“Playing for a 1-0 defeat”

We need a win next week to get some confidence back, then build on it. It gets said every season that the last thing the club needs is to be changing manager again. We need some stability.

Sean Dyche has to have a long hard look at midfield. It cannot retain possession, build play, feed wide men, even pass to each other. Alarm bells have got to be sounding across Finch Farm. This set up cannot go on, he has to try something different.

With our midfield resources there are no cast iron guaranteed answers. My stab at it would be ;

1 Drop Doucoure, I like the player but he doesn’t have any midfield composure, and we need to inject some if we can.

2 Have Gana screening the defence to break up play. Play him in the only role that he can actually do. He can’t create, he most definitely cannot shoot.

3 With Gana deeper, then have Onana ( needs a rocket up his arse) and Garner playing either side with instructions to get the ball forward by carrying it or picking the forward pass. Their youthful energy needs to be tapped into, it’s Dyche’s job to light the fires in these young lads, especially Onana. Dyche has to be demanding more from him, a lot more.

Other solutions?

At present, I would move Garner into the middle and drop Onana.

Their only clear opinion was that short corners by opponents were our chief killer, not the consistent disaster throughout the entire club from top to bottom.

As if!

I think the job here is too big for him.

Little wonder hope is non-existent.

Whilst it's been obvious for years, world-wide, that the only people in top-level English football who never realised that basic truth are STILL active at OUR heart, how can some, or any of us fans still give one iota of respect, appreciation or support to Kenwright and Moshiri?

In plain view they're still doing to OUR club what psychopaths like Idi Amin did to his people.

It's insane.

We have a team on paper that is better than anything that any one of them can out out:

Pickford, Coleman, Branthwaite, Tarkowski, Mykolenko, Gueye, Garner, Harrison, O’Neill, Danjuma, Beto/DCL.

That is not a bottom three line up. But that is not enough. There are teams in that six whose teamwork, spirit, fight, steel, and guts are at this moment greater than ours. That worries me almost as much as anything else. That spirit, fight, "band of brothers", all needs to become part of who we are and what we do.

Dyche's teams have historically been thought of as gutsy, resilient, disrespectful (!), iconoclastic even, and we are none of those things right now yet we have Dyche pulling the strings.

Perhaps the players (or too many of them), unlike the majority of the Burnley lads, think themselves to be top players, stars, celebrities, Sky players in waiting, one agent call away from the top table at the feast. Well, I got news for you ........

We need that grit, steel, and fight Dyche or we are drowning in the deepest water. We need Pickfords, Colemans, Tarkowskis, and Branthwaites (significant that they are all at the back), not lazy prima-donna Onanas or last-paycheck Youngs.

The shopping list of what we need is scary and I haven't mentioned game-management that, Dyche, we need from you in vast quantities.

Dare we actually start games on the front foot rather than wait until we go a goal down? Can Dyche invert things and not sit on the back foot first half? Can he give us some Burnley fight, team-spirit, and guts?

Art and craft are no longer enough and we don't have any of them in spades anyway.

Sitting there just trying to defend for the whole match and offering nothing at all going forwards, no ambition, no variety to the play.

Even the smallest squads, teams in the league all try to work the ball and pass and move, at least try having a go.

It's turgid watching Everton.

We have an owner who is going through the process of selling his shares to a group whose track record with other clubs they own is nothing short of disastrous.

We have a chairman who hasn't been seen or heard from for months, and at present are being run by the man whose initial job was to oversee the new stadium. So in these difficult times its hard to see who if anybody is making the decisions at present.

The whole club is massively under-performing: the first team have fought 2 back-to -back relegation battles and just surviving on both occasions with wins in our last home games to secure safety.

The stats show we have lost 12 of our last 18 home games and have 1 point from 5 games and we are yet to see us score a goal at Goodison Park this season. But it's the same scenario with our other teams, the U21s have 1 point from 4 games the U18s have lost all 4 games.

Sean Dyche has the 3rd worst record of any Everton manager ever and at the moment is just ahead of Frank Lampard and Mike Walker, quite ironic to think this ownership has appointed 2 of our worst managers ever.

