Poor Everton did well to lose by just one goal

All we can hope for is that we give it a good go at it and have some belief we can win this.

COYB...3 points please.

Their bench is a little scary too.

We need 2 goals to get anything out of this game, but at least we look to have a definite threat up front now.

If we can keep this squad of players fit (a big if, granted) we will not go down.

Obviously offside.

Atrocious from Onana regardless. He's got out of jail there.

It's not really watchable.

While the disallowed goal looked obviously offside that Linesman didn't flag but the one on the other side didn't seem to hesitate and as obvious as that shouldn't need VAR interference although I wasn't enamoured at a few Everton players just standing still appealing for it.

I'd also like to hear why Doucoure wasn't given a penalty as the Arsenal man stuck his leg out and then withdrew it most of the way back but Doucoure took advantage of it still being partly there, and we've all seen those given. And if Young's was worthy of a yellow then so should the player who followed through and body checked Pickford.

Still half time and those who had the ball are nil and those who didn't at the same score. We need to get more players forward when we do break as few and far between as they are.

How does that happen when we're offering up this kind of dross?

There should be more boos than ever for that rubbish.

What's the point?

Bit pathetic to be honest.

Said it before but I can't stand seeing our players smiling and laughing after a defeat. Mykolenko there hugging Saka and laughing away. My weekend ruined. Again.

It doesn't hurt them but then they don't go to work with RS and other clubs' fans. I can't imagine Reid, Ratcliffe, Southall etc. smiling away after we have 1 point from 5 games.

I have no idea what Onana represents. Inertia? Height? What is the point of him?

No MotD once more. Dreadful stuff.

The 3 centre mids are not working, still.

For the goal our defence and midfield just seemed to stand still watching and Arsenal had used the same tactic from a short corner of trying to play it to somebody in a shooting position and varied it slightly and we still did nothing to try and make it difficult. Even late on, Patterson raced from his side of the pitch to the opposite to help out as Arsenal had three players waiting to play the short corner.

I really don't see where we might get a goal from as we seem devoid of any attacking plan and our most dangerous moves seem to come only from Pickford's long ball. A MotM for us is difficult but if pushed I'd say Branthwaite over Mykolenko but we must find more ideas going forward other than a lone target man.

What about all these people that claim to know him, have spoken to him privately and heard how he rates his players and is quietly confident of surprising a few people this season?

Are we to believe that this is all shite?

Bournemouth and Luton home fixtures are absolutely huge. We cannot afford to go down to 1/2 points from 8/9 games.

And Onana is crying out to be dropped. He is awful, a terrible signing.

1. Branthwaite is an exceptional player.
2. Mykolenko is a very good one-on-one defender.
3. We miss Iwobi badly.
4. Calvert-Lewin is still our best centre-forward.
5. We have a very poor midfield indeed.

It is going to be a long season.

Does Dyche have the lowest win ratio of Everton managers since Harry Catterick?

Decent bloke but he has no tactics. We are not Burnley, we are Everton, and we deserve much better.

Don't know why our manager or anyone else is complaining about added time only being four minutes, they could added on sixty and we wouldn't have scored the way we are playing - one shot on target !

I expected nothing and that's what happened but for fuck sake Dyche won't even have a go, why didn't he leave Beto with Calvert Lewin?

Too many players once again just not at it - our midfield of Doucoure who has zero awareness, Onana and Gaye are awful, no creators in there at all.

Plus 4 mins added on was just corrupt.

Robert: Disagree on 2 points. We don't miss Iwobi and DCL did nothing when he came on. Beto offered more.

Goodison was as quiet as a graveyard today.

I lost count of the number of times an Arsenal move would break down in our 3rd only for us to give the ball straight back to them after 2 or 3 passes. So so bad at just keeping the ball.

The midfield of Geuye, Onana and Ducoure has so little creativity and all three are poor passers, often giving the ball straight back. If we’re going to play them regularly we need to use the wings a lot more as that middle three are not going to get more 3 goals between them this season. For me Garner needs to start.

I know it’s not his role but I don’t think I can remember seeing a worse shooter of a ball than Gueye. You’d think a professional footballer, in any position, could make contact with a ball properly. He had two shots around the box, one sliced towards the corner flag and the other so weak it just dribbled along the ground. Don’t players practice shooting anymore?

I can’t see us getting anything away to Brentford which then brings Luton at home. If we lose that I can’t see Dyche still being around after the October internationals. One point from first 5 is bad, one or two points from first 7 is not acceptable.

The defence was ok today and the attack had so little of the ball you can’t really comment. Big problem in midfield.

Arsenal are decent but nowhere near the teams they've had in the past, when Vieira et al were in their pomp. Everton are really hard-working and they don't lack for character, but they do lack any craft and creativity. How are the likes of McNeil and the other winger going to impose themselves on a game, when the midfield don't know how to find space or display such a lack of basic movement?

No point in having a fit centre-forward if you're just going to lash it up the pitch and the rest of the team treat the ball like a hot potato when they get over the half-way line.

What was it, one corner, perhaps, and a few tame efforts at goal from the whole 90 minutes, and yet we could have easily lost the game by more than the single goal, despite our defenders doing pretty well during the game.

Today, in my opinion was a free-hit on home turf, because nobody was expecting us to win, but few would have expected such a waving of the white-flag either.

I suppose it won't be long before we are that lower league team traveling to those much vaunted venues, but we aren't there yet, so it's imperative that we at least compete as best we can, and not merely put up the shutters and hope for a slice of good fortune.

Branthwaite had a really mature match and was head and shoulders above any other player in blue.

Losing to Arsenal isn't particularly damaging, if you're beating Fulham and Wolves. That's where we've run into trouble in recent years.

Lampard's first home game we won 4-1 and Benitez's first we won 3-1.

In today's modern attacking football where games last 98 minutes plus, it's unlikely that regularly scoring 1 goal will win you many games.

Beglin (I know he's ex red shite) called it in the first 10 minutes.

"The Everton midfield are too deep, they are conceding possession and not challenging for the ball".

I'd personally pull the trigger now, not one save did the Arsenal keeper have to make.

I could not believe how bad the passing was today; they literally – as professional football players and all internationals at some level too – could not string a move together.

I usually do not come on here post match and… well, post, but that was lamentable. Shame on them and the tactics too.

Watching this "team" bores me to death and after numerous years of watching turgid dross i'm over it personally. You could see our game plan fail from minute one today. Defend deep and hoof it up to Beto. I've played in sunday league teams with better ideas.

Ofcourse we have to give Arsenal respect, they have midfielders who can pass a ball so they're automatically better than us but the tactics today were unforgivable and if there was another manager who could turn us around i'd have Dyche out the door tonight.

Onana - Poor midfielder and lacks game Intelligence. I was surprised we didn't play Garner from the start. He is capable of passing and is much better player than Onana. We lost the battle because of our midfield.

Mcneil - Absolutely shite. Lacks pace and intensity.

Myko - Did good defensively but pathetic going forward. I think a good balanced left back is a must in January.

Beto - Lacked intensity and looked off color.

Midfield is a big worry. No cohesion and No balance. On paper we don't have bad players but this was a total shitshow.

We have long season to go !!

True, the manager is tactically hapless but that is also the worst Everton team I've seen in 55 years, just pipping last year's. And that midfield must be close to the worst in recent Premier League history.

I've no idea how we rescue this. The Luton game is going to be excruciating.

In my view, Dyche didn't believe his players could beat Arsenal today. I think they could surprise people and I am gutted that we were so tame today.

I fear it was damage limitation. Is a tactical 1-0 defeat better in the long term than a gung-ho thrashing? That's our option, and that is shite.

Over to the highly paid management team.

He'd better change his ways and start trying to win football matches and quickly; otherwise, his career as a manager is well and truly over.

Despite this there is no excuse for poor passing, poor ball retention and poor decision making, being second to a loose ball or not winning duals all over the pitch.

Arsenal were miles better but to an extent we let them do as they wanted. I want to see more sharpness, quicker thinking and better passing. Today we were outplayed but still we should be expecting a better performance than this, Arsenal really didn’t have to get out of second gear.

Dyche has got work to do this coming week because the basics have to be done right or we will continue to suffer.

One shining light is Jarrad Branthwaite who yet again looked like our best player. I don’t know whether that is praise for him or a damning indictment of the rest. Although I thought Beto tried his best without any quality service whatsoever.

It has to be a plan – you can't destroy a club of this size without solidly planning to fill the place with bananas who can't play or are past their best.

Hats off to those with the brass neck to get the caper off the ground because they've managed it. Somehow they've cobbled together a midfield of Gana, Doucouré and Onana without the police investigating for fraud.

Simply outstanding work.

Dyche is hopeless and we are worse now than under Lampard, I'll never accept him as manager, he is absolutely clueless. It's definitely Dyche out as far as I'm concerned.

