up back where we started.

I hate being told we are in transition, this club never leaves transition.
We never get past the first year of this fabled "3 year project".

Imagine if it was us who had Newcastle's takeover last year, does anyone seriously think we'd be where Newcastle are now?

We all know the answer to that and frankly every new era is just a copy and paste of the previous failed one.

Tonight we didn't just lose that match, we lost to Bournemouth's 4th choice team that will probably never lineup together again.

We had experience out there last night, players that we may need again in an injury crisis and how many of those digraced flops would you call upon to get you out of trouble if that day arrives?

Utter disgrace for Rapid Decline FC.

Terry Hughes
15 Posted 09/11/2022 at 07:09:32
He put out virtually the same back line of lazy losers as last year. As for Davies and Gordon the least said about them pair of championship players the better.
Colin Glassar
16 Posted 09/11/2022 at 07:11:11
Everton are always just one step away from the abyss. I now expect them to go on and beat Bournemouth next game. Jeckyll and Hyde?
Jonathan Tasker
17 Posted 09/11/2022 at 07:11:37
When is Lampard getting fired ?
Benjamin Dyke
18 Posted 09/11/2022 at 07:17:53
I've given up expecting anything from Everton except disappointment. Apathy reigns supreme here. How can we be so abject against a 2nd string Bournemouth team? Our club is a disaster that Frank & co are struggling to fix.
Mark Murphy
19 Posted 09/11/2022 at 07:23:10
I'm trying (and failing) to retain my early-season optimism. I can't see any “plan” to our play other than patient sideways and back, even when we are chasing a game.

Bournemouth's team tonight had absolutely no-one that would get a game for us and their coach would never be considered for the job as Everton manager and yet they battered us and cut through us almost at will. I feel like if the teams had simply swapped kits pre-kick off, the team in blue would still have lost 4-1!

I simply do not understand why, no matter who we hire as manager, or whatever players we sign, we remain so toothless and devoid of attacking ideas or cohesion?

For fuck's sake, I'd love it if we played like Bournemouth did last night. I hate being negative and am desperately looking for positives but, beyond Tarkowski, Coady and Patterson, I'm struggling to see any.

John Graham
20 Posted 09/11/2022 at 07:41:12
Total disgrace from a bunch of average players with no guts, fight, skill, commitment, spirit, or anything else required to be a decent footballer.

Get rid of Keane, Holgate, Davies, Gordon – a disgrace to any football team.

Mick Roberts
21 Posted 09/11/2022 at 07:47:37
It does not matter who Lampard plays, he will use the same negative tactics. His away record here as well as Chelsea proves his time is up. Just go.
Steve Little
22 Posted 09/11/2022 at 07:54:23
I genuinely thought we would have a good chance of a couple of decent cup runs this season… but that was assuming we would be playing our strongest team.

We really should have enough to avoid a relegation battle, but we won't be competing for Europe, so why not give the cups a real go?

We have become harder to beat – perfect for cup competitions – and the Big 6 tend not to take these domestic competitions too seriously.

I'm not saying I thought we would win the thing but we could easily have given everyone a boost with an exciting run and then maybe with a little luck in the final stages, who knows…?

But no. We have to play our reserves. For fuck's sake.

Garry Martin
23 Posted 09/11/2022 at 07:55:28
Why do EFC insist on playing 80% of their football in their own half?

I've watched them for a long time now and concluded that playing 80% of your football at the back limits your goal-scoring opportunities, as we've seen consistently for 3 seasons now.

Combine that with midfield players who become ineffective due to this defensive consistency makes for dour results.
EFC's whole build-up play needs to be reviewed and changed to a midfield and forward focussed emphasis.

I can remember years ago, when central defenders were used in a simple defence role, simply getting in the way of forwards.

Danny O’Neill
25 Posted 09/11/2022 at 08:02:31
Still trying to wake myself up from that one.

If I feel like this, I hope they do and wake up.

John Raftery @ 9 and 10 sums it up pretty much bang on.

Many of us called for a strong starting line-up to get the game won. We put our second string out aside from a player just back from injury and a striker who was there because of injury.

Apologies, I'm still coming down from that and getting myself up for Saturday. I hope they are.

Gary Johnson
26 Posted 09/11/2022 at 08:09:32
Assuming we haven't got the balls and ambition to get a Simeone, Tuchel or Pochettino (“We are not a Villa, after all”)…..

Amorim, Gallardo, Garcia, Low, R Martinez, D Martinez, Rooney, Dyche, or even Big Duncan would be better bets than Frank for us moving forward.

I'd even take Moyes back… and I never thought I'd say that.

I'd also consider elevating Paul Tait. Albeit that'd be a huge risk on permanent. The gap for the World Cup is opportunity for change.