Goodison yesterday was as quiet as I can remember for a long while, but who could blame our magnificent fans – they had a team who allowed Arsenal to stroll into our half unchallenged, and very rarely did we get the ball in their half.

Even when we have had poor teams, and I have seen quite a few, we always (to use an old terminology) "got stuck in". Yesterday, I saw none of that and as for Dyche's claim that we would be the fittest team in the league, I have seen very little evidence of that so far.

Dyche seems reluctant to change the system and play 2 strikers together, a system he used a lot at Burnley, and surely with us not being able to create a lot, it might have been worth seeing if Beto and Calvert-Lewin could create something playing in tandem.

Just talking about Dyche's time at Burnley, I was staggered to see a stat that said, in the 7 years he was at Burnley, they only averaged 36.7 goals per season. So maybe we shouldn't be surprised with our lack of goals under his leadership.

I have some sympathy with Dyche as he has joined the most dysfunctional club in the Premier League, but unfortunately he understands, when results don't go well, the first casualty is the manager. But at the moment, we are rudderless so I don't know who would make that decision or whether the powers that be are abdicating themselves of making any such decision.

And yes I understand we have had far too many managerial changes in the last 6 years but, if Dyche doesn't get results shortly, I don't see any alternative to looking for yet another manager. Problem is you are still left with the man who appointed our worst 2 managers to make that decision.

I didn't watch much of them but I don't remember Burnley under Dyche being so passive, either with the ball or without.

Look at the effect Aston Villa had with getting in a better coach... I'm sick of chopping and changing the coach but we look so uninspired most of the time...

As for yesterday, less said the better.

Replying to Tony (#1) "It's a perfect opportunity...to turn this around against Brentford Luton and Bournemouth and get... more points on the board " - Unfortunately the fans and managers of those clubs will be saying exactly the same about the visit to, or from, Everton. And will probably be more up for the fight.

It is a bleak picture and a statistic of 80% of matches so far without scoring a goal - win or lose - paints it bleaker. We will start picking up points - some unexpectedly - but it's going to take some serious mindset changes to achieve that. I personally thought that Dyche might prove to be a good motivator in that respect but he seems to be caving mentally under the pressure that managing Everton generates.

I abhor manager sacking after sacking, and just wish these guys would have the respect to walk once they realise they are not up to the job. I understand the reasons they don't and I'm not sure we could afford to pay off Dyche and his entourage's compo anyway.

Having said that, I cannot offer a single name of anyone save Bielsa who might provide the right catalyst to light the fire under this squad at all levels. We had a great opportunity when he made his offer last year, or earlier this year - whenever it was - but as someone said that ship has left port.

I'm kind of stuck for ideas really. We can keep banging the optimism drum, Danny style, and we'll get it right sometimes, but I'm kind of stuck where I am unfortunately.

To repeat - bleak times, bleak viewing, bleak hope.

Just plain bleak really.

1. We battered Wolves and Fulham and would have won with Beto or Calvert-Lewin up front. We created loads of chances in those matches but got very unlucky.

2. We were beaten by a much better Villa side away and a much better Arsenal side at home.

3. Finances mean that we have been unable to recruit players we need and have sold players who would have helped. In particular, we missed Iwobi yesterday as he provides forward momentum for counter-attacks. Obviously he's not exactly Ronaldinho but he was the best player we had at that sort of thing and we miss him.

4. Comparing our situation now with Villa last year is pointless. Villa spent heavily and were massively underperforming. Emery came in and did well with a good side. He's since been given Diaby, Tielemans and Pau Torres – all Champions League quality players. If Dyche and Thelwell had been given the same level of investment, we'd be doing fine. If people seriously think Potter could turn up and get this lot playing like Brighton then I despair.

5. Although Arsenal completely dominated the match yesterday, they didn't threaten our goal much. Arguably Trossard sliced that finish too and got lucky. So although it was incredibly boring, it wasn't tactically wrong by Dyche to play that way. It probably was our best chance of sneaking a win – or getting a draw.