All on Dyche. This was Burnley.

I agree Goodison was unusually subdued for such a big game.

I believe there is only so much fans can take. You can't ask fans to provide an atmosphere like the Palace game for every match, and also it does not have the same impact either.

Fans become tired of having to raise these players, it's become a chore rather than a pleasure.

When will the 3 of Gana, Onana, and Doucouré be dispensed with? It's clearly what's holding us back! Zero creativity through the middle.

People who pine for Iwobi must have missed the last 4 years of him as he was never our answer.

Dyche needs to find a solution and fast! I support him, and our season wont hinge on the results against top teams like Arsenal, but patience is wearing thin already. Results need to change or there will be no defence against the calls to change the manager.

Looks like the same scenario with Everton.

I'm now at that point sadly. Today was unforgivable. I accept being beaten by a better team but not in that manner.

Reality is we have 1 point and the manager can't create a team that can attack and defend.

We can not endure this negative and clueless dross. We will be relegated by Christmas.

I was prepared to get behind Dyche but Everton today were pathetic. Yes, they defended well. Yes, Branthwaite was excellent. However, we are never going to win any game against any opposition by being so passive (and useless).

No point in having Beto or Calvert-Lewin if they are never going to receive a decent ball. It's not their fault. We are set up to play in a particular manner by the manager. Not to lose… and certainly not to win either.

If we are going to be relegated, which seems pretty likely, then can we not at least support a team who appear to be trying to win? Who can have more than one shot on target. Who play like whirling dervishes, hell bent upon a positive outcome, even if it doesn't work out on the day.

I, for one, and I imagine very many others, can not stomach this dross, week-in & week-out.

Absolute abomination that.

People say Luton, Burnley and Sheffield United are worse than us; maybe so… but they would have had a go today. Their passion would have lifted their stadiums. How can our great fans show passion when our players and coaches show so little?

This was feeble, defeatest rubbish. Fair enough, we may not have the highest quality players at the moment but good coaching can get a lot out of the most average of players and the right attitude can take you far. There was none of that in evidence today and something needs to change fast.

The season prior was similar with wins against Arsenal and Chelsea which again meant we avoided the drop. It is more important to beat the teams around us, but every point is valuable, no matter who it comes against.

Did we change tactics when we went a goal down? Go to a high press even? Nope.

The 5-man midfield did nothing and what they did, they managed to do it badly.
Great start to a Monday morning here.. sets the tone for the week — or should that be weak?

Any more tactical displays like that and Dyche will be gone, new owners or not.

The midfield gave the defence no respite at all, and that is really, really concerning. Gana and Doucoure are poor footballers.

I believe Dyche is counting on Dele Alli to be the Iwobi replacement. A midfield 4 of Garner, Onana or McNeil, Dele and Harrison may be our only chance of survival this season.

On the negative side, it can still get worse.

I think he'll probably get the back-to-back home games against Luton and Bournemouth.

If we don't get two wins from those two, I think he'll get chased, although I don't know who makes the decisions to sack and appoint now that the club is up in the air with ownership etc.

We are losing at Brentford and Villa will send us packing in the Carabao Cup a week on Wednesday; the pressure will be on immensely for that Luton game.

It gives me no pleasure to see yet another managerial change but results and performance standards speak for themselves, and the fact is that, under Dyche, we just don't win games, none more so than we did under Frank Lampard, in fact Dyche has won less in the same timeframe.

It's not good enough not by a long chalk.

There would be no saviour like Joe Royle coming in to save us.

The end of another horrible week for the club.

Tony A will get used to life without Goodson Park!

Please do us all a favour and sack the man with island hair and a disc beard.

Overrun in midfield and so Dyche thinks "I know what to do, let's take Beto off and put Batman on!"

Clueless dinosaur. I bet he still says " we were good in transition"

But for Branthwaite, Tarkowski and Mykolenko that's 0 - 6. Sack him now.

The clubs down there with us are at least going down fighting — we're not.

Once we get everyone match sharp, we'll be okay and we are missing the leadership of Seamus on the field.

To be honest, I can't see Dyche lasting till Christmas. The man is hopeless.

Today's candidates include (in no order): McNeil, Danjuma, Young…and the winner is: Onana. For such a physically imposing person, he didn't exert himself almost at all.

He won't last 5 minutes once new owners are confirmed… if he's still here that long.
If the board doesn't act, we are going down.

The players we have are okay and should at least get us to mid-table. Sadly the situation will still remain demoralising while the ownership situation remains up in the air. Oh – isn't there a small matter of a P&S breach to clear up too?

If it wasn't for Pickford saving a penalty at Leicester we would be in the Championship already.

That's not football. That's surrender.

The best anyone hoped for was some dire, turgid football that got us to mid-table.

We're a long, long way from that.

Pull the plug.

Well, Sean, mate, if you set them up so negatively, isolate your only forward, and play your wide men like wingbacks, what did you expect?

If Moyes didn't own the 'knife to a gunfight' moniker, I'm sure Dyche would be spouting it.

If we would have been braver, we would have given them a game but you can't keep the ball if you're not looking for it and showing some movement.

I thought our organization was good, but our mentality is piss poor

Dyche is not the best manager but he is better than this.

Piss poor, Everton — you have let us down again.

I'm not sure even he will save us this time round…

It's a big step-up from where he is now, but at least he's been away from the club for long enough, not to be infected with the Finch Farm virus, and would he do much worse than Frank or Sean et al?

Taking it as read that we have little or no money, I think Thelwell did a decent job of getting the players in that he did. It's a shame we couldn't get any more in, but that's how it is.

I think Danjuma and Beto are decent players, but might take a bit of time to get used to the Premier League. They both did some good work but were left isolated when heading for goal. Harrison looks a good player too and I can't wait for him to to get fit.

To me, there was only two little weaknesses: When we were defending… and when we were attacking!

When we were attacking, Doucouré was like an ould steam train building up pressure to get up to full speed, eventually. Onana like a traffic light, guiding others towards the front, or back, while both of them forgetting to support the team, when we were attacking or when we were defending!

Both of them were poor indeed. Gueye ran round more than either of them but I think the whole team should be told, at all costs, don't let him shoot!

I'm hoping McNeil was not up to match fitness because he was so slow, I think I could have beaten him to the ball!

I thought the full-backs were decent, centre-halves were good, in fact Jarrad was excellent.

As for Pickford, I'd hope he was sold, along with Doucouré, Onana, get a decent goalie in, like the one who left us. Pickford does some wonderful saves, but can cause havoc in our defence when he flaps around like a demented chicken; and many times, he waves the players up, takes half an hour to take the kick, wellies it up the field and 9 times out of ten, the opposition get it. Does me head in!

As for a change of manager? Who the feck would come to this madhouse?

However, the big investigation is coming in October, the 777 deal comes under scrutiny whenever, so we might not be able to get any incomings, or sell anyone, while all this is happening.

Apart from all that, Mr Moshiri and Superman Bill are hiding as far away from our ground as they can!

It's a good job I know the words to "Always look on the bright side of life!" Where's me Fools and Horses DVD?

I'm not sure I'd judge anything on today's performance. Arsenal are a very, very good team.

Yes, Dyche played safety first which is not defensible against most teams, but the exact same tactics got us a priceless 1-0 win in the corresponding match last season. We weren't complaining then, were we?

Let's see where we stand after the Luton game.

Next 2 home games may define our season and the manager's future at the club.

Worried, yes! Concerned, yes! Today was far too easy for the opposition. It was a training exercise.

You're in a hole, lads! Work harder and harder!

Overall poor management. Tactics remind me of Sunday morning local football. Big hoof up the field hoping the big lad will get onto the ball.

We are well out of touch with modern Premier League football. So depressing and disappointing. We constantly live in hope that something will change but it's the same, week-in & week-out.

I really can't see us getting out of this. I am usually upbeat and positive, but struggling to find anything to give me hope.

Yeah let's get shut of Dyche, he's ruined this club. Let's go for Pep... or Bingo... or hang on — who?

Maybe we have a load of players who aren't good at footy. Ever thought of that?

I can't see when or where the next goal is going to come from — let alone a win. The loyal fans have been constantly let down by players, managers and absent crackpot board and now a dodgy-looking 777 Partners takeover — can it get any worse???

Perhaps..."We can't win but let's not get battered"?

We must have the worst midfield in the league. Players who can't pass, retain possession, shoot or anticipate second balls. The tactics, such as they were, to maybe nick a goal… God knows how with no width and zero creativity in midfield.

Simply abysmal. Used to be the hope that killed us… I'm not sure where the hope is after watching that performance.

2 Arsenal players would go to take the corner, drawing out one of our defenders who was easily by-passed by the 2, one of whom would lay it back to the edge of the box.