James Byrne
27 Posted 09/11/2022 at 08:18:59
I think we all agree, that performance was dogshit from the off!

I always wonder about these cup competitions and how they affect struggling clubs like Everton when trying to maintain league form etc. In our case, the existence to stay in the Premier League.

If we go back to Bournemouth at the weekend with an adjusted, stronger team and win this fixture, you just wonder if clubs purposely drop out of these competitions as part of a survival strategy!

I know some fans might see that as unthinkable, but I'm sure this goes on at most league levels in order to maintain league status.

Eddie Dunn
28 Posted 09/11/2022 at 08:24:22
On the thread before the match, I predicted a thumping and figured that Frank would prioritise the Premier League game as those points will keep him in a job, over a narrow win in the cup and a knackered performance in the League.

I thought it would be a gamble to make even four or five changes but his wholescale swaps were shocking. He has perhaps exposed his own lack of experience. All he has done is damage confidence and heap extra pressure on himself and the Saturday team.

I think he has demonstrated that he considers our first eleven just capable of winning on Saturday and therefore has refused to jeopardise our chances by tiring those guys or risking further injuries.

If we win on Saturday, most of us will consider his actions worthwhile (apart from the wonderful away travellers, who have been shat-on in no uncertain terms).

We are a bottom-half side with our first team and missing just a couple of those and we are relegation fodder. I think he knows it too.

I think he has made plenty of mistakes in his year at the helm. He is a young coach and learning his trade. I recall Moyes getting us dumped out of cups on a regular basis.

At the moment, we simply can't afford to sack him; we need to hope he can pick up a striker in January, hope that Dominic gets well, and pray that there are three worse teams in the Premier League.

A win on the road at the weekend will keep him in his job but another pitiful defeat with his strongest side will make Moshiri's corroding finger start twitching.

Sean Roe
29 Posted 09/11/2022 at 08:30:32
I think it's a combination of bad tactical decisions by the manager being executed – or not, as the case may be – by awful players.

I really don't know what the best thing would be to do. We still only have a handful of players that can be relied on out of an entire squad.

Our reserves and backups were absolutely thumped by Bournemouth's reserves and backups – that shows just how bad things really are.

Pete Jeffries
30 Posted 09/11/2022 at 08:31:24
We need players who can get inside and around the opposition box, that's the only way to win matches – not pass the ball sideways and backwards.

Ours get vertigo at the sight of goal. Every team copies that boring football, even the women.

In my grandson's junior league, if you pass the ball backwards it's a free kick against you.

Whoever devised the current possession football system – Pep and the Spanish? – have spoilt the game.

Derek Knox
31 Posted 09/11/2022 at 08:37:26
I agree with all of the comments on the ineptitude from last night, starting with Frank and down to the 'players' – I use that term loosely of course, and on the subject of back passing: I hate it. Okay, there may be the occasion when it is the last option, but make sure the pass is hit accurately and crisply and to one of our own players!

Hate to single players out (not really, they get paid to perform, so why not ?) but Holgate must think he is the coolest defender on the planet. News Alert for Holgate: why don't you have a look at yourself, dickhead, smell the coffee, put in a transfer request, then hopefully Fuck Off?

That also applies to Davies (who has lived immorally off that goal against Man City 5 years ago), Doucoure, Keane, Mina (decent but rarely fit and useless last night), Vinagre... I have left out Garner and Patterson for obvious reasons, but still can't fathom why Garner was subbed? McNeil, Maupay, Gordon (very poor 2/10) have at least done a bit in the past, to prove they may be useful squad members.

I don't want to see another manager change, but more performances and team selections like last night and Frank has signed his own P45 request. If he were to go, I hope Thelwell stays.

John Graham
32 Posted 09/11/2022 at 08:41:31
Total disgrace from a bunch of average players with no guts, fight, skill, commitment, effort, spirit, or anything else required to be a decent footballer.

Get rid of Keane, Holgate, Davies, Gordon — a disgrace to any football team.

Joe McMahon
33 Posted 09/11/2022 at 08:46:17
Gary @26,

You may get your wish? After 11 years at Everton it's possible he could get the sack for the 5th time! Hammers fans have had enough of the slow negative football.

Mark Murphy
34 Posted 09/11/2022 at 09:11:43
I think Holgate, Keane, Maupay and Mina did enough last night to show they shouldn't be on the bench.

They should be nowhere near the fucking ground on a match day!

Andrew Clare
35 Posted 09/11/2022 at 09:12:48
If we win on Saturday... fine. If we don't and I don't think we will win Frank Lampard will be under enormous pressure. Changing managers so often has a negative effect but, if there are no signs of improvement in the team, what choice do we have?

