Immovable Everton shine bright again under Thursday night lights

They looked knackered for the last 15 minutes and started welling up when the ref added 10 minutes at the end.

Anyone who’s seen the last scene in Get Carter knows what a dire place these knuckle dragging inbreeds have to go back to.

With no points.

Best two things about tonight were Beto scoring and Patterson getting the assist. That will do them both the world of good.

Ole', indeed!

Ashley Young played a very good game.

Agree mate. We have a small squad. We have a few guys on their last legs, a few held together with sellotape. But Dyche has infused an energy and determination in them that we haven’t seen since the Joe Royle days. Moyes had some decent teams but mentally they were fragile. eg in any big game Teta, Pienaar etc came up short. But Dyche has got this crew bought into his tactics and showing real character. Can you imagine if Koeman was in charge and we were docked 10 points? Ashley Williams wouldn’t be covering his face with his shirt he’d be hiding it out in Wales and going AWOL. Then there is Duke. The guy made his mark as an attacking goal scorer at Watford. For some reason Carlo deployed him as a defensive mid and everyone else since followed suit until Sean actually let him play his best role and guess what? He is better there. Meanwhile, anyone missing Gray or Iwobi? Thought not.

Every other stat had us dominating, and not just xG either (which I still don't really understand).

Bring on Chelsea!

A bit harsh on Iwobi that. Young played well out wide but I imagine Iwobi (who's scored three in the last two games for Fulham…) would have loved that. He always had that energy and pressing that the rest played with last night. We would have been even better with him.

It's a long season and with a few injuries we might well be longing for an Iwobi. Agree about Gray as he never had the work rate or energy for a Dyche team but Iwobi, for all his failings, in my opinion would be excellent in a Dyche team.

It is unprofessional and all it will do is antagonise others when we need support to rectify the injustice of a 10-point deduction.

At the full-time whistle Guimaraes and Schaar got in his face and jostled him simply because he was celebrating the win. Why should he back down to those dickheads on his home ground?

Support you own players instead of justifying the thuggish behaviour of those gobshites.

Possession stats – I agree the 39% vs 61% is misleading last night. What that doesn't show is how much of that possession is in “safe”areas. Lots of teams play the ball around in their half of the pitch whereas under Dyche we are much more direct than most (although we do still mess around on the edge of our box, Tarkowski!). It means much of our possession is in more advanced areas of the pitch.

Squad size – I agree we have a relatively small squad but I think that is definitely to our advantage at the moment. It may be an issue if we have lots of injuries/suspensions but there is clearly a consistency to our play because of the continuity. Before last night my real area of worry was centre midfield where I thought we were really short but Harrison's performance showed we have some options within the squad.

Pickford – regularly takes loads of abuse so no problem with him making the most of the win. From what I saw it was the Newcastle players who seemed more wound up, especially Schar, Joelinton and Guimares.

Iwobi – always frustrated me, the nearly man. Nearly made the killer pass, nearly scored, nearly tackled. He has loads of energy but rarely delivered, 99th minute against Newcastle excepted. Harrison may not be as skilled as Iwobi but is more consistent, which I think is something Dyche values.

Certainly Newcastle started the 2nd half much better without causing too much concern and two of their best chances came with Tarkowski trying to dribble on the edge of the box and Branthwaite hitting their attacker and it rebounding past him.

But I needn't have worried as McNeil opened the scoring with a sublime strike, quickly followed by Doucoure scoring yet again and then Beto finishing a great spell of possession football.

I thought Garner missing it may really affect us and, while Doucoure is better in a more forward role, I thought we did okay. I still have concerns over Harrison's lack of quality and, in other games, if Calvert-Lewin keeps spurning these chances, it will come back to hurt us.

Great to see Seamus back and he was so good, Newcastle switched Gordon to the other flank, were he got no change from Mykolenko who I keep saying is, for me, the best left-back in the league.

I would just like to say well done to Gordon, who ran over to shake Seamus's hand when he had to go off and, although he would have been disappointed with the result, he still had the good grace to shake hands warmly with Patterson, Young and Tarkowski.

So Chelsea next; I hope it was just a bit of cramp that caused Coleman to come off as he is head and shoulders still our best right-back. I thought Gana Gueye ran the midfield, yes he misplaced the odd pass but he was also the first to retrieve it after the bad pass.

