Coady: We need to look hard in the mirror after 'shocking' performance
Conor Coady was scathing in his assessment of how Everton performed collectively at Bournemouth today, saying that it was “shocking” and nowhere near what is expected of Everton.
The Blues suffered their two heaviest defeats of the season in the space of four days at Vitality Stadium, conceding seven goals to the Cherries in League and Cup and ensuring that the club will go into the break for the World Cup under a heavy cloud.
A terrible error by Jordan Pickford and awful marking at a free-kick book-ended controversial officiating for Bournemouth’s second goal where referee Craig Pawson failed to stop play for a potential head injury to James Tarkowski, but Coady dismissed the significance of the decision in the context for a dreadful team display that ended in a sobering 3-0 defeat.
“You can say what you want about the second goal but [overall] it’s nowhere near good enough from our point of view,” the Wolves loanee said. “I don’t want to speak about it, to be honest — the referee’s done his job today and, whatever… Listen, we speak about referees after every game and I’m certainly not going to do that when we’ve put out a performance like that against Bournemouth.
“So, no, I’m not going to speak about the second goal. I’ll speak about the performance and it was nowhere near good enough. It was nothing that representative of an Everton team, that represents Everton Football Club, that represents our supporters, so one hard look in the mirror for everyone of us that plays for this football club.
Asked what the desperately poor team display was down to, Coady replied flatly: “Personal pride; standards; we have to set standards every day in training. It’s not just about today; it can’t be anything to do with the manager, his staff; it’s nothing to do with that.
“It’s up to us as players to have standards, to have personal pride in what we do every single day and we don’t have that at the minute. So we have to make sure we have that because things like [today] are going to happen. So we need to look at ourselves long and hard… because it was shocking and nowhere near good enough.
“We’ve got to look at it because we’ve got a second half of the season where we have to be better, no matter what. We can’t go into the second half of the season like that without a long talk in the dressing room in terms of what’s going on and what needs to be done.
“[Bournemouth] wanted it more than us. [We’re] massively short of where we need to be because this is Everton … and we’re not representing that as a team or as a club for the supporters.
“We need to make sure [we’re not back in a relegation fight come March] for those supporters who are travelling down every single [game] to watch us play in Bournemouth or Newcastle or wherever it may be. We’ve got a lot of learning to do and we’ve got to do it quickly.
Referring to the uncomfortable scenes after the final whistle where those players who went over to the away supporters were booed by the Everton fans, Coady said:
“Today, for me, will take a lot of time to get over, if I’m being honest, because that feeling out there on the pitch at the end was absolutely horrendous. We need the supporters behind us but how can we expected them to be when we’re [playing like] that?”
Reader Comments (64)
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2 Posted 12/11/2022 at 19:59:54
Not saying we ain't rubbish up top. But whose fault is that? Look how many defenders, and midfield players we've got.
Get selling Pickford: can't catch... mediocre keeper will do.
Raise the 𧵎million, Gordon, Pickford, others, 㿇million for Moise Kean. But don't let Frank spend it, he bought Maupay and McNeil.
West Ham will be changing manager by next week.They will be better, Southampton be better. We are going backwards.
Act now, we stand a chance.
3 Posted 12/11/2022 at 20:01:17
Some people went down to Bournemouth twice this week. They paid over 𧷤 and for that they possibly saw two of the worst displays by an Everton team in their entire history and Frank Lampard thinks they're being harsh on Iwobi and Co!
An idiot is a manager who week after week sets up a team in a formation that basically precludes any possibility of attacking and each time he expects a different outcome. Lampard may be a member of Mensa, so am I, but he, like me lacks a grain of football nous.
This team is simply awful. How many goals have they scored? How many on-target shots have they had?
I despair. We could have had Potter or Howe as a manager, but we like names: Koeman, Benitez, Lampard... Gerrard next? He's a name.
I despair. This is as bad as I've felt since I first started supporting them in their promotion season (1953-54).
Lampard – be honest and resign.
4 Posted 12/11/2022 at 20:04:59
I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry when I read these honest assessments by Everton players whether it be from Coleman, Baines et al in the past or presently by Coady.
What sort of culture do we have at GoodisonPark and Finch Farm? Or is it just a reflection of the current football culture in general?