Are there any signs of improvement? Not really. Look where we are in the table, 2 points from the Bottom 3.

Okay, Iwobi is immense, Coady and Tarkowski are dependable, the full-backs are good, midfield is better but missing a truly creative player, the attack is sub standard and has been for a long long time.

The upcoming transfer window is so important. Despite everything, a lot still needs to be done before we can be regulars in the top half of the table. We do look very average.

Danny O’Neill
36 Posted 09/11/2022 at 09:14:46
Oh God. A Moyes and Kenwright reunion. Wouldn't that be wonderful.

Moyes Mk 2. We know how that went with Howard. Twice.

There's two stand names sorted.

Give me a pass today, Blues. Wounded and hurting and need to pick myself up for Saturday.

Jerome Shields
37 Posted 08/11/2022 at 09:23:16
Basically, Frank has confirmed what I thought. That players out of contention are not putting the effort into training. It is just not one or two players.

Frank's thinking before this game was to use the cup competition as part of the process of building the squad over the season, by giving out-of-contention players match-time to supplement their training. What he has found out is that some of them are not arsed whether they play are not. On the evidence, of this game, there was enough of them to have an adverse effect on even players in contention that where p!aying.

So now we have the situation that the next possible match play for these players is as an injury replacement, after the World Cup break or in the FA Cup rounds. It is not a good situation to be in the Premier League with players who are not putting the effort in and are so behind the curve in preparation.

Ideally they should be all put up for transfer, but probably there are financial permutations for the club that I can only guess at. There have been long-standing questions regarding Finch Farm and how fit for purpose the regime is. Frank's team seem to have found themselves caught unawares by what is actually going on there.

At least he is now under no illusions of their attitude. These players will work against him, not accepting the blame for anything, as they have done under previous managers. For me, even Holgate saying that it would be difficult getting back into the squad, reflected a negativity, rather than a positive commitment to effort. This could reflect a malaise around him, of other out-of-contention p!ayers..

Ian Pilkington
38 Posted 09/11/2022 at 09:41:41
Yes, of course! Our Chairman will have a choice of two managers: one failure who propped up his regime for 11 years… or another one who nearly got us relegated.


Rennie Smith
39 Posted 09/11/2022 at 10:04:59
Wow, that was on a different level of shite last night.

Whatever you think of Frank choosing to make 11 changes, it's got fuck-all to do with not being able to make a 15-yard pass or simple clearing header, or just leathering the ball in any direction.

These were experienced players up against a Championship reserves team, I don't care if they haven't had many minutes on the pitch – they should still be able to do the basics.

We had a shite journey home; I hope they did.

Ken Kneale
40 Posted 09/11/2022 at 11:05:45
Tony – if the review has been strategic, I very much doubt that it will be published as it will have identified the problem many of us have complained about.

How can a club that was a founder member of the Football League, spend the majority of the 20th Century at the forefront of the game both on and off the field, having possessed some of the greatest players ever to play in British football, fall so far in the last 30 years?

The answer is simple – leadership. It is still lacking now. I have not seen much evidence of Mr Sharp's wonderful football knowledge filtering through to the on- or off-field side of Everton since his appointment – and the other 'leaders' on the management committee are all fundamentally the same people or type of people who have got us into this mess.

Peter Hodgson
41 Posted 09/11/2022 at 11:08:54
With nearly 70 years of being an Everton supporter behind me, it is with regret that I say enough is enough. I can't stand the futility of it all anymore. Last night, I said to my wife "He has put a second team out. We will get stuffed." I was right.

I don't want any more of it. I have always supported the manager in situ although I haven't always been convinced about them so I don't really care what Moshiri does in that respect. He probably would be better by sacking everyone at the club who is in a decision-making position and starting again rather than just having a managerial revolving door as that policy has been shown not to work too.

I will watch with interest what happens next, as an interested bystander rather than an Evertonian, but hope that whatever they do restores respect to the name and the long-suffering fans.

However, I am not hopeful.

Peter Hodgson
42 Posted 09/11/2022 at 11:22:29
Ken @ 40

It is a bit unfair to mention just Sharpie. There are a host of guilty ones in the shadows who keep a low profile at such times and have been doing so for quite a while now.

The whole club is riddled with them from the top down. Why else does nothing change, even after the non-stop revolving door of managers with their initial ideas for the future?

That doesn't work, haven't you noticed yet?

Frank Knight
43 Posted 09/11/2022 at 11:32:10
I'm not going to blame the manager on this one. The first goal was unlucky, Holgate should have taken a yellow after the slip so that ball never gets in the box.