6. We will start to pick up points and wins from here, and other clubs will go on poor runs. The table will start to even out. That said, it will be a hard season and it was always going to be. Especially since we did our transfer business so late and key players are injured.

7. Some of the other mediocre or weak sides are doing well because they've built up a good rhythm under a manager for a few years. Many of those teams built up that rhythm in the Championship and have kept it going. If we keep changing managers, we will never build up that rhythm.

It just wasn't good enough yesterday, no surprise that the Goodison faithful have fatigue, give us something to get behind. I really want Dyche to be successful but losing game after game is a hard cycle to get out of, and you win nothing by sitting back in fear.

Let's see what he does next, but for sure there are plenty of ‘managers' who will be happy to have a go and try to improve us. It's the Premier League gravy train still on the tracks (for a few more months at least….).

You say we battered Fulham and Wolves, now while we did create some great opportunities to score against Fulham, seeing they had 59.4% possession I don't think you can fairly say we battered them.

While you are right generally changing managers as often as we have doesn't help, but the stats say that Lampard and Dyche are 2 of the worst managers we have ever had only Walker is below them.

I remember many on here, and you may well have been one of them, saying stick with Frank. Had we done that, I have no doubt we would have gone down.

I hope you are right when you say we will start to pick up points and the table will even itself out; unfortunately, the stats for Sean Dyche as an Everton manager don't suggest that will happen.

While I thank him for keeping us up last season, I fear, to avoid relegation, change may need to happen soon, and somehow I can't see that change happening under Dyche.

I would love to ask what made him play Gana as an attacking midfield player and Onana as the sitting midfield player? Mind, for me, playing Onana in any position is like playing with 10 men.

There's no doubt that he's a good skillful footballer who is being paid £100,000 a week, so why not utilise him? Could he really be any worse than what we're seeing at the moment? Just tell him to stop giving away stupid fouls near our box.

I may be grabbing at straws here but that's what desperate men do!

Yesterday was as abject as I can remember from any previous sacked manager, particularly the midfield has to be more of a fighting and cohesive unit. No midfielder backs themselves to be a footballer, yesterday only the defender Branthwaite showed he was one.

Our midfielders have to stand up and be counted, prove you can play the game! It's a football not a hot potato or time bomb! Retain possession under pressure, use the ball wisely, it's the fundamentals of being a midfielder. Dyche and his coaches have to address these confidence issues.

The picture will be much clearer after Brentford, Bournemouth and Luton. Make no mistake – it's a results-based business, no improvement after those three games and it could very fairly argued that an alternative manager could have a better chance of getting this side to the mid-table zone.

All consensus expectations from bookies and fans had us finishing about 14th. So falling dangerously below that trajectory is failure.

Everton's players, particularly the midfielders, do not play together, they are aware of their individual roles and duties, but they are not supportive of each other.

I'm just using a name, these two are no more guilty than their colleagues, but If Doucoure has made a lung-breaking run to get up to support the lone striker, then he is unlikely to be able to cover defensively in the subsequent counter move. So McNeil or Garner have to cover his area.

That frequently does not happen. They each only do what they see as their function. They are playing so that they can't be blamed for not doing their job. This is partly a confidence issue, but it's also a problem of having no real leaders, no one who shouts and cajoles.

People are calling for Dyche's head and he's certainly not covering himself with glory, but would Guardiola get more out of this bunch?

We haven't got enough players with character. Tarkowski, Pickford and Coleman are shouters, the rest are too young, too quiet, and too lacking in confidence to be leaders.

I fear for the rest of the season, both on and off the field.

As a collective, I don't think you would find 5 worse footballers.

Headline: Kamikaze Everton ship 5 against Arteta's Arsenal.

After going toe to toe with Arsenal in a frenetic first 15 minutes, the floodgates opened as Arsenal's quality began to count. Having gambled on making home advantage count, Everton found themselves 3 nil down at half time with Odegaard and Vieira revelling in the space afforded as Everton committed numbers forward in attack. Despite throwing the kitchen sink at it after half time, Arsenal found their moment to score two simple breakaway goals to complete a 5 nil rout.