5 Posted 12/11/2022 at 20:10:12
6 Posted 12/11/2022 at 20:11:01
The team, again, is exhibiting the same old signs. Nervous, unsure, clueless, flat and lost. No spirit, no authority, no direction, no idea. We just look like a non-team.
Something very deep is causing this. I have a suspicion it somehow doesn't "feel" like a major football club at Finch Farm, or a team. Some very odd cultural thing.
I'd say they are just going through the motions but they aren't even managing that. The biggest example of commitment in the last two games was Gordon's angry foul.
7 Posted 12/11/2022 at 20:22:04
I like Coady, Baines, Coleman. I even like Lampard. But if they can't inspire change, these words are meaningless.
I'm not fully sure on removing Lampard but, if we're going to, it has to be now. It'll give any potential replacement 6 weeks to plan for the window, and kick the shit out of these players.
8 Posted 12/11/2022 at 20:25:22
We absolutely battered Bournemouth... hit the crossbar and the post several times. The fecking VAR... we had three perfectly good goals chalked off and Bournemouth should have had two men sent off.
But then the camera focused on Kenwright! 3-Nil.
9 Posted 12/11/2022 at 20:28:10
Should we go down there and slap 'em about a bit?
(You first, and I'll back you up).
10 Posted 12/11/2022 at 20:31:48
If that tackle (on Van Dijk) had been committed on one of our players, we'd have rightly been screaming for the player to be sent off.
11 Posted 12/11/2022 at 20:31:49
I meant verbally, should have phrased it better.
I just cannot be bothered listening to the same "we're sorry, we should do better" interview ad nauseum.
I see some calling for the likes of Thomas Frank.
Personally, I'd like Dyche. He'll build team spirit, and he won't allow for the constant mental fragility that pervades the team.
12 Posted 12/11/2022 at 20:34:32
I want to hear Lampard say we were a disgrace and some of those players that can't be bothered to put in the effort and are not good enough to wear the shirt will be gone by the end of the season.
Many are Championship players at best. Bring in the kids and get rid of the dross.
Also from Lampard, I want his mindset to change and to go for an attacking style of play where the midfielders actually try to support the attack.
13 Posted 12/11/2022 at 20:44:55
Surprised we're aiming for pre BMD. I thought the curse wouldn't kick in till the first season.
14 Posted 12/11/2022 at 20:46:16
Jim, I was being sarcastic, it was a very bad tackle of course. It was committed though. :-)
15 Posted 12/11/2022 at 20:49:23
Maybe they should change the mirrors in the locker room, because the current ones just don't have the right answers.
Utter joke, the way this club is run.
16 Posted 12/11/2022 at 20:51:43
17 Posted 12/11/2022 at 20:54:17
I've honestly said it for about 8 years, that we've followed Villa's decline under Randy Lerner. Somehow, we've repeated all of their mistakes, and somehow magnified them.
If we had an honest sporting media, Bill Kenwright and his financial backer would have been held to account. Instead, because we're seen as a shitty little club, there's no interest in shining a light on just how bad they've been.
Some defend Moshiri on here, saying he's spent money. Big deal. He might as well have given Boris Johnson the money to burn in front of poor people, for all the use it's done.
18 Posted 12/11/2022 at 20:56:43
They must have a mirror like that one in Snow White that just flatters them.
19 Posted 12/11/2022 at 21:09:11
How quickly can a team lose it? Is it the manager not making us competitive enough in the midfield? Is it that we don't have enough going forward? Or is it that our players don't have enough desire? I'd say it's definitely all three.
20 Posted 12/11/2022 at 21:22:27
23 Posted 12/11/2022 at 21:46:34
Didn't really need explaining, the recent performances have displayed that, but thanks for confirming it.
Shameful stuff.
24 Posted 12/11/2022 at 21:54:41
There is something seriously wrong with this club. And, until that is sorted, we are in free fall.
25 Posted 12/11/2022 at 21:59:38
Sacking the manager will change everything if we get the next appointment right.
26 Posted 12/11/2022 at 21:59:59
Make all of them train at home between games. The manager can give his tactics over Zoom and only those selected for the first-team squad should turn up on matchday.
The staff can concentrate on improving the younger players without having to see a gang of merceneries going through the motions, with their expensive watches and luxury cars constantly on display.