We could all see it. Doncaster did it to us. Why couldn't one of our coaches?

Overall, the gulf between the teams was huge.

I said it a few weeks ago: Everton are done in this league.

Whats so wrong with 4-3-3 Sean? This bile 1-9-1 is professionally pathetic and cowardly in the extreme.

A bottler who can't (or won't) keep his nerve and let the players be creative – it's like looking at a junior coach who shouts his balls off at the kids in his team on a Sunday morning (and I've been the opposition coach on dozens of occasions) because he doesn't understand how to be creative and let the kids own the game. So he just shouts puerile nonsense because that's what you do, isn't it?

If it makes you feel big and authoritative, Sean, crack on, pal. But I would just like to remind you, this garbage you are serving up is making you look even more Prehistoric than I already know you are.

The grass is laid out flat and in a rectangular shape at ground level for a reason – so the bloody ball rolls round on it!!! Anti-football for a lost cause indeed.

I find it all rather insulting actually, Mr Dyche; if you won't change — bugger off!

We were outclassed – we knew that before the game. If your midfield is outplayed, you don't have a chance.

We have only survival to play for this season; it is depressing, yes, it is what it is though.

Why anyone thinks changing the manager again and again will turn average players into class players beats me.

I thought the much criticised defence did okay. Our midfield don't really seem to protect the defence or support the attack and we provided little or no threat on the Arsenal goal.

I don't think we had a corner in the entire game, but even if we had, no doubt Ashley Young would have floated them into the goalie's hands – as he does with every free kick.

Didn't do them any harm.

That was me who said that. Granted it's a close run thing between the two but as I see it, Beto is probably better than Maupay, it's a low bar after all, but I don't think I've seen evidence that Danjuma is better than Gray, still less that Chermiti, who we have barely even seen, is better than Iwobi. He's much cheaper if that's what counts.

Balanced against that, I see players either in decline or frozen with fear or lethargy. Young is shot, so is Gana, Onana is not kicking on, nor has Patterson, even McNeil is below where he was second half of last season.

There is only one area where one can say with some confidence that we are stronger versus last season. Branthwaite is definitely an upgrade on Keane.

Disappointed with Dyche. I thought he was better than that. I get setting up to try to stifle the opposition but the lack of intent and ability to break and get the ball into a scoring position was worrying.

At home, against a team we have had the edge on before, and sitting where we are, why not show some attacking intent?

Very poor. I wonder if he thinks he's getting the boot? I just about still believe he can turn it around with these players but today was dire from him, no excuses can defend that set up.

Did they watch videos about how Arsenal concede goals? Did they work on what to do in the event of a turnover? Did they come up with an innovative set-piece?

No. They sat deep, lumped it up to the big man, and looked for knock downs. The players are better than these tactics.

Last season, he was pretty good at corners, I seem to recall, unless my aged mind is playing tricks on me again.

I hoped he had more in his locker but looks a very limited manager.

Dyche — get a grip, 11 back and he's moaning no transition but there's no bugger to pass to!!!

Our defense was decent but I lost count of the number of times that the ball out from the back 4 was lost immediately. Not one of our midfielders could hold onto the ball or make an accurate pass.

Like many others on here I don't understand why Garner was on the bench.

Shocking tactics at home regardless if the opposition. Careful, yes… lays down before a ball is kicked by putting that side out – never.

Onana should be dropped as I don't feel he adds anything.

I've been screaming to anyone who will listen for months and months we could have Salah, Kane and Haaland playing up top for us and they wouldn't see the ball.

But no, this moron Thelwell chased that little gimp Gnonto all summer… he's a cretin. That midfield is absolutely shocking and yet the people who matter can't see what's unfolding before their eyes. Absolutely clueless.

Didn't lay a glove on them and we were clueless when we got the ball. What have the numpties been working on over the last 2 weeks???

There's literally sweet fuck-all to be proud about or hopeful about as an Evertonian.

It's proper abject.

Our manager looks very blinkered in his tactics, and in-game management. Very very poor.

We're absolute dogshit in possession. If this continues, Garth Crooks will be right about a team being relegated by Christmas, but it won't be Luton.

Clueless, aimless, and pointless to watch. I sat in silence the entire 94 minutes. I've completely lost interest in football.

Long season in prospect.

Only hope of survival is to take points from teams in the bottom third.

Problem for him is who would want him in his current mindset?

We were playing against one of the Top 6 teams with a manager who has had a number of seasons to build and develop a team who we expected to give us a hard game with a bench that contained players that would be first choice if we had them.

The tactics were good if not nice to watch but, once again, the midfield was non-existent and provided minimal help to the forwards. I think the manager and his coaches should take a hard look at free-kicks and corners as every one has no variations and is predictable.

This is going to be a very difficult season and I think the manager will have to change his tactics and not have to rely on breakaways to score goals as allowing teams to control the midfield will be our downfall.

Goals get you points; defense lets you keep them.

I never expected us to do much against a good side but we couldn't even string two passes together. So many players are still playing who almost got us relegated the last 2 years ago, so nothing has changed.

Teams worse than us? Don't thinks so…

The table already looks like a shootout between us, Luton, Burnley, Sheffield Utd, Wolves, Bournemouth and maybe Forest.

Dyche did say that to “I” not “these” Grant, but I had the same feelings as Andy because I couldn't believe how passive Everton actually were today.

When skies are grey, don't take my Everton away – but these current owners definitely seem to be doing their best to actually make this happen.

The fans have kept Everton up twice, but they are getting the life sucked out of them once again, and watching such a negative performance will definitely suck the life out us for good. That was my biggest thought when leaving Goodison Park today, and this was best amplified by Barry W @64.

Defend with purpose and then look to get forward with purpose, but it sometimes felt like Everton were already setting themselves up defensively when Pickford was about to kick the ball long; if there is one team that don't particularly like scrapping for the second ball, then I personally believe it's Arteta's Arsenal.

Disgraceful soulless tactics, I also thought Barry H's first paragraph @47 could not be argued against.

The game simply passed the rest by.

Is it possible that Godfrey, who has a bit of pace, could replace Gueye in front of the back four? I can't really offer any solution, given the personnel we have to improve the midfield unit. They simply are inadequate.

Dyche done a good job keeping us up. But he's still using the same tatics as he did for keeping us up. The same as Allardyce does.

I know, "Who would you have?" Well, I would try Potter, he's young and not a dinosaur; however, would he take it?

If Dyche is still here Monday, the one place he will be taking us is the Championship. We really are in deep shit.

If you concede two-thirds of the field to the opposition, then the most you can hope for is a draw and nearly all of us, again, were waiting for Arsenal to end the game with the inevitable goal.

A lot of fans have given praise to Branthwaite, Mykolenko and Tarkowski for their efforts which kept the score down.

How can professional footballers be consistently poor with the basics, very poor passing, lack of movement, and worst of all – no sense of urgency to try and resurrect the game when we went behind.

Most of us have pointed out we are poor in central midfield with no creators, not providing any goals apart from the occasional ones from Doucoure.

Most of us are aware of the faults – they have been there for a long time – but not enough remedies to improve them, mainly because of the cack-handed way the club has been run.

We, the main asset of the club, will suffer most if the worst happens, while those responsible will walk away from the calamity they created without a care and some will even benefit, financially, for the sad ending we look like ending up with.

We didn't have a go. It was cowardly. It was boring. We were at home and shit the bed.

If Dyche thinks that is acceptable, he can do one. If we don't get 4 points from Brentford and Luton, then he can go.

Unfortunately, you are wrong, it was just as bad as people are making it out to be. I know we were playing a team with significantly better players but we were at home. We had 25% possession, we had 1 corner – Arsenal must have reached double figures and the most damming of all we only had 66% pass completion (the worst in the Premier League this weekend), we were just incapable of finding another blue shirt. I can't remember us having a single shot on target.

We badly missed Alex Iwobi's energy and had no-one to drive us forward. Why Onana gets picked every week is beyond me he simply isn't good enough. The reason Idrissa looks poor at present is because he is doing two jobs, his own and Onana's.

Beto wandered about aimlessly for an hour, Calvert-Lewin wasn't a whole lot better but at least the Arsenal centre-backs knew they were in a game.

Goodison is a reactive ground – give 100% and stick a foot in and it will back you to the hilt, no matter what the result. It's a long time since I heard it that quiet for 90 minutes.

I am very much afraid that we are in serious trouble and there has to be a complete change in mind set throughout the club. I walked through the players car park at the rear of the Park End and my blood boiled at the Bentleys, Ferraris, that were on display and thought about the 40-odd thousand people who had paid a lot of money to watch that 11 amble around the pitch for 90 minutes.

This isn't the worst Everton team I've seen, but it comes close to being the most disappointing. And I got wet waiting for the bus and there was no one in The Crown to drown my sorrows with.