Dyche's tactics labelled kamikaze by fans - many of whom felt it was crazy to attempt anything other than a dour KITAP1 approach against free-flowing Arsenal.

Reality is we didn't really get to ‘KITAP1' as we were stuck at ‘KIT'.

If we'd been beaten by at least 3 clear goals yesterday, not one neutral observer would be calling it undeserved, such was the gulf in attacking ambition never mind actual pressure on their box.

I watched Leeds against Millwall yesterday, they had a bit of luck, but they were cohesive and effective in their attacking play. I would wager that to win games in the Championship it's the effectiveness of the attack that would determine whether there's a realistic chance you would get promoted.

Given Dyche's overall record of managing, he doesn't do attacking, he's all about keeping things tight, and that wouldn't be enough in the Championship.

The big ship hasn't even sailed down the alley alley oh, and already I'm thinking about how to get promoted from the Championship.

The big ship sails on the ally ally oh,
The alley ally oh,
The alley ally oh.
The big ship sails on the ally ally oh,
On the last day of September.

The captain said, 'It will never, never do,
Never, never do,
Never, never do.'
The captain said, 'It will never, never do,'
On the last day of September.

The big ship sank to the bottom of the sea,
The bottom of the sea,
The bottom of the sea.
The big ship sank to the bottom of the sea,
On the last day of September.

They are now entering their third season with Silva in charge and have an established way of playing – and also have a much, much better footballing midfield than us in Palhinha, Lukic and Pereira.

On the flanks, they have established partnerships between wingers and full backs who have played together a good while. They also spent considerably more than us on improving their side over summer.

We, on the other hand, have just sold (to Fulham) the one (flawed) player through whom most of our constructive football has been played over the past couple of seasons.

I would have liked to have seen more intensity – and also Garner and Patterson earlier. But we are not going to be equipped to do much more than sit back and counter for most of the season.

So Brighton go to Old Trafford and through having a few injuries can't play their strongest side, but did they given the circumstances, play 10 behind the ball? Absolutely not. They took the game to Man Utd and won quite comfortably. Also that Brighton team that played at the weekend cost the princely sum of £16.2 million.

So let's stop the nonsense that the way we played yesterday is the only way we can play if we hope to take points off a Top 6 side.

Well said sir...its the coaching, tactics and the instilling of belief in players that count for a lot.

"I thought we would have more points on the board by now but you can't give the ball away that many times," Dyche said.

"That link on transition was missing and we weren't effective enough. We are conceding softish goals.

"Our growth is where we are. There is a reality. Last season nothing was solved. I've said there is massive work to be done."

Fat Sam done the same thing when he said "I don't tell the team to pass to the opposition." Dyche has been in charge long enough to stop that. Emery at Villa, and Howe at Newcastle had less time to bring about spectacular changes. Dyche is running out of time.

Don't start saying it's to early to get rid, we made that mistake with Lampard. Dyche has changed nothing with this team, he's a PE teacher, and we stayed up last season through pure luck, not because of Dyche, we were near relegated because of him.

We have to get at least 6 points for the next three games, the cup match is not important, what is is us staying in the Premier League. I said pre-season under Dyche we could be cut adrift by Christmas, well we could be up Shit Creek with a broken paddle before then.

Go on then, tell us how he stops our players passing to the other team.

You've found the quote I was searching for, yesterday, That link on transition was missing and we weren't effective enough

I read that the first time and thought it was a veiled message of how Dyche has had to sacrifice Iwobi for financial reasons rather than footballing reasons.

I might be reading too much into it but, regardless on how good or bad we thought Iwobi was in an Everton shirt, there is nobody within the current set-up who can do what Iwobi was at least trying to do.

I played amateur football for years and never ever passed a simple pass to the opposition. And no, you can't use the old, "Oh well, this is professional football."

Well, if it's professional then they shouldn't be passing to the opposition then, should they? And if Dyche can't train them to pass to each other, then I am right, he should go.