It would be nice to think that this week has been a watershed week in the club's history but there have been so many similar weeks in the last few years that it has become the norm, rather than the exception.
27 Posted 12/11/2022 at 22:09:23
I agree it is all three. At the time, I thought that goal against Palace was the best moment of the season up to that point. Now, I am sorry it happened because it served to legitimise the playing from the back approach which mostly has created problems for players of average ability.
I think it worked against Palace partly because they were chasing the game. They used the same formation as us with two wide attackers and, before the goal, they had just taken off Milivojevic, leaving their midfield more open.
28 Posted 12/11/2022 at 22:28:35
Having no back-up to the fragile Calvert-Lewin is a dereliction of duty by our ineptly run shambles of a club. Buy a decent striker and a productive, creative midfielder to the squad – or face relegation.
When Chelsea offered ridiculous money for Gordon, we should have taken it, though I doubt if Lampard and Thelwell would have used it wisely. We won't be offered a stupid fee like that again for him.
The 'genius' Thelwell has added Maupay and McNeil… what was he smoking and can he be trusted to strengthen us?
Gana is a shadow of the player who left us, I've seen him give the ball away more in his last few games than he did in his previous tenure with us. Garner rarely plays. Gray has flattered to deceive everywhere he's been. Occasional flashes of talent, interspersed with dead-end mediocrity.
Lampard seems inept as a coach. Lacking the vision of a plan, and he has no tactical awareness of how to change a game when it's slipping away... which seems to be more often than not – the stats don't lie.
We're a weakened side compared to last season's circus. I fear we're going to have the finest stadium in the Championship, the financial burden that white elephant will lumber us with will be catastrophic.
Nice work, Farhad.
29 Posted 12/11/2022 at 22:28:43
30 Posted 12/11/2022 at 22:35:21
What is it about the last 7 manager changes we have made that leads you to think the next one could change everything if we get it right?
Absolutely nothing has changed when we've appointed the prior managers, so either the manager change has no impact, or all of our numerous recent appointments have not been “rightâ€.
Also, as we will have the same numpties appointing the next one, there's not much evidence of that changing and them pulling a rabbit out of the hat this time.
A manager change by itself won't change things much unless the people at the top, who have been the only constant through years of rubbish and numerous managers, are changed. How many more managers do we need before that is obvious to everyone?
31 Posted 12/11/2022 at 22:39:13
I'll readily admit I'm not qualified nor more importantly in a position of power to make that decision. Even if I was I'd probably get it wrong.
Doesn't mean that someone can't get it right.
32 Posted 12/11/2022 at 22:47:14
Howard Kendall, Joe Royle, Alex Ferguson, George Graham, Brian Clough, Bobby Robson, Mikel Arteta, Bill (spit) Shankly...
We didn't light the fire... it was always burning.
33 Posted 13/11/2022 at 00:49:54
Play at least 2 games per week behind closed doors with Championship sides until after the World Cup. This will possibly get you used to winning games – or at least get the team ready for season 2023-24. in The Championship.
34 Posted 13/11/2022 at 08:12:20
You missed nothing, mate, but to explain the 90 minutes in full:
1st minute crap, 90th minute crap, in-between crap, so overall crap.
Just about sums up the performance and tactical set-up. Absolute crap!!
35 Posted 13/11/2022 at 08:44:50
37 Posted 13/11/2022 at 10:23:09
I'm also concerned about Onana.
I know we had similar struggles when Fellaini first arrived but he quickly became a nuisance factor to opponent, he wasnt dominating midfield straight away but he was a handful behind the striker and was technically very gifted actually.
Onana looks all over the place at the moment and doesn't look all that clever with the ball either, I'm wondering what he's going to bring.
I get that he's young but so are other players at other clubs in this league and they are doing it right now.
38 Posted 13/11/2022 at 10:48:51
39 Posted 13/11/2022 at 11:47:42
40 Posted 13/11/2022 at 11:48:16
I'm speculating, but it would seem there's a bit of conflict going on between the newbies and the passive lot that have been treading water for too long.
Coady, Tarkowski and you can even see young Patterson throwing his arms up in despair.
Short term, not necessarily a harmonious thing, but it might just be the rocket some of our players need.
Along with new players in January.