I thought Arsenal were actually running out of ideas at times during the second half but, because Everton never showed any ambition, the flow of the game never altered in any way.

Listening to the halftime banter between both sets of fans, I could hear the Evertonians singing about Arsenal bottling it last season, and I believe they might have also bottled it today if Everton had applied any real pressure.

Performances like that are only going to put real pressure on ourselves once again, but I'm not sure the fans, who are getting the life sucked out of them once again, are going to be in a fit enough state to do anything about it. It looks a lot worse than I thought… and I haven't had any good feelings for a long time!

Manager-wise we have a limited chance whatever players are available. He's limited in his tactics, very predictable.

Onana needs dropping. He may turn up for Belgium against Azerbaijan and Estonia but he vanishes for us.

We can no longer play Doucoure as a box-to-box Number 10 and certainly not Gana as a conventional Number 8 as he was today.

And we certainly can't play three up top with conventional wingers. Danjuma was barely there today and it only worsens the lone striker's isolation if the other two up top are hugging the touchline. Dyche seems to be the only manager not using inside forwards in a front three.

There needs to be a fire lit under his arse but who is even in the boardroom to give him the “vote of confidence”? Thelwell?

There's no one there to tell the manager it's unacceptable so we're left facing the entire future of the club being carried on the shoulders of Sean Dyche.

A long train journey for Danny on the back of that performance, another hopeless case.

Dyche can't be blamed for our players not being able to pass the ball to each other but none of them look like they're enjoying themselves. When Dyche was appointed, it came with the safe pair of hands and he'll steady the ship. I don't think we'll ever be in the category of safe with him in charge; even if we get the result, we won't enjoy watching it. I know we've fallen off a lot over the years but surely we should look forward to watching Everton play?

Look what's happened at Spurs, two really defensive mangers and they lost their best player, then they took a gamble and they appointed a forward-thinking manager who was untested in the Premier League – look how happy their fans are.

Yes, it would be a massive gamble to change manager again and bring in someone who hasn't managed in the Premier League but that's where we are now. We need to roll the dice, the next appointment has to be a positive-thinking manager.

I can only see us going down if we keep Dyche. I could be wrong and probably will be but, even if he keeps us up, will anyone enjoy watching us all season – and more importantly, would you really want to watch this in the new stadium?

I hope Dyche changes his tactics a little and we enjoy watching it but I'm not holding my breath.

It will hopefully work against some of the weaker teams but, for the likes of Saliba and Gabriel and Rice, it's no challenge at all.

I don't wanna see another sacking but Dyche will come under pressure unless he can get us to at least execute the plan a bit better.

An owner who wants away and has pulled the finances. a chairman who hasn't a clue, a board that don't communicate with the fans, players on inflated contracts who won't leave or no one else wants and players who are not good enough, a non existent strategy on how we want to play and what players we want.
It's Sunderland Till I Die and we are going the same way.
Desperate. I honestly can't see any positives and believe me I have been looking.

“That performance saddened me, but I felt a lot more sad for the thousands of Evertonians, who can see that every single thing our once great club has always stood for, has been slowly getting taken away😢”

Paul H, that is definitely the best and also most sensible question, I’ve genuinely ever heard you ask!

Don’t forget Gueye’s pass back in the first half Jeff, even if your post comes in after mine!!

That ball that fell to Gueye on the edge of the box which he ballooned (naturally) over the bar , if that had been Garner , who can shoot , we would have maybe had 1 shot on target today! Instead of a big fat 0.

Poor teams look tired and uncommitted even if pulling their tripes out, chasing shadows on a football pitch is an energy sapper and better opposition have you looking flat-footed and shagged out 9 times out of 10. They don't need their A-game – just enough to get the job done and hop the bus home, just as Arsenal did today.

The die is cast: we have no money, the squad isn't going to majorly change. Our hope is a gradual improvement leading to another skin-of-the-teeth survival. Fans undermining the manager will only make things worse.

I was actually thinking that Dyche might have got it right around the hour mark as Arsenal seemed to be running out of ideas and steam (though they always have a moment of inspiration in them) and I was starting to have the audacity to imagine Calvert-Lewin and 1-0.

We were hardly troubled in the first half. Pickford had nothing of note to do. Yes, Arsenal were the better team (although their heads seemed to drop after the no-goal) but we were defending well (Branthwaite was very good today) and looked capable of keeping a clean sheet.

I thought that there would be a response after they scored, but there was none –Garner had little or no impact, Calvert-Lewin's skewed shot/cross summed him up – and that was the more worrying aspect for me. Something different might have helped: eg, playing Beto and Calvert-Lewin together (that sub took us backwards not forwards); McNeill is clearly nowhere near fully ready.

Our two best players by a mile were defenders, Mykolenko and Branthwaite, and that speaks volumes. We did not have a midfield today. How long will Dyche persist in starting Gana, Doucouré, and the limp and lazy clown Onana?

He has shown that he can change things. Keane springs to mind. But he needs to take a long and hard look at that headless midfield.

There is a good team there – Pickford, Coleman, Branthwaite, Tarkowski, Mykolenko, Gueye, Garner, Harrison, McNeil, Danjuma, Beto or Calvert-Lewin. That's not a great line-up, I see potential flaws and slip-ups, but it's decent and is not a Bottom 3 team if it is coached well and the manager's game management is smart and responsive to developing situations on the pitch.

Dyche was almost as bad as Onana today. He did not seem resilient, spirited, strategically stubborn in a sort of "We can break them down" way, or able to deal with the middle of the field.

"Our growth is where we are [what does that mean?]. There is a reality. Last season nothing was solved. I've said there is massive work to be done."

He's decent on diagnosis but not on delivery (yet). You could see a taxi on the way in normal circumstances but these are not normal circumstances.

He has to get a tune from these players but we were mute today. This has to change; the alternative is unthinkable. He is most certainly in sackable territory and I for one – on the brighter side of things, I think – am struggling to find the words and thoughts to get behind him. But who else? Some say that anyone who wants the job should be automatically disqualified as nuts.

I can only think of Julen Lopeteguiha but I'm not in the best frame of mind right now and ideas aren't exactly popping into my glum mind.

Instead of hiring Marcelino, a top top manager, who was a free agent until July this year, they decided to go with Dyche, who has been sacked from his only 2 jobs that he's had! A man who only knows to pack the defense and hoof the ball up-field.

They just bought a £100M centre mid and have a squad full of players that cost more than our record signing.

Our aim is to stay in the league and finish 17th.

We don't have goals in the team and lack quality all over the park. We have a few athletes but not many footballers.

Losing 1-0 shouldn't dent confidence too much against a very good Arsenal team.

Mykolenko my MotM, Saka was shackled for most of the game.

Thought Young was lucky to get a start today. McNeil or Garner need to take the ball off him on set pieces.

Get used to us playing deep and trying to hit teams on the break as it is the only way of playing with this squad. We simply haven't got the players to play any other way.

Tough away game next week then a couple of very winnable games.

Fact: We haven't properly defended a short corner in about 4 years, why oh why don't the players cop on to this?

Why doesn't Pickford sort it out, usually has plenty to say about everything else?

Ultimately, the buck stops with the manager, why hasn't the defensive expert Dyche sorted this glaring problem out?

The defending of that corner was as you describe. Arsenal even got a trail run not long before that. The defence was better organised but, when it came to that corner, it all went out the window.

It was as if the previous substitution had orientated Everton to attack and, in the resulting indecision, a gaping hole was left between the defensive line and midfield.

A complete gaff. You could see it before the goal went in.

I don't believe that Arsenal will get Top 4 this season, never mind take Man City to the wire, the only side capable of challenging City are those who should not be mentioned on these pages.

I will watch the North London derby with some interest next week.

Every manager eventually gets sacked. Dyche worked miracles at Burnley and got them to Europe, for fuck's sake. Kept them up for years – something akin to miracles along the lines of loaves and fish.

I'm looking for positives and this is all I got (improper English purposefully):

One win and we're likely in 15th place. I do not believe this horrific run will continue.

Surely this is not true, I've missed something, pressed something wrong, or they put a crummy three-hour "Retro Sunday" 1950s, 1960s, 1970s show on to replace the commentary on another awful performance?

The more he plays, the greater the likelihood that the 'experts' will be alerted to his shortcomings. Very soon, he will be added to our never-ending list of useless expensive flops that we are unable to give away.

Probably still an hour from getting home.

I'll gather my thoughts when I wake up.

Hurting.

Did we play "reserved" or we didn't have a go against Fulham? Wolves? Sheffield? Nope.

We've played shit against Villa, and today was boring as fuck, but do you really (I mean really??) want to have a go against Arsenal with this squad? Hell, no you don't! Dyche did exactly what he should have, and the players didn't play well.