The really extraordinary thing about Brighton is not the coach / manager – it's the recruitment and development of players that's built up a really good squad over an extended period. And specifically they recruit front-foot players to play front-foot football, enabling the transition from Hughton to De Zerbi and, ultimately, fantastic performances at Old Trafford.

There's no shortcut to this for us. It's going to take a time.

You can't just install a DeZerbi (or more far-fetched still, Bielsa) at Everton and expect the likes of Gueye and Doucoure to take the game to the opposition.

We play Arsenal and Dyche drops our only player who is capable of doing that job, Garner, what does that tell you? He set the team up to keep the score down, and his favourite tactics, see if we can nick one. Those tactics will see us go down.

It doesn't matter who we got in, the same players would still give the ball away. They are simply not good enough.

I know all of this is hugely infuriating but the reason the squad is still a mess after summer is because of financials not incompetence.

I am sure Dyche would have been delighted to have had £20M to spend on a first-team-ready midfielder – but the reality is we had to sell one instead (Iwobi) because we're so skint.

Goodison was painfully quiet. The fans are numb.

Dyche is conservative but, if we had gone for it, perhaps we would have been tonked 4 or 5 and then Sean would be top of the charts for the sack and our goal difference would be even worse.

Brighton find class players for buttons; are our scouts and Thelwell so poor that they can't?

If only you were a bit younger. Player manager without a doubt. Actually, why not now?

I am sure Dyche and Thelwell did notice we could have done with a new midfield. Why do think they didn't buy one? Incompetence? Indifference? Or because our financials leave us in an absolutely desperate position?

As for developing high quality talent from low-cost markets, I've been banging on about that for years – and have regularly been told it's a load of bollocks.

It is of course the way to go, but it takes time. This summer we might have recruited a gem in Chermiti. We won't know for a little while yet. Brighton use AI adapted from the owner's gambling business to find their players – but very few come straight into the first team. Most go out on loan for a season or two first, or spend a while acclimatising in the academy.

I think most people would agree that this summer we didn't have the luxury of buying too many players for the future, since the current squad is so weak (probably weaker than the three teams that got relegated last season).

Couple of things, Paul. We can't afford to drop too many of the fuckers because the fuckers we have to replace the original fuckers are just as fucking useless.

So you never ever played a simple pass to the opposition? If that's true, I'm sure that the training you got wouldn't be a patch on the training Premier League football players get, and in all my years playing, I can not remember being trained to pass. It's one of the most basic of skills.

It's not about simply being able to pass to a team mate – it's the ability to do it in match conditions, under pressure, at speed.

If it's the manager's fault, then it must be the fault of our previous x number of managers too because they suffered the same.

Pep himself couldn't get the shower we've got to perform – and I genuinely believe that!

This is Allardyce Lite.

Come on, we all know what we needed for this team, a striker and an attacking central midfielder, at least. And how long has that been the case?

It's not rocket science, is it? Mind you, it seems to be rocket science for the DoF and manager. I must be a lot more scientifically tuned in than the Everton staff. 😀

"I can not remember being trained to pass. It's one of the most basic of skills."

Nuff said.

Doucouré - Garner - Gueye - McNeil, all of these players can graft, and if you are going to be playing a four-man midfield, then every single one of them has got to be able to run, tackle and fight.

When Harrison is fit, he might improve us down the flanks, but we need some dogs of war, and we need to start getting the ball forward to our two strikers.

Chermiti might be a gem but he also might be another Leandro Rodriguez. 10 goals in 8 years now. There is a player in there.

Six points against Bournemouth and Luton must be our priority. If Dyche doesn't go for it in those games, then we seriously have to ask questions about if he's the right man.

All of Doucoure - Garner - Gueye - plus Onana played against Sheffield United, but our midfield was cavenous, we were wide open.

Do you think against certain teams we should go 4-5-1?

I'm wondering about Dyche early on, just before he came to Everton, saying all players have to know their positions and keep their positions. We don't seem to do that now, as in all over the place.

