An All-Too-Familiar Tale

The opposition cannot limit attacks, but they can reduce their effectiveness by channeling, pushing players out of position and allowing shots from awkward covered angles. Hence a goalkeeper can look like a Motm.

In the second half the opposition defensive line was allowed successfully to compact midfield resulting in no Everton shots on target.

Set peices were simply not worked on during the week.

As for Luton they put into affect the plan they had been working on all week No wonder having seen the Everton team, the Luton Manager told his players in the dressing room, we can win this game. There are loads of lower placed Premier League teams who have done just that.

It was as bad as it looked for the Manager and Finch Farm.

A different outcome if we convert our early chances. But once again, we didn't; a re-occurring theme. I became very frustrated with the increasing tactic to pump the ball up as the game went on.

I don't really know why a team that performed so well against Brentford and for most of the match against Villa can get stage fright at Goodison. Is it psychological? Is it weight of expectation to keep a run going and build momentum?

I have no explanation.

Go and beat Bournemouth before we head to our former ground.

It's all so pedestrian it's easy to defend against, switching play is an attempt to pull a sitting defence out of shape, but when it's done so slowly and deliberately it's easy to handle. I don't know where it comes from but we need to be more dynamic, even a few simple triangles wouldn't go amiss. It looks like we've gone back to the fear of keeping a shape, playing the safest pass (which even that sometimes doesn't come off), getting rid of the ball because it won't be my fault when it all breaks down. I know Dyche will say shape and organisation makes you hard to beat, which I'm ok with, but when you're losing to Luton and need some inspiration players like Garner need to be given the chance to be more creative. He can talk all day long about taking chances, but as I remember, their keeper didn't have to make a save in the second half.

Usually you report games fairly without any bias towards any particular player, but in this report you say about Gueyes chance in the first half, that his partner Onana will feel he could have done better. You then go on to say that Dyche will have to be bolder in the coming games and not rely on the safe option of using Onana and Gueye. Seems you are suggesting we use the same midfield pairing that we used in the 2nd half which created nothing. Yet you even say in your report that we created a lot of chances in the first half. Regarding Onana feeling he could have done better with Gueyes chance, this is a man who has scored how many goals in the league since he has been here. He couldnt even convert a chance from a yard out and luckily it fell to DCL to score. Lutons 2nd goal was because Onana failed to control a ball played to him then ended on the floor trying to retrieve it and gave away the free kick that led to their goal.

Gueye is and always has been a defensive midfield player and not known for scoring goals so why Dyche wants him to play in such an advanced role is beyond me. I would suggest that if you want to make comparisons between Gueye and Onana and have a look who has made the most tackles and the most interceptions between them, I will give you a clue its not Onana. In fact Sky a couple of weeks back had Gueye in the top 3 of midfielders who made the most tackles and the most interceptions, so leave him in front of the back 4. Despite us playing with your preferred midfield pairing in the 2nd half we created nothing and our most creative player McNeil hardly had a touch 2nd half was that down to him or the ineptness of the midfield to control and create any openings.

1) Dyche sets us up like an away side at Goodison. No matter who the opposition is. It's important to play on the front foot, engage the crowd, and put them under pressure.

2) The players aren't clinical at all. Dyche can talk about 23 shots on goal, but their keeper barely had a save to make, and not one of the 12 shots taken in the second half hit the target.

The story won't change as long as we're still writing to the same structure and using the same key storylines.

I think it's him that needs benching because he probably thinks he's a big time player, untouchable while the likes of Gana get all the grief. He's got no competition, I hear he gets rave reviews when he plays for Belgium, is that because the pressure is on and he knows there are plenty of players to take his place? He clearly has something but I don't know what it is for us at the moment.

Oh and Kevin#4, jesus talk about flip-flopping, Beto was being hailed as a breath of fresh air just a few games ago and now he's "already looking like a dud". I know fans are fickle these days but come on.

Two good performances followed by a disastrous defeat, I think I saw some green-shoots in those two away wins, but finding consistency is probably going to be the hardest thing for this squad to achieve this season, simply because they lack real leadership imo.

I don’t like to single out on individuals, but Young had poor game, losing possession on many occasions up field and hence putting pressure on the defence as Luton counter attacked.

I agree with some that the centre midfield needs to be looked at, because of creativity issues and defensive duties. Maybe drop Doucoure into centre midfield and drop Ghana.