And those saying we should play more open and go for it – what did you say when Martinez was in charge? He was gung-ho and we ran his ass out of town. Or Lampard who wanted to play more open football? How'd he fare? Sacked when it didn't work.

Like it or not, Sean Dyche is doing exactly what he should with this team. And it will garner enough points over 38 games to keep us up. I'll be putting a lot of money on that!

Everyone's disappointed – rightfully. Our ownership is a fucking mess, we just laid a wet fart today, and we've got a single damn point from 15. I get it.

But to call for Dyche's head and question how the team was set up today is nuts. Fire the coach with club ownership in a complete tailspin at this point in time??? Suicide.

I've wanted to use this English term forever: give your heads a wobble!

For some reason, good players become crap at Everton. Don't ask me why… but I have a few theories.

Jamie C, to paraphrase ABBA, I also believe in angels.

I was listening in the car after the match to Radio Merseyside, there was definitely a post-match phone-in with Barry Horne so I presume there was a commentary to the game too.

It was the usual callers saying the same shite, only plus was Horne making a bit of sense to it, better than the usual dross from Ronnie Goodlass who I'm sure gets paid by the BBC for each use of the phrase “but again”…

It's not on the playback schedule for Sunday here (other side of the pond) and we have "Retro Sunday" from 4PM/7PM.

Sad to say, but Goodlass does spout dross doen't he?

Would love to know if the commentary and phone in is available on Radio Merseyside's playback schedule over there.

And if it is not to find out why.

Warms my heart to know that.

To think before we got Dyche, Bielsa wanted to come in, and work with the under 23,s until the summer, and then take charge of the first team, 6 Months of working with the likes of Mills, Branthwaite, Cannon, Warrington, Price and the likes.

Could you see Bielsa putting up with that pedestrian midfield, that ship has sailed, but his vision and idea at the time were bang on.

That was shocking today, three midfielders too simular, take one of them out and get Garner more central in midfield, why take one striker off and swap like for like, Arsenal dealt with Beto, so change the system earlier, get Calvert- Lewin on along side him, give Arsenal something different to deal with.

Once again too late to react to tactical subs and trying to change the game, negative tactics and lack of subs at the right time, piss poor.

What happened to give and go? the basis of football for probably the last 60 years. Overlapping runs? I'm not expecting Steven/Stevens or Bainaar, but there's no evidence they train for it; Arsenal did it all afternoon.

Today was a flaccid, shithouse performance against a team who are, admittedly light years ahead of us. But that doesn't stop lower league teams when drawn against Prem teams, getting in their faces contesting every ball; you don't need silky skills to press the ball.

What's worrying is that we've played 2 teams who are in the bracket that'll be competing for Europe and we've looked like a beaten team from the off. Change the manager? don't know, don't care, I just want this nightmare to end.

On time-travel here, Alan Beswick is on Radio Merseyside right now. I remember him from ages ago. Red Rose or something? As you say, Barry, he's on all those stations at the same time and is about to be replaced by some sort of nation-wide show, apparently with no local touches.

Dyche had two weeks, with most of his squad, to prepare for that game and, once again, they played like a bunch of strangers.

And where was the famous Dyche discipline and steel? Most of the players left the field grinning like Cheshire cats

I didn’t see anybody smiling walking away from Goodison today, not one person, if the players where laughing and joking with Arsenal players coming off that pitch today then relegation is a real threat with this lot.

TBF Paul, Burtenshaw and The Angel where caretakers, even Potter on “Yes Sir” had a better success ratio than them 2!

Likely needing at least seven more wins to stay up, this was one of the most difficult of Everton’s remaining assignments this season. Arsenal, unbeaten in the Premier League since September under Mikel Arteta, are an excellent side yet there were precious few moments during the 90 minutes where they were allowed to exhibit their quality. In all, they had just three shots on target and only one of them, a powerful drive from substitute Leandro Trossard 12 minutes from time, really tested Jordan Pickford. Extract from Lyndon's match report in Dyche's first game at Goodison February 2023. He also goes on to praise the very same three players who were in the midfield today.
Pickford; Coleman;Coady;Tarkowski;Mykolenko
Gueye;Onana Doucoure
Iwobi McNeil
Calvert-Lewin (Maupay 62' booked)

And from the match report in the 2021-22 season, Lyndon's summarises the victory over Arsenal at Goodison.
It’s just one game and three difficult challenges await before Christmas but this should serve as the blueprint for the rest of the season and irrefutable evidence that this team is far better than it had shown since its previous win way back in September. It will hopefully have illustrated for Benitez the huge benefits of playing a midfield three, both in terms of defensive cover and attacking versatility. And it must be the platform from which the Spaniard can rebuild confidence and an identity in the squad he inherited over the summer.

In the meantime, Evertonians will have another of those memorable Goodison nights to savour and some faith instilled that this season might not end in the disaster some feared during that horrible winless run.

Pickford;Coleman;Keane;Mina (Holgate 31';Godfrey
Allan Doucoure Townsend (Gomes 66')
Gordon (Iwobi 87') Gray booked
Richarlison

What you might not have seen Jeff was Onana and Gana laughing away in the tunnel as they were on the way out for the second half. I can't put into words why this made me so pissed off, but it didn't seem to sit right with the shite first half both of them had when for me they should have looked, well, determined, decisive, focused, and so on.

Lump both Beto and Calvert-Lewin on from the start, try and get a lead, then shut shop.

I can’t stomach this I did my job today(Mykolenko) so everything is ok in in my world attitude.

Your team got beaten today, again,

so no, not everything is ok

Btw you where shite going forward.

that he’s actually given up on the shitshow that is EFC,

The goldfish bowl is way too big for him and he’d much rather be at a Bournemouth or a Sheffield United where he doesn’t have 40,000 ( 80,000) eyes looking at him for inspiration and leadership and he can offer nothing.

I think the job here is too big for him.

Oh and big shout out to Arteta’s spoiling tactics today, go down holding your face if momentum starts to shift.

Sorry to disappoint those who like him, Well, I don't. This is not how I want my team to be set up and play. The football we are being served by this man is like watching a Gary fecking Megson team play in the 1990s ffs!

Awful. Just awful.

In the main the players are too comfortable, because they know there isn't any competition for most of their places, the one area where there is competition is the defence, and most of those are doing ok, not great just ok.

The midfield is the area in need of a makeover, but in reality it's perm three from four and that's far from ideal. Onana shouldn't be an automatic starter if he can't produce more than he has done thus far in his career at Everton.

I don't know whether McNeil is fully fit because in both games thus far, he's way off the pace and why he stayed on for almost the whole game, when Danjuma could have moved to that wing and Garner could have replaced McNeil only Dyche knows.

I don't think Dominic and Gomes Betuncal as the BBC list him (aka Beto) would be any use together as a front two, however, he could put Beto on the flank and use him that way in tandem with Dominic.

We've got just short of a week for Dyche to make a better fist of things at Brentford, but they aren't an easy team to play against and that might end in tears too.

It used to be fun this football lark, but it's getting very boring, manager after manager, season after season, and we only ever seem to get worse and go backwards, but at least we've had some good times?

Ernie 23
Goodison was as quiet as a graveyard today.

By just looking at the score line, a 1-0 loss at home against Arsenal (we're light ages apart) is not a bad result. At least the morale was not completely shattered. It was those games against Fulham and Wolves that we didn't win will bite us down the track.

Let's hope Burnley etc keep losing and we're the one to bounce back first.

Personally I can’t even be bothered assessing Dyche and his tactics as we neither have the money to replace him nor the leadership to make a positive change. There’s a vacuum at the top of the club so Sean and his weak squad are all we’ve got. If we are to survive they have to figure out a way to be much better. There’s no one currently in or potentially in the boardroom who cares anything about EFC and certainly no one who can responsibly handle the financial aspect of the club. I won’t say we are doomed because for one thing I remember Wimbledon surviving year after year. But I will say with the owner, chairman and players we have then we should be doomed because they’re not fit for purpose to put it mildly.

It’s bleaker than an Alan Bleasedale, no wait I’ll go further bleaker than a Jimmy McGovern script.

If there's an identity coming out of that game it's 'Not good enough'. I think that's what I'd be getting if I was an Everton player. Not good enough to win the ball, or play a pass, to threaten in any way. We didn't want the ball, couldn't keep it if it was given to us. A ground full of people and however many watching at home couldn't wait for it to be over.

And I suspect some of that was tactical... you're not good enough, don't try to be good enough, go out and stand in your own box so you don't get overwhelmed and embarrassed.

When good sides come to Goodison they should expect a bloody nose at the least. Arsenal cruised that game. It was 12 rounds to nil without needing to land a knockout blow because it was clear we were not going to be able to offer anything in return. Not even close. Not even a puncher's chance.

3 home games for 3 losses and no goals. 2 away games and both were, frankly, embarrassing.