Your mention of the old favourite KITAP1 had me wondering if Sunday's tactic should be christened:

KICAS 0 - (Keep it clean [sheet] and score 0)

or

BALLS - Back away lifelessly, lose, scoreless

I personally would like to let him have it after Sunday.😀

Joe is now 74. Is he too old to make a comeback? Well, he's 2 years younger than Palace Manager, Roy Hodgson!

There was no one more delighted than Arteta that we sat back. It meant his players could relax and play.

I could give a number of examples of how Arteta had primed his team to be very careful and measured and to break up play. His player's head holding when they were tackled, was a more obvious one. Also, throughout the game, Arteta touching his own forehead with two fingers, reminding his players to think.

Why did Artea adopt this approach?

It is because he feared an aggressive and passionate Goodison Park. Where our players would be physically energised and on the front foot. Where there would be a noisy connect between our fans and players. In short, a game atmosphere that might have a poor psychological effect on his own players and an up-lifting one for ours.

Arteta feared a bear-pit. Dyche handed him a bunny warren on a plate.

Arsenal didn't have to break sweat. The clever play from the visitors, the delay at corners stretched our ability to concentrate.

Dyche's tactics might have prevented a humiliating defeat but gives little hope to us that we can turn it round. Indeed, it saps the confidence of the players after some improvement in performance.

If Dyche doesn't start to get a tune out of them, he will be next on the chopping block.

Dyche's tactics were to play a fairly deep (but not really deep) defensive line to reduce the space in behind. Our players' job was to win the ball back in congested areas and then counter-attack. That's been our most successful approach since Dyche joined.

I doubt that Dyche told them not to bother being aggressive in their winning of the ball aspect of this tactic. I assume he was also hoping that Goodison became a bear pit for Arsenal.

The fact that we didn't manage to do it isn't down to our tactics – it's down to the limitations of the players and the fact that Arsenal executed their own game plan very well.

Mind you, they did only have one or two decent chances in the match despite their dominance. Which shows that the defensive side of this approach wasn't flawed. We did pinch the ball back with reasonable frequency too – but unlike Arsenal our players are so limited on the ball that we couldn't progress it up the pitch and lost it before we'd gained any forward momentum.

Iwobi, for all his flaws (and he had many) ,was our best player by far at one-touch football, receiving the ball and playing it forward. Without him (or a player like him) linking the play, we never got our counter-attacks going.

I think that's a very reasonable summary of the game, though I don't share your belief that Iwobi would have made a difference. More likely he would have been running around chasing shadows before giving up the ball in midfield on the rare occasions he received it.

But, whatever our views on Iwobi, the players we did have on the field simply aren't capable of laying a glove on a side as good as Arsenal. We just have to hope that we can impose ourselves more against Luton and Bournemouth.

We neither have the tactics right and the skills of the players are poor. Hoofing the ball forward in the hope that a forward can latch onto it doesn't work – unless it's Sunday morning on the local park. Modern defenders can deal with that very basic tactic all day.

Watching the Forest v Burnley game last night both sides had pacy skilful players who I'd never heard of! Instead we have players like Onana who plods up and down the pitch creating nothing and, if he does get the ball, he passes backwards.

We can't keep living off scraps, ie, played well defensively, one player had a good game etc. We need the whole team to play as a unit and score goals. Not a big ask!

Moan, moan. I need a glimmer of hope.

I definitely think we should be playing 4-5-1 against the better teams, but only if we can also have an attacking threat, which was absolutely none existent on Sunday.

I don't think Danjuma is a winger, it's early days but I think Demarai Gray offered more with the ball at his feet – even though he could be a bit headless at times, he at least tried to put the opposition on the back foot.

Maybe I shouldn't be going off one game, especially because I think the manager set his stall out to only really concentrate on one part of our game on Sunday, and it definitely didn't involve putting the opposition on the back foot.

If Onana is going to be a player, then he's got to be shown some tough love imo, instead of it being James Garner who doesn't seem to be getting treated properly.