All in all, the manager has to take some responsibility for setting up the team the way he did and his tactics. I cannot understand for the life of me, why he changed a winning formula from the previous wins?

Top of the list would be Calvert-Lewin and Beto playing together up front. The duo, essentially wanting the same sort of service, drew the rest of the team into bypassing midfield and hitting long balls.

Meanwhile, in midfield, both Garner and Onana, who had put in a strong shift at Villa, looked fatigued in the final half-hour on Saturday.

I was there with my Dad and what a game that was, against a dogged, not to mention talented, Luton team. Mick Harford gave even Van den Hauwe pause for thought.

But you have to take the rough with the smooth and 10 years earlier, almost to the day, it was relegation candidates Luton who (alongside the mighty Carlisle United) scuppered our 1974-75 title hopes with a 2-1 win.

And so here we are, nearly 50 years later, having come full circle and Luton get their first Premier League win against us. And who would bet against them ending up relegated once again? Unless, that is, we take their allotted place...

Dyche's team's have lost 19, drawn 11 and won just 8, scoring a measly 29 and conceding 56 goals in those matches.

35 points on home soil over two full season's worth of home games isn't great is it?

I know it's a little unfair to judge him on his latter days with Burnley and his relatively early days at Goodison, however, his overall record is one of fairly short-lived boom, five or so unbeaten at home, followed by a fair few losses.

Dyche's away record in his last 38 games away, has produced 8 victories, a dozen draws and 18 defeats, amassing 36 points. His teams have scored 44 and conceded 62.

Of course, just because his previous games have produced those results, doesn't mean that this trend will continue, but it does suggest that we're in for a trickier campaign than we might have imagined at the start of this season.

My view is that I don't think we should have had both Onana and Gueye in the side against Luton. It's true that the midfield pairing that Dyche went with in the second half looked worse but I think context is important — we were chasing the game at that point and employing increasingly ineffective long-ball tactics that largely by-passed midfield.

I feel that Garner is wasted out wide and is better centrally and that means dropping one of Onana and Gueye, which isn't an easy decision. Gueye has very good ball-winning metrics, made a noticeable difference coming on at Doncaster and, despite the "eye test" of some dreadful giveaways in his own half, has decent pass-completion stats.

Onana, when he's in the mood, like he was at Villa last week, can be very effective on both sides of the ball and has the potential to do most of what Gueye does and, on balance, probably has a better shot.

I'd have started with Onana and Garner and seen how things went but that's just me.

I posted on here recently Dyche's record over his past 50-plus games has been dreadful. Has he lost his mojo? Or have circumstances conspired against him?

Patterson & Mykolenko are the future - this set up will in my opinion bring the best out of them.

It also provides multiple options for the 2 & 1.

I think he should set up like that home or away.

Another Bournemouth week coming up - they haven’t won this season. No doubt you have made a mental note of that Lyndon.

A must win game for Dyche in my book.

Link

I think you perfectly sum up my criticism of Onana, when you say "when he is in the mood" and that's the problem its all to infrequent that he is in the mood. I did say that for me he had one of his best games since joining the club against Villa, both he and Garner played well in midfield. But was that because we played initially 5 at the back, so for those suggesting Onana and Garner should be in midfield because of their performance against Villa then they should also accept that we have to bring in Michael Keane as we did against Villa.

So if you are going to play Onana in midfield with Garner you have to have the extra cover that a 5 man defence gives you. Since Dyche has been manager you very rarely see our fullbacks overlap so I think we can accept that it was definitely 5 at the back against a weakened Villa side.

You talk about 'the calibre of our players' but surely if they were truly of a decent calibre, they would not lose 7 our of 8 at home, including against some of the weaker teams in the EFL. Even if I managed the team.

Given what we continue to witness is a mere continuation of what we have witnessed over 2 or more years, might I suggest this 'calibre' might be getting over estimated through wishful thinking, given the accumulated evidence? The only two I can see who are definitely not Championship level are Pickford and Branthwaite.

To be fair, some of the others are good championship going on borderline premiership level, but it's a poor quality squad. Consider the football 'skills' of our usual midfield three. It's not exactly inspiring. Can't shoot, can't pass, can't control the ball or a combination of all three. Then consider our full backs and compare against, for example, Coleman and Baines from our not so distant past. The contrast in quality is alarming.