This is really bad. Never mind being lucky to only lose by one, I think we'll be lucky to make it to the last few games of the season with anything left to fight for.

Today, venture capitalists 777, the sick-stomach feeling of Brentford away, the hearing, the other hearing where 777 are deemed to be unsuitable, that big loan that hangs over us like a dark cloud, things seem to be closing in on us and I'm scared, low, and more miserable about us than I can ever remember.

From 5 games, we have got one point and one goal. A linear extrapolation suggests we will finish the season on 7-8 points and the same number of goals.

With the attitude shown today, the atmosphere at Finch Farm and Goodison Park must be like the Führerbunker in April 1945, with 777 Partners playing the role of Zhukov's mates — destroy, loot, burn, run off with whatever you can carry, and leave the DDR in place for 45 years.

Meanwhile, FUCK OFF, KENWRIGHT!

Until yesterday, I backed Dyche as being the best around for us in the short term. Not anymore. Unbelievable inept Route One tactics.

How I envy Brighton, the team that beat Manchester United this weekend cost £9 million in total. Yes £9 million!

They rarely actually make any changes that effect a change to the setup of the team based on the way the game is panning out in front of them.

It's headless game management from all three of them. I would love to hear their conversations during games just to attempt to understand the way they see things, and exactly what it is they're trying to achieve.

What our players are coached to do when we have the ball, aside from hitting it long and hoping for scraps, is an absolute mystery to me.

"So we've gone a goal down, but, as you know, I say, and I always say, and a great man once said, you've got to tell it as it is, and, as they say, the facts are in the grass, and the facts are the facts, so are the stats, and we always look into the science, and the science says if you're a goal down, and a goal is just worth a goal regardless of how good the goal was, and it was a good goal, though we'll look at that, and check the transitions and the movements and the spacial realities and the stats, and I've forgotten where I was going with that. Ian... 70 minutes, Nathan for Ashley."

I have a query re the offside rule in general. I understand the reasoning behind the offside goal and probably would have felt a bit aggrieved if it had been one of our goals disallowed but if the following scenario had played out...

If Saka, who was about 3 yards offside when the ball bounced towards Nketiah, had ended up scoring if Martinelli had passed across the box for Saka (who by now would have been onside) to pop it in, that would have been a goal as that is apparently deemed second or third phase. I appreciate a line has to be drawn in relation to how many phases can be counted but this type of decision baffles me. Call it old school, but the old way of if you're on the pitch and beyond the defence, then you are probably interfering with play and offside works for me.

Perhaps, logically, you could place your centre forward in the penalty area and he can wait there for the attack to develop before scoring from an onside position in about the 3rd phase. Used to be called goal-hanging. They should bring it back. I suppose it would lead to a very low defensive line.

I like him but I liked Frank. Right now, Dyche is killing us and we need fresh impetus. If they hold onto him like they did Frank, we're fooked.

That's eerily good. I couldn't help but read it in Dyche's voice. He really does have a very unusual way about him. And it's not to my taste at all.

Total emphasis on defence; if/when we go a goal down, continued emphasis on defence (to keep the score as low as possible); when we get the ball, welly it forward to the outnumbered Beto or Calvert-Lewin to chase.

If we get a corner or free-kick, insist that Ashley Young takes it - and floats it gently into the goalkeeper's hands.

Sad to see the Sky pics of fans flooding out of Goodison well before the end - but who could blame them given the defeatist "performance" they were asked to watch?

God knows what the point was when all it achieved was high blood pressure, loss of possession and at best back to Pickford to kick it long (which is what we should have done in the first place). Baffling.

I know it always feel worse after a lousy performance and defeat, but this club have never been in a darker place than this in its history. An owner who doesn't know what he's doing, about to sell to what looks like owners who just want to pick at the bones of a broken venture.

There's just no light at the moment.

I think most posters are thinking along the same line on here, we used to get a lot of divided opinions, some "glass half-full", but after Sunday, we have had a lot of our belief sucked out of us. The fans in the ground could feel it as well, I agree tough ask Arsenal, but when you just sit back and wait, sooner or later they are going to pick you off.

The odd time we had the ball, no one wanted to keep hold of it, or try to take a player on. We have three midfielders that for me are too similar and defensive; one of the three midfielders needs moving to the bench, and stick Garner centre of midfield, I feel for Gueye, he is doing the work load of him and Onana, no wonder he is goosed late on.

You know you are in trouble when Goodison is quiet, but when Onana loses the will to be chief cheerleader, things are really bad.

Yes, the defence showed they can play well, Branthwaite particularly.
That's backs to the wall, will they play as well when we need the defence to contribute to matches when we are not backs to the wall?

There is no link between defence, midfield and attack. It's like they are all playing their own matches, there is no fluidity, no interplay.

You can't kick the ball 40 yards to a loan striker and say "Get on with it, get a goal!"

I do think we will improve, with players getting fitter, McNeil still off the pace, Harrison coming in, and Calvert-Lewin getting fitter will all help, but we need a change of mentality. The midfield needs to support the attack, the fullbacks need to support the midfield going forward, we can't leave a striker so Isolated.

But no, he moved Danjuma and stuck Garner on the wing. He never looks comfortable there. He is not a winger.

Things need to improve on and off the field, I don't know what will happen if 777 Partners get control, not much I fear.

Dyche looks a very worried man to me now, as if he's saying to himself, "Hell fire, these players are not good enough, we are going to really struggle to avoid the drop this season."

I still think we will be good enough, maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part though, 3 points from somewhere soon will put a different look to the League table. A win at Brentford will do, you never know.

The midfield needs sorting pronto because that's where games are won and lost, I'd put Garner in there.

Dyche has no more cards to play apart from a crocked on-loan winger an aging, often injured full-back. There's no cavalry coming to the rescue. Injuries and suspensions as the season unfolds will cripple us.

Dyche needs to somehow get some fight into the players. I doubt any of them enjoy the backs-to-the-wall mentality. They've lost the ability to play anything else under Dyche.

We are about to lose the game, have had no shots on goal, and we just go like for like. Not exactly a taxing or thoughtful decision, was it? Beto has had no service = Calvert-Lewin will get no service. You have to do better than that, Sean.

His practices are too rigid and players are stood still. It might look fancy play putting on a 3 v 8 in a box – but that's too easy for the 8, they easily outnumber the 3 so you learn nothing. How about 3 v 3 but with 1 free player? The 1 can play for either team; when they have possession, this teaches players to use the extra man and promotes movement in small areas.

Small sided games in real tight areas, say a 6 v 6, one team plays 2-touch, the other 1-touch or an open game. Swap this round so the players begin to understand the difference in time, space, area, and awareness.

How about a game of 3 v 3 in midfield, but both ends are 3 v 2 in favour of the defence – complete 3 or 4 passes in midfield and this allows a midfielder to go join his attackers and counter – all in tight areas and time or pass restricted.

I taught bloody 6- and 7-year-olds this, of all abilities, and they got it and implemented it in games within 12 months. Don't tell me our lot are that shit they couldn't do it.

Dyche is too regimented and talks too much rubbish in relation to data. You need to free footballers up in training, allow mistakes, let them self-correct. Don't coach them in the ABC method – you go here, no, you stop there, move over there, run in there, no, stay there, you don't want it there, etc etc ad nauseum.

You end up with exactly what Everton's 1st team are. They can't make decisions, not a clue how to manage games, stationary, reactive and not proactive, zero confidence, zero belief, frightened to play outside of their remit... And the most damning: you end with 3 separate parts of your team, all playing a different way; nothing linked, nothing in common, and zero cohesion.

He is a nice bloke, but his methods are old-fashioned, to be polite. Suppose he is still doing defence v attack drills. Football has moved on- players should be interchangeable in positions and have easy, free techniques and movement.

We buy pigeon-holed players and tell them that's all they can do – just their job. It's wrong and will end in disaster. Everton are the old Nokia mobile phone, whilst everyone else is on the iPhone.

I said in the Live Forum that I would sooner die on my feet fighting rather than on my knees.

Well said.

Admittedly we were set up to be hard to score against and having to rely on breaks or set pieces but I'm pretty sure Dyche, in his pre-match pep talk didn't say "Right, all you lads in the midfield I want you to shit yourself whenever you get the ball and get rid as fast as you can and pass it whether it be to a blue shirt or not."

If he did say that, then the midfield executed that plan perfectly. Gana in particular managed to find a red shirt with unerring regularity.

When your midfield plays like that, it doesn't matter what your plan was.

One positive from the game? Branthwaite!

ps: Had we all out "gone for it" and got battered 4-0, would you feel better or worse today? Genuine question.

Yet again we are banking on three worse teams than us, we are already thinking we will beat this and that team, have so many points in the next Month, we cannot guarentee we will get those points, we just do not look like scoring more than one goal in most games,for two seasons we got very very lucky to escape the drop.