Another thing that is now obvious is that it is definitely a squad game nowadays, so this means that the tactics should not always be so rigid for 100 minutes, with the opportunity to use five subs to change things around when necessary.

One of them needs to be removed.

My team for Brentford:

Pickford
Patterson
Tarkowski
Branthwaite
Mykolenko
Onana
Garner
Gueye
Harrison
McNeil
Beto

4-1-4-1

Onana plays much better as a 6. Use him in that role. Have a bit of guile in the middle. Garner creating, Gana as destroyer. Have McNeil and Harrison putting balls in the box (or shooting from range, depending on the scenario).

4-4-1-1 isn't working. We need to score goals, or we're dead. 4-1-4-1 wouldn't be a drastic departure, but it would use Onana properly, and it would push us forward a bit more as a unit, rather than waiting for teams like overrun us.

No up-front creativity, and blatantly sitting behind the ball for most of the game, whereas, if we had been more adventurous in counter-attacking Arsenal, we would have taken at least a point. Disappointed.

Some players can be singled out but the tactics on Sunday were poor and played into Arsenal's hands. Sure they kept a clean sheet for a while but the inevitable end result was always there. We saw that against Fulham and Wolves.

So far Dyche has not been able to instill character into this team and this has been shown to be a problem in other games too. Although on paper we can be led to believe some players are worthy of selection, they often fail to put in a shift.

Sadly it's hard to think of a game coming up they can win unless there is a big improvement in cohesion and passing.

Do you think Dyche wants them to keep giving the ball back to the opposition?
Why do the top teams all want as many top players as they can get? It's because that's what you need to be winners.

We've had more managers than I've had hot dinners and look where it's got us.
It's better players we need; I do like the signings we have just made but we need our midfield to improve a lot.

I don't buy that our players are so bad that we can't score at all. It's nonsense, just bad coaching and team management.

He was the only coach who tried the wholesale change fans were crying out for and have returned to ever since.

Rom, Barry, MCarthy, Delboy, seeing value in Barkley, Oviedo and Stones were the beginnings but if anyone doubts this club is cursed it's the meaningful arrival of Moshiri a year too late to maintain momentum

Available monies to replace the remnants of the Moyes mediocre crew with decent (not 5 quid journeymen) would have had us challenging but nearly 8 years later we are disintegrating.

The right men passing each other like ships in the night - heart breaking

I am not sure that Arsenal kept the ball 'brilliantly well' or were allowed to so by our comatosed tactics and performance. Arsenal often played slow and in front of us. An almost possession for possession sake approach that the likes of Guardiola has comprehensively ditched, because it occasionally made his team vunerable in intense, high pressure games. Especially away from home.

There is a psychological element in games for players and fans alike. When we retreated constantly in the first 10 minutes you could see players inevitably adopting a overtly defensive mindset. One example is individual players spending time too much time pointing at spaces and Arsenal players. Ofcourse, healthy concern about the opposition is good but, with a relentless defensive mindset concern easily becomes fear. Fear that results in a player, who eventually wins or recieves the ball, panicking or make the wrong decision.

For us fans, seeing an Everton team at home defend on the half way line reeks of passivity from the start. Add to that the dearth of forays into the Arsenal half and penalty area, isn't it inevitable that the crowd becomes concerned and passive also?

Arteta feared a chasing, pressing, aggressive, front foot, hard tackling Everton team. With players renewed in confidence on the roars of a crowd pleased with what they are seeing. He prepared his team for such an Everton team and crowd. Dyche prepared his team to sit back behind the half way line and, in doing so, allieviated most of Arteta's worries for him.

I like the honesty of Dyche. Not much previously was accountable to him. But he can't set up an Everton team behind the half way line at Goodison. He needs to find another way or he will continue to lose games and the support of the crowd.

The difference was that Dyche actually managed to get the defence organised. Obviously work on defending set pieces is not a priority at Finch Farm, when it glaringly should be.

I shall be calling Doucouré 'Doucouré the flicker' from now on.