I saw three or four crosses of quality in the last 15 minutes or so, one Everton player at most in the box. Balls out from the back to midfield were too often laid back again without looking up; an awful lot of Vinagre overlaps were ignored.

Overall, it looked like a team fluffing their lines.

One worry for me that does concern the manager though, it is looking somewhat predictable at the moment.

Against Bournemouth and Leicester, we invited a press to get space up the pitch; neither team bought it, instead backing their midfield to break it down from deep and keeping pace up the field so we could be carved open; this will need to be looked at.

I couldn't help thinking last night that a big target to lay off would have helped.

Mike Doyle
44 Posted 09/11/2022 at 11:36:38
Peter #41,

I only had to say to my wife "Everton are playing tonight – what's your prediction". Her answer – as it has been for 30 years – was "I expect they'll lose again".

If I'd placed bets on all her predictions over the years, I'd be a wealthy chap today.

Danny O’Neill
45 Posted 09/11/2022 at 12:01:37
Rennie @39,

I don't think they'll have had a rubbish a journey as you, I, Rob Halligan and John amongst others I met yesterday. They'll have been in their Bournemouth hotel whilst we were still travelling, with many making the same trip in 3 days time.

Ken @40.

Yes, it's leadership. Something that has been lacking since we last won the league. Forget 27 years. 35 years and soon to become 36.

Peter @41.

Behave. You won't be able to help yourself on Saturday and will never be a bystander.

See you Saturday, Blues.

Jim Bennings
46 Posted 09/11/2022 at 12:04:42
Last night was one of the lowest points we've had for years, and let's be honest, over the past 5 years we've had more than enough.

What will be even more alarming for me, however, is if there is absolutely no reaction and response on Saturday to last night's capitulation.

If they don't beat Bournemouth on Saturday, then you do wonder what's down for a season with 3 wins from 15 matches.

Chris McCormack
47 Posted 09/11/2022 at 13:37:23
A lot of people suggesting that Frank was naive and didn't know his second string was going to play this bad, but I think this was a very calculated move by Frank to show exactly the situation he and we are in, to Moshiri et al. His post-match comments allude to exactly that.

It also gets the players off his back, who are knocking on his door asking to play – he can't tell them they're not good enough outright, but now he can point to this and go "Look!"

Jason Hewly
48 Posted 09/11/2022 at 17:16:47
The players that took part last night cost the club over £150 million in transfer fees alone. While you can't win every game, at least be competitive. For far too long we've watched the same faces playing for us who haven't turned up for a proper game in years.

Keane, Doucoure and Holgate haven't put in a decent performance for ages. When I say "ages", I'm not talking about a few weeks ago, I'm talking "the season before last". Why the hell are they still being picked? They've let this club down over and over again. They make the same mistakes every time they play, they haven't matched an opposition's performance level in years, and their weaknesses are exploited because every other team know how to get at them.

Then we come to Tom Davies. Fuck me! How on earth is he still getting a game?! He's a shocking player. Can't pass, can't shoot, can't tackle, can't organise, can't read the game, and gets rings run around him whenever he's on the pitch. He knows he's out of his depth at this level and so does every other team in the league.

As for Lampard, he's not sending a message to the board in any way. We're limited because of FFP and our league standing. Picking the same let-downs for a League Cup game tells the board nothing they don't already know. I'm broadly supportive of giving him another transfer window because the signings have been good, but his management after that is not good enough. Last night, he picked a team to:
A. rest some players and B. win the game.

He failed. Again.

Steve Cotton
49 Posted 09/11/2022 at 18:38:29
Let's be honest that was a disgrace, their second stringers were first to every ball while our team og Sunday league players couldn't find a colleague.
We had no midfield, no attack, little width and no creativity.
Surely there must be someone we can call back off loan to play up front who is taller than 5ft 6ins.
There was no leader and no fight. Just constant back passes. We even had a throw in by their box that went back to our keeper..
This has ruined my week so I hope all the players feel the same..
Don Alexander
50 Posted 10/11/2022 at 02:10:20
Not read every post but currently watching UK hi-lites on TV.

We featured about tenth in the procession of games, after the fabulous spectacle (not!) of Gillingham vs Brentford.

Kenwright must be gutted we're still not last on every national TV program of footy hi-lites though. Somehow, Stevenage vs Charlton and MK Dons vs Morecambe were deemed even more boring than us.

John Graham
51 Posted 10/11/2022 at 09:10:52
Without Cody and Tarkowski there is a distinct lack of captains in our squad who can gee players up. We need players to take more responsibility.
Philip Lockett
52 Posted 10/11/2022 at 22:37:23
I think Everton should offer not only an apology to all the fans who made the trip to Bournemouth but also a hefty refund.

How about it, Mr Kenwright?


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