The system has to change, we have to be braver when we have the ball, instead of giving it straight back to our opponents, we need to tweak the midfield, get Young off the set pieces and give them back to McNeil.

Instead of making like for like subs, try something different, don’t swap one striker for another, launch a striker on to help the other striker out, change the system in attack.

Sooner or later the penny will drop with Dyche that our three midfielders are too defensive and similar, get James Garner in the centre of midfield, then use Danjuma and McNeils attacking on the overlaps out wide, and hit the ball over to Beto or Calvert-Lewin, instead of a hopeful punt from our goal keeper.

Worrying times for Everton, we need to change our game plan and quick.

Brian in regards to your question, had we gave it a go put every ounce of effort in the game and came out losing 4 nil, me personally, I would have left the stadium thinking we were beaten by a quality side, but we did the best we could and put up a fight, I left the stadium yesterday embarrassed by our performance and the gutless effort, was like a training session for Arsenal.

- Since it is impossible to deduct too many points from a total of just above zero, the tactics are designed to keep our points as low as possible

- Perhaps a club motto such as "Semper Excreta" would better reflect our current status

Wonder how that would have turned out?

De Zerbi's success is based on Brighton's exceptional recruitment of players with high-quality technical ability.

With the squad available to him at Everton, I expect he'd have taken us down last season and everyone would be calling him Martinez Mk II for a boring and fruitless possession-based game that didn't suit the players.

Competition is very important in any industry and yet you have pissed off players (Gray) who have scored 4 goals and many assists because you have 'preferred' much older players who came from Burnley. This 'attitude' will be very apparent to the players.

Before the break, you were urged to play Branthwaite and without him yesterday the score would have been much much higher. You were also urged to play all five subs. Yesterday's goal came when Doucouré and Gueye were both knackered. Had you played subs, then they may not have scored. You were also urged to play younger players at the start and then older players later in the game. Still not got the memo eh?

What do Liverpool (1 -3), Aston Villa (3-1), Brighton (1-3), Man City (1-3) and Spurs (2-1) have in common from the weekend games? Yes, you guessed it. Oh on second thoughts you have not got a clue. The answer is every winning team played all five subs and they start subbing from minute 45. A lot of the teams they played against did not use all of their 5 subs.

Your tactics and style are out of date. It is time your managerial assistants do what they are paid to do and ask searching questions of you. If you have surrounded yourself with yes-men, then they are not helping you.

There was a lot of criticism against Patterson before the break but the question in my mind was who was he supposed to pass to in the absence of Calvert-Lewin? He played well when brought on. Prior to that game we were Number 10 in the league for chances with a 3.5% conversion. Patterson was in the team.

Contrast that with Tarkowski's performance: he kicked the ball out straight to numerous opposition players time after time bringing pressure back on us… chicken with no head comes to mind. (Remind you of Keane?)

Yes, he did make a mark when the pressure was on but, had his passing been more accurate early on in the game, it might have been a different score.

Branthwaite looked composed and cool as a cucumber. Please, Mr Dyche, do not ruin a very good defender with a 'Just huff it away, lad' training exercise. We saw Tom Davies ruined by Koeman et al 'Just play it safe, lad'.

Football is like war: you do not win anything by playing it safe. Ask the French with their Maginot Line.

Most positive thing about yesterday was that Branthwaite and Mykolenko seemed to play really well together. A possible 'Baines, Pienaar relationship' building hopefully.

Worst thing, Mr Dyche, you scared the crap and confidence out of our players 'If you can get a draw, it is like a victory for us.'

No, it is not, not even close to that. Many many tired players will turn up tomorrow after playing 94 minutes and asking themselves 'Do I trust this manager? He said it was our bad passing to the press not his abysmal tactics and lack of confidence in his players.

Hahaha, perfect, and like someone else said, reading your post in a Dychian gravel makes it sound all the more real!

I agree, when we are home I want to see us on the front foot, pressing, snapping into tackles, trying to get the crowd onside. All we done yesterday was sit behind the ball, letting Arsenal pass the ball around.

The atmosphere was flat and we got a flat performance, 25% possession and one feeble shot on target. We can't keep clean sheets, we've won 2 of our last 15 home games and we've got 11 points out of the last 48.

I was embarrassed watching that yesterday. I know Dyche has his fans but I am not having him, the players seem to be going backwards, we could have played til midnight and still not scored.

Piss-poor performance not helped by the manager with his like-for-like subs. Worrying times.

If you are further up the field when the ball is played forward, even coming back onside from an offside position means you were interfering with play.

Does anyone remember the game against Mark Hughes's Blackburn Rovers, where an Everton player came back from an offside position, ran past the Everton player with the ball so he was now behind the holding player (onside). Then he ran forward and scored a brilliant goal only to have it incorrectly ruled offside. We later got an official apology from the league. Still lost a point because of it.

Nothing new there.

Who was the name of the Everton forward who should have been awarded a goal?

What about the last two seasons and even before that with many of these same players we have been extreamly average at best.

Play teams such as Arsenal and Man City et al at their game and you're asking to be taken apart.

The top teams don't buy £100k players for fun, it's because they have the skill to change games.

How many managers have we tried now with virtually the same results? It's players that make or break a team, ours struggle to retain a ball or pass to a team mate most of the time.

Raymond, like we did at Brighton last season?

Thanks, it was driving me nut!

So far this season, I have seen none of these traits and the spineless performance yesterday was simply shameful.

On more than one occasion, we saw players getting in each other's way, our pressing was non-existent, Raya had literally as much time as he wanted to distribute the ball. Contrast that with Arsenal who were in Pickford's face as soon as he got the ball.

The final straw for me yesterday was watching Patterson sprint the full width of the pitch to make Arsenal play the ball after a short corner, no one else seemingly gave a toss.

Dyche has 20 months left on his contract, so by comparison to past incumbents he is relatively inexpensive to get rid of, but who on earth at our disaster of a club is able to make that decision, who would want to take us on. Please, please if a decision is made, let's have a replacement ready to go.

However, we brought in €82.8M in sales over summer (converts to £71.41M). So, in real terms, we actually spent less than Luton, Burnley and Sheffield Utd. It was only us, Wolves and Brighton who ended up selling more than they bought. That's on top of the recent sales of Gordon and Richarlison.

At Everton, Dyche doesn't have more money to play with than he had at Burnley. You could make a case to say he has less. And he's inherited a really bad side.

I am also furious about the crap football, the crap players and the crap results by the way. I just don't see Dyche as being the major problem.

More important for me is how to solve the midfield issue. We desperately need an Arteta-like player in the middle, someone who can get their head up, keep the ball and find the gaps passing to forward runners, iei a central midfielder with some creativity. We don't have this type of player so need to adapt. We have wingers so for me we need to play down the flanks more and cross better.

The Arsenal performance was bad for many reasons but against Wolves and Fulham we did okay and didn't deserve to get beat. We just need to grind out some points and Dyche needs to get the team playing more aggressively.

I'll back Dyche until the Luton game for now.

First five games: LLDLL

The one draw was against a struggling Yorkshire side. The fifth game a dour 0-1 home defeat to Arsenal. The only bright spot in between all that was a win in the EFL Cup.

After that, Burnley finally won a game in October and that was the last time they won a game under him until they finally won 2 in February. Then his last hurrah was a win v Everton before he was sacked. So his combined record over the last year at Burnley and at Everton is:

Played 53
Won 9
Drawn 18
Lost 26

Average of 0.84 point per game.
Averages out to 31.92 points per season.

If you go back to his penultimate season at Burnley he lost 7 of the last 9 games.

Obviously we cannot afford to fire him or to replace him. But whatever the circumstances, his stats over the last 60 games or 3 years don't suggest he is hitting the levels of a traditional fireman (aka Fat Sam).

Has he lost his fire fighting mojo? Have other teams wised up to it? Previously his record was better but the last 3 years he seems to be in a rut for one reason or another following a pattern of defensive, unimaginative play, using few subs, and above all – losing 50 percent of games.

It is not a positive thing.

I even thought Sean Dyche had given us a base to begin the climb from the bottom group of teams, and was ready to support him for this season, giving us a hardworking hard to beat a team with a now decent attack. I like the players that Thelwell has brought in during the summer, good attacking players, who with Calvert-Lewin and McNeil, would give us a real fighting chance of getting away from the drop.

Well after the last two home games, one without Beto and McNeill, one with both, I'm fearful of our chances of staying up. We've got Harrison to come in and I'm looking forward to us having good attacking aspect to our game. With one of those still not ready for the first team and one on his first game back.

I thought we were toothless in attack and static in the midfield. I think McNeil has a reason for being so slow, but Doucouré and Onana were like two policemen on traffic duty, neither helping when we were attacking nor helping break up their midfield nor getting back in defence soon enough. I think Gueye tried but think he's getting caught out to often: and his shooting is appalling!