It wasn't our defensive line that killed the atmosphere. Goodison is more than used to that. In fact, Goodison would have really got going if, having won the ball deep (which we did often) we then motored forward in number on the counter-attack. That was our tactic.

Unfortunately, as well as retain the ball so well - Arsenal regained it ever better. They used the classic Pep Barcelona tactic of swarming the man on the ball, forcing mistakes and closing off passing lanes. Our limited players couldn't handle it, couldn't string two passes together and so we couldn't counter attack. That was their defensive strategy and it completely killed the atmosphere.

It left the only option as long ball - which made us look like a pub team. But I'd be amazed if the actual tactic was to go so long and aimless. It was just a last resort.

We obviously won't agree on this - but I'd say both managers did a good tactical defensive job on the other. Whilst we didn't threaten their goal; they barely threatened ours for all their possession. The difference in the end was quality.

My opinion is he's limited in his tactics and acumen, hes a poor man's Moyes in that he can keep it tight but can't nick one which his record suggests...it is worse than Lampards ffs.

Dont get me wrong...I would love him to prove me wrong and start winning games but for the life of me I can't see it.

It was nil-nil at half time, so there was no massive reason to change things around. Depressing though this is, there was still a possibility of a set piece goal or perhaps a bit of luck on the break. I expect their fans were equally frustrated by Arsenal's impotence in attack.

We could have gone for it a bit more and I wanted more intensity from the players. Personally, I'd have started with Garner (instead of Gueye who I think is rubbish) and might even have gone with Patterson instead of Young. I'm not going to pretend any of these tweaks and changes would have been decisive though and got Goodison roaring.

The tactical genius of Rommel wouldn't have mattered a jot if he had donkeys towing handcarts rather than Panzer tanks in the desert. This squad is chocca full of donkeys and handcarts.

It doesn't matter who is in charge or what tactics they employ the past 7ish years have seen us manage to cobble together a group simply not up to Premiership football.

A change of manager won't do a thing about it as seen umpteen times over the Mosh era.

I would go 442:

Pickford
Patterson Branth Tarks Myko
Harrison Doucoure Garner Danjuma
DCL Beto.

Since ancelotti left the club we have weakened the squad during every transfer window. We have reduced quality to an all time low. People are posting that we shouldn't have sold Iwobi!

I think the tactics v arsenal where to be expected. I would have liked to have seen us target their left back area similar to what Roberto did when we had Lukaku but let's face it we haven't got a Lukaku.

Against lesser teams we have been good without getting the points, I just hope we get something from the next 2 home games otherwise Dyche will be toast and some other no mark will be in the relegation hot seat.

Fact is we can't keep weakening the squad and expecting us to stay up. Leicester went down with a far better squad than ours last season. Dyche needs to create the siege mentality within the squad and play as ugly and filthy as possible to get us out of the mess. We don't have the quality to do anything else.

Then, Eddie Howe arrives, gets 2 or 3 additions in January, and they end up in 13th place on 49 points. Now, they're playing Champions League football, The same can happen to us, a jammy win gets a bit of confidence and I'm certain we'll be fine.

The off-the-pitch dealings though… Well, that's another story.

Brands never had the experience for English football imo, but it doesn’t really matter now even though he has definitely contributed to our demise.

Look at Brightons team against Man Utd, the whole team cost less than £20m.

How many duds did Brands lumber us with who cost more than Brighton’s entire team - and on one hell of a lot more money.

Brands was an idiot. I remember once there was a profile a kind of "day in the life of" Marcel Brands in the paper. Most of his time was spent having a cup of coffee with Dennis Adeniran.

He said he liked to have coffee with Under-23 players. Beyond that, what did he do? Dust off his list of missed PSV targets like Gomes? Make false promises to Moise Kean's Mum?

His comment of interference hampering Everton suggests Moshiri and/or Usmanov were putting their clueless oars in and their appointment of Benitez constitutes the smoking gun in my opinion.

I have just watched Newcastle play for a 1-0 defeat away to AC Milan but fortunately they got a draw playing very similar to how we did against Arsenal!