Mystery WTF #2: Our defending is atrocious at set plays despite massive height advantage (in almost every case).
Zonal marking is a huge failure and the root cause. Having our smallest on their tallest is mental. Having a row of static 'dollys' across the 6-yard box. Being 5 yards or more too near the free kick thus leaving a huge gap to the rear third of the undefended area. Opponents put two players in that area.

Mystery WTF#3: Why Jordan Pickford is rooted to his line and several times behind it!!! A keeper should dominate the 6-yard box.

Mystery WTF#4: We bought wingers and put Garner on the right.

Mystery WTF#5: DLC jogging into box. No gut-busting runs outwitting markers. No anticipation. Doucoure needs to up his game and get in there more.

Mystery WTF#6: We all know we have a smaller squad with a few additions. We are not that much better than the relegation teams of the last few seasons, if at all.

Mystery WTF#7: None of the new boys have featured really other than the aged Young. Dyche should have started with the side that began at Villa. Whipped off Garner for Gaye as soon as he tires (50-60 mins).

If we are ahead, then get Beto up top and Calvert-Lewin there for the flick-ons or layoffs to push the opponents back further.

I fear more of the same come Saturday.

His comments on the Goodison crowd regarding the ever shittier home results was interesting.

Incomparable in big games but not so much in lesser games, the gist being a lack of patience kills the players.

Young was involved in both goals that Luton scored yet Dyce has stated his right and left backs are not really good enough confidence builder.

Last night Chelsea won after many losses this season and the manager has not criticised the players during their bad run. I think this shows the lack of confidence that Dyce has with his own training, tactics and teams selection. Is this the reason he always seems to be sweating when giving interviews?

His release of the players training was noticeable to me for the lack of accuracy in those clips. Dyce is the coach how about doing some intense shooting and some positional practise.

It is not an accident that the Liverpool, Man City and Arsenal players are positioned where they are they are coached to move to those positions.

About a change of manager. We should be looking and we should target the managers of foreign teams who are consistantly challenging for league and cup finals. Klopp was one such manager and once he got the resources his training and tactics have paid off.

What I don't understand is why the manager does not have to write a detailed report on every game and present this to the board. If he used the 'Feynman learning technique' it would make him examine every aspect of the game and he could look back on previous game reports and train players appropriately.

One last thing off this subject have you noticed that Lampard is trying to rescue his career by saying bad things about the club. In short it was not me but Everton. Frank you forgot to mention two stints at Chelsea and other clubs, if they were perfect why did they need to change manager and why did you fail so badly?

The Goodison Park crowd, is no different to any other fans, at any other venue. Unless you rile them up by misplacing passes one after the other, or the officials annoy them. Playing tic-tac-toe at the back is a recipe for disaster for teams at the lower reaches of the league, and only delays the inevitable punt upfield.

All of those managers we've had previously seem to believe that Evertonians are from another planet, yet here we are in the same city as our cousins, share our family, work, leisure time and meals with them, yet we are painted as being very different in the demands we make of our players, than those placed upon their team, by the fans wearing red scarves.

What sort of a question was that from Bill Kenwright by the way when he asked Lampard "Do you think a Cockney can manager Everton?" It's the likes of Bill and company who have painted the Everton fans as some sort of strange entity compared to everybody else's when in the main we are mostly similar to every other set of supporters.

I just want to see a reasonably proficient football team who can get enough points to stay in the division, and I don't really care what style the manager employs to get there, if that's what makes me different to all of the other Premier League teams supporters then so be it.

It's a simple thing, get your players to pass and move, run and tackle, shoot and sometimes score, then the manager won't have any issues, what's so effing complicated about that?

Evertonians are different to most other fans in the Premier League, they've kept going back for more, despite seeing some terrible footy for large parts of the last twenty-years, yeah we are different, we're bloody stupid!

At least you won't have to record a new podcast this week… you can just re-run one of old ones.

Maybe the club has been told we will be docked as many points as we've accumulated by the time of the hearing. Might explain a few things.

What could possibly go wrong?

He should have started the exact same lineup and team that started against Villa. 3 centre-halves might seem negative, but it gave Garner and Onana licence to get forward and support the front 3. Width provided from 2 wingbacks of Mykolenko and Patterson (who was excellent against Villa btw) would have seen us win.

Anything but a win against Bournemouth and I want him gone.