41 Posted 13/11/2022 at 11:50:49
43 Posted 13/11/2022 at 14:07:11
Onana is yet another succumbing to The Everton Effect. A little rough around the edges but hit the ground running. Prematurely perhaps but one or two commentators said bigger clubs would be watching to see how he develops.
Since then he has declined incrementally almost by the game. He looks like the coaching and tactics have actually baffled him.
44 Posted 13/11/2022 at 15:14:12
45 Posted 13/11/2022 at 15:39:09
46 Posted 13/11/2022 at 18:14:29
The decline at Everton is the result of standards being allowed to drop and a "he's a good blue" mentality – regardless of whether he's up to the job.
Unless you change out the entire squad at a stroke – risking relegation or ruin – nothing will ever change because remnants of the shit mentality will remain and then indoctrinate the newcomers.
It's a revolving cycle which has to be eliminated at Everton. Start with the Boardroom and work down.
47 Posted 13/11/2022 at 18:25:27
Personally, I'd demolish Finch Farm and sow the ground with salt. The move to Finch Farm has been an unmitigated disaster. God knows what they actually do there because improving teamwork and footballing ability clearly aren't even on the agenda.
I'd even test the food there to find out whether it's being laced with drugs. Something is producing zombie-like performances and has been for years, even among newly recruited players within 2 months.
48 Posted 13/11/2022 at 18:37:27
John, I'm not sure how serious you are but I think you're the only other I've heard say this. Whilst checking for the integrity of the food sounds rather extreme on the one hand, one imagines a professional sports club/business has systems of a sort in place as a matter of course.
I have wondered about the water in the past. Whether bottled or mains supplied. All bases must be covered. I wouldn't be surprised to eventually learn of a very odd discovery as to the inherent lethargy and torpor that pervades the team far too often.
Or maybe someone pissed on a witch one time.
49 Posted 13/11/2022 at 18:51:43
Address that and suddenly the manager(s) will start to look a whole lot more competent.
50 Posted 14/11/2022 at 06:01:46
Everton have a fear of signing quality attacking players.
Since Lukaku left 5 years ago now, you can count on one hand the amount of strikers we've signed yet we've made an abundance of "holding" midfielders our priority.
51 Posted 14/11/2022 at 08:27:01
52 Posted 14/11/2022 at 08:41:40
53 Posted 14/11/2022 at 08:48:08
A host of managers has come to manage us and none have properly addressed this issue of buying goalscorers. It's like an inbuilt plan for failure rather than success.
Lampard has compounded the situation by selling our best striker and then spending the bulk of the money on holding midfielders, so he has to take his share of the blame for the current situation.
Keeping Frank offers only a very slim chance of survival in the Premier League but, if that's what the club decide, so be it. I'd be surprised if he's still here by January.
54 Posted 14/11/2022 at 08:53:01
Has sacking Gerrard made it worse for Villa? Has sacking Parker made it worse for Bournemouth? I suppose Spurs would have been better under Nuno? Man Utd under Ole?
Lampard has the second-worst record of any Everton manager ever at this stage. 5 points worse off than Benitez was, with a single game in hand. He is utterly gash. Uninspiring, negative dull, ignorant and too nice.
If we stick with him, even for as long as this break, we are bang in trouble. Not sure how exactly it could possibly get worse.
55 Posted 14/11/2022 at 08:56:43
"Chelsea boss Graham Potter has total backing from the club's owners despite suffering three straight defeats in the Premier League." (Athletic - subscription required)
56 Posted 14/11/2022 at 09:01:13
Three of the team were brought in by the last manager, and six by Lampard. This is very much Lampard's team and he should take all of the flack for the signings and most of it for the results and performances, in my opinion.
57 Posted 14/11/2022 at 09:03:30
Long break now so hopefully time for Lampard to sort things out and hopefully time for the young kids like Mills and Cannon to prove they are better than the dross on the pitch now.
58 Posted 14/11/2022 at 09:43:45
Regardless of our awful board, who have no idea about football, a manager with any sort of nous should be doing better than Lampard is by now.
Last season, just about every team we played were better organized than us – they played like a team. This season, I think we have had about 3 games where we have looked like a team with a purpose.
Why the hell haven't we bought a striker?
It's no good sacking managers every 5 minutes but what do we do?