Maybe we will be better when Harrison is fit and in the squad, and Calvert-Lewin is fully match fit, which McNell certainly didn't look like he was, yesterday.

I can't remember us having a shot that the goalie had to do more than look at. I looked at their midfield and looked at ours, and generally it was their midfield running past our midfield, in either direction.

I've come away from the last two games feeling like I'm never going to see a good Everton team again at Goodison Park. I also think the malaise is affecting us as supporters. We did raise our roars and chants but only occasionally in the last two home games, as I think our enthusiasm is being or has been driven out of us, and that's saying something because, for the last two seasons at least, I think the supporters have driven the team on to get out of the mire.

Maybe we will be able to do it this time and maybe Dyche will be able to develop a more fluid style of football, which leaves the other sides having to be more cautious and have to defend more.

That's my hope but I'm not sure from what I've seen (apart from the Brighton game) a fluid Everton team, fast to attack and a midfield that can get on terms with their jobs and drive our team to compete. That's their job and I don't see them doing it, especially Doucouré and Onana.

If this doesn't change (can we leave it until January?), we are goosed.

We're boring to watch, our passing is shocking, our set plays are basic and easily read, we still give goals up easily, we only get going when we're trailing in games. There's never a settled side picked... week in & week out, we still pick underperforming players, we never try pot shots from range... Our football seems so fucking basic at times with no real plan, we're never pro-active and we're still obsessed with pass-backs to Pickford!

Lose to Brentford and Villa (League Cup) with yet again another spinless, defensive, negative performance, then I want Dyche gone... there must be a proactive manager out there who gets us on the front foot with a bit of style and gets us both scoring and winning games again.

The disconnect between the 4 areas of the team is blindingly obvious. Most of the time it's because the team is too spread out, and not affecting the game at all. No wonder we can't pass it!

Play football in 3 and 4s, short, sharp and forward! Movement is best if done over short distances – most of the time, it only takes a couple of strides. The disconnect is down solely to inappropriate training practices.

Play short, move short, once you have affected that passage of play, drop out and a more advanced player takes your place. Rinse and repeat. Practice and repeat. Muscle memory does the rest for you.

These lads are not incapable of playing like this. This coach just can't teach it, that's all. Not his fault – he's just a scrapper. Doesn't help Everton though, does it? Should've bitten Bielsas's arm off when they had the chance.

If Dyche's results trend continues in the same vein for the next dozen matches, we can't afford not to fire him. Staggering statistics, but I also think that most sides in the top-flight know exactly how to combat the tactics that Sean generally employs, and most sides even the bottom feeders aren't as likely to have as many limited technical players as they might have had only a few years ago.

The problem that Everton has and have had, for a long time, well prior to the arrival of Dyche, is they don't score two's and three's very often and each and every game, opponents always have a chance of staying in the game and nicking a point or three against us, regardless of how well we might have performed in any given fixture.

I suppose if we need a cheap replacement who "gets us", there is Unsworth. Never understood why he took on the mess of Oldham.

Having failed in the conference, I can't see him getting another job unless Kenwrght crawls off his sick bed and gives him a buzz.

With Moshiri having lost interest entirely, Bill might be able to have one last hurrah of jobs for the boys. I suppose Big Dunc will also be in the mix. Then again, if 777 Partners have a say, they may want someone more like-minded… so maybe Mark Ward or Michael Branch.

Link

You are correct, sorry I was inaccurate with my actual figures for this seasons spends but the main point is that he could and would have spent over the £50M figure if Leeds had sold the player he wanted to buy.

Dyche when at Burnley said he never had enough money to spend on transfers and so I once checked the figures for actual profit at the end of the season to see Burnley's plight and they only had under £15M (profit) to buy new players; it explained why he had a 'sell to buy' policy.

Not sure how you are not convinced that the manager is at fault. He trains them, picks them, and sets up their tactics.

Sun Tzu studied at every military academy says it better than me...

“Every battle is won before it's ever fought.” Sun Tzu is the author of the book “The Art of War”. He was a Chinese military strategist, Taoist philosopher, and general in the 6th century BC.

If you like military history, you might also have come across the concept of asymmetric warfare (ie, the well resourced v the poorly resourced). The general consensus is that the poorly resourced never play the well resourced at their own game because they get a good hiding.

We can debate it of course but I think we were probably a lot closer to going bust than buying Gnonto. We are in absolutely terrible financial shape.

Also, they don't seem to be in tune with each other. Arsenal and other teams pass crisply and quickly, our players seem to get the ball and then have to think about what to do with it. This has been the case for years.

Not being smart, but do you mean:

1) Can stay on their feet.
2) Recognise their own players and club's football shirt when passing.
3) Know that the opposition goal is the other end of the pitch.
4) Can run for 95 minutes.

We lack a ball player in midfield, maybe Garner should be given a chance but, in a 3-man midfield, I believe that Gomes is worth a risk.

It's almost impossible to play for a 0-0 these days. Especially since so much added time is tacked on after the 90 minutes are up. But really at home we have to try. Even if it means chucking on two big forwards and going Route One since our current midfield couldn't pass a parcel.

They aren't able to keep the ball well, pass, or find space.

They will take us down.

Brighton and Brentford have spent very little on their teams. It's the progressive managers they hire that makes the difference.

Given Everton’s pressing need for immediate funding, 777 has lent them money on an interim basis to help with short-term working capital requirements and the stadium build.

The U.S.-based vehicle intends to maintain a continuous dialogue with Everton while waiting to learn if its acquisition will be allowed to proceed.

This is likely to involve 777 providing some expertise from its multi-club model to Everton and occupying an observer role on the board of directors."

Presumably the MSO loan for the stadium wasn't enough. Maybe as suggested in The Athletic last week it just covered the IOUs and they need more money for ongoing work? The article goes on to say 777 partners were "satisfied" with the transfer window dealings. So essentially they like the idea of selling and not spending.

I mean do most of these players want to be here at this time, theres too much uncertainty about the club. We are not sure owns us, we always have our backs to the wall, whos going to be the manager next.

For me the issue is more playing Gueye and Onana at the same time. They are both defensive mids with zero offering in attack. Starting with them only works if we’re not actually conceding. We haven’t managed a clean sheet this season so it’s obviously not working playing so many defensive players.

One should be dropped to make way for Garner. Doucoure can play box to box and Garner play in the middle to improve the passing there.

I'm not a Dyche fan. He comes across well but he's at best a poor Premier league manager.

But given the rubbish the club has been un-managed into, he's unfortunately the right fit for Club and the majority of players we have.

In all honesty I have no issue being defensive and cagey against a top team in good form. I would go one further, play a defensive 4-6-0. Let one of the players, Danjuma or Garner play more advanced, with license to shoot from distance.

Then 20 minute to go, change to 4-3-3 and launch every ball upto a fresh front 3.

And on another frustrating note, our corners and free kicks are appalling. We don't work the ball wide or quickly enough to better crossing angle.

The lad is still learning but he loves to get forward. He was the last player to put a decent ball into the box and Danjuma scored from it.

Danjuma - he is a left sided player - ineffective on the right as is McNeill. In my opinion only one of them should start.

Onana - I couldn’t have been more wrong in my forecast that he would play a blinder against Arsenal. He looked like Schneiderlin Mk11 in that game.

As has already been mentioned Garner is the only one with a spark of creativity - he should get a start ahead of Onana who needs a big wake up call.

Now I wonder why they're so interested in that?

The only one I wouldn't do is play Onana as a deep lying midfielder, and play Doucoure as an attacking midfielder.

But here we are.

Christy # 265 -“We lack a ball player in midfield, maybe Garner should be given a chance but, in a 3-man midfield, I believe that Gomes is worth a risk.” Now that is a thought that has crossed my mind – at least he can pass a ball.

I have come to the conclusion that, regardless of my comments above, this squad has more to offer than the manager is getting out of them. I am beginning to think it is time to role the dice again – I have that Bournemouth week feeling.

It was suggested on Sky Sports yesterday that 777 Partners intend to sell the new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock and then lease it back.

The way Dyche has us playing, it will be renamed Turf Moor.

Clough's Forest played with wide players who could deliver, be it John Robertson or dare I say it, Ian Woan. I am surprised that Ian has not had more influence on the way we are playing, ditto Steve Stone. You could even go back to Clough's time at Derby, Alan Hinton provided was the wide man who proved the bullets.

All the above were not particularly quick but were effective. Hopefully, McNeill, when fully up to speed, will do a similar job for us. His return is the one glimmer of hope I took from Sunday. He was our best player in the second half of last season and he has great delivery.

Then I think that Dyche has got to find a way to incorporate this system, onto the pitch, in a lot of our games. We will see.