59 Posted 14/11/2022 at 10:45:35
I agree.
Goals win games, signing attacking players that have ability and then making them a better player is the key to success.
Moyes did it with the likes of Kevin Mirallas, little known on these shores. A maverick, yes... but, on his day, a very effective match-changing player.
We sign too many stoppers that will never score you a goal.
61 Posted 14/11/2022 at 11:18:15
If Lampard is to keep his job, he has to speak with the owners and get full permission to offload the dead wood that has dragged us down for too long – we all know the names. If Lampard doesn't do this, he won't last much longer.
62 Posted 14/11/2022 at 15:14:12
I would accept what you say more if you had your facts right.
Mike Walker had 8 after 14 games which is a lot worse than 14 after 15.
Moyes only had 10 after 12 games in the horrible season after we finished 4th.
Marco Silva had 14 after 15 games.
Koeman had 12 after 13 games.
And if you take it fixture to fixture, which is a far better way than just looking at 15 games, he is just 1 point worse than last season, but with a reduction in the goal difference of 7.
63 Posted 14/11/2022 at 21:55:34
64 Posted 15/11/2022 at 04:26:00
65 Posted 15/11/2022 at 06:24:06
Short answer; because Rooney wouldn't leave Derby in the lurch.
Long answer / aka, showing your working out.
Moshiri picked Benitez (why is another thread) allegedly even Kenwright tried and failed to make him see the folly of that act.
'I told you so, Mosh,' said Kenwright,
'Okay, smart arse... You pick the next one' ... or alleged words to that effect.
Then as now, Kenwright would pick from his 'favourites'. But, with Moyes and Martinez apparently going nowhere at the time (why would they) then Potter and Rooney publicly including themselves out... add in the idea of Pereira apparently getting dog's abuse from fans. [Nobody asked me, I hardly knew of the guy.]
Result; Lampard by default and – 10 months on – it's still Lampard by default.
There's a Poll on GrandOldTeam showing 3:1 Lampard should stay...I would say that's more realisation that we can't keep sacking managers, not an endorsement of Lampard's performance so far.
66 Posted 15/11/2022 at 11:38:32
Surely, as in any other job, you at least have the pride to put in some graft and want people to think you have done a good job. Surely you go onto the pitch wanting to win every game and desperate to not get a drubbing. I don't get how some players seem to not have that attitude – it is just the least you expect.
As others have said, though, it sums up why we have been where we are for a few years now. Trouble is that you cannot coach desire, work ethic and personal pride into people. If some first-team players haven't got it at the stage of their careers they're at now, they never will.
That's why I think Lampard needs to be brave after the break and start giving some of the best younger players like Mills and Cannon a proper run in the side. At least they will be desperate to prove themselves and put in the intensity and effort which is needed.
I'm not saying fill the team with 11 youngsters, but we can't keep playing the more experienced players who obviously can't be bothered to even try. Doesn't matter how many caps they have or how many games they have played – we will always struggle playing the experienced pros who even their own teammate thinks can't be bothered.
67 Posted 15/11/2022 at 11:55:35
It's been said many times, not just me, that we were too knee-jerk to let Simms and Dobbin go on the proviso that Calvert-Lewin would stay fit and we would get a decent Richarlison replacement.
As for Mills and Cannon, yes, he should've tried them weeks ago but most managers are terrified of youth when their jobs are on the line. Always been that way unless they really are backed into a corner. Errr... hello, Frank.
69 Posted 16/11/2022 at 11:14:13
Coady himself is not without blame, preferring to stay deep. He is not attempting to implement Frank's tactics by doing so. You never see him organising the defence to push up. It is not new, the standards he has talked about, It has been long the case that enough players at Everton are not interested.
70 Posted 17/11/2022 at 17:20:24
Yeah, I think many fans were nervous about letting Simms & Dobbin go out on loan when we were so light up front, as you say. I think Calvert-Lewin's initial injury was after this but, even if he was fit, one decent striker to last the whole season was madness.
I see what you mean about the reluctance to give youth a go and think you're right sadly. As you say, though, Lampard may now be in a position where he has to – unless some seriously good business is done in the January window (especially up front).
At least the young guns might actually put some graft in consistently and look interested every game.
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1 Posted 12/11/2022 at 19:41:48