To think Lampard banished Doucouré to train on his own, and Dyche has turned him into a goal machine, now just has to work that magic on Calvert-Lewin.

Goodison was really rocking at the end… it will be sad to leave the Old Lady next season.

from trippier but you make your own luck. The hardest working teams are usually the luckiest and its no coincidence.

Newcastle tried to up their game second half, but I thought we kept them to half chances and we looked solid yet again.

The Dyche hate mobb can say oh we are not playing like City or we are wasting chances but he has to work with what he's got and he's working wonders in my opinion.

He's getting more from players who didn't look good enough last year.

Doucouré, Gana, Mcneil & Mykolenko who I thought was brilliant again last night.

Harrison looked more at home more central and was the first one to press them, his workrate infects others.

I don't care about possession, having the ball means nothing if you don't do anything with it. West ham beat spurs with 15% possession, we are out creating most opposition without having massive possession.

Without the point deduction Dyche would have us top 10 now. With a very similar first team that looked shot to bits last year. He hasn't done it with a cheque book or signings he's done it with organisation, training & tactics.

It will be the greatest escape of all time when we stay up.

WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED !!!

I think both the critics and the fans of Sean Dyche have made valid points during his tenure. The Arsenal and Brighton home matches, had the likes of myself livid, because giving up large parts of the pitch and allowing the opponents to dictate the game, isn't a plan, it's a surrender.

However, Sean seems to have learned from those two matches, as the performances against both United's, Newcastle and Manchester, showed that Everton can play resolutely without resorting to long punts up the pitch and backs-to-the-wall defending.

We all know we lack a fair bit of quality, we all know that we won't be playing glorious football akin to Manchester City, but if the performances and attitude shown last night, fail to materialise or be replicated in future matches, then people like myself will complain loudly about it, purely because we want what is best for the club.

I believe that football matches are won and lost by managers and players, having the correct attitude, last night we had it, and hopefully we'll see it many more times during the remainder of the season.

I am convinced the Arsenal match played out that way because Arsenal did a job on us tactically and we didn't have the quality to overcome it. I don't think Dyche will have learned anything he didn't already know.

They used the 3-6-1 formation which has seen Girona top La Liga this season and it meant we couldn't string two passes together and were forced long and aimless. The flip side is that Arsenal had almost no chances despite all their possession and it could easily have been a nil-nil with two teams neutralising each other.

In the end, a bit of luck and quality won the (boring and frustrating) game.

Interestingly Luton used their much greater physical prowess / athleticism (and Barkley) this week and nearly overcame Arsenal. They still lost though.

Of course we will have defeats, and I know it wasn't losing that Arsenal game but the manner in which we lost it that got a lot of fans thinking that's how Dyche wanted to play.

He's seen the error of his ways, unlike Lampard, corrected it and learned from it. It's what a good manager should do.

I believe the Arsenal and Brighton games did show him that as a team we are better with an aggressive approach, even against the better more talented sides, without being gung-ho (a la Lampard). It's a balance, a balance Frank couldn't achieve.

I thought the timing of the press was excellent last night. Nevermind who the opposition is, let them play with it until they hit the halfway line and then go win it back, which we did several times. Then the opposition get nervous about playing out. Playing backs to the wall, longballs no outlet is for the last 10 minutes when protecting a win.

Teams like Arsenal, Man City, Chelsea, Liverpool will eventually find a way if you let them have the run of the park.

It won't work every week, we will lose games playing this way too. But I'm sure you would agree, I'd rather lose playing this way than the way we played against Arsenal?

On the post-match spat, he just stood his ground when confronted by a couple of twats.

The only concern I have is that he will get a shed load of abuse on the return fixture, 3 April 2024.

He played up at their place in 2019 and cost us the game. We went from 2 up to losing 3-2 because he was getting wound up by the skunks

I really hope he has learnt that lesson.

Not yet a concern, but I realised this morning that we could face Newcastle in a two-legged Semi-Final or even play them at Wembley in February – which is why Jordan should have remained calm and just enjoyed last night without any reaction to any provocation.

He doesn't have anything to prove, to us, Newcastle or the media, but the media will once again have him back in their cross-hairs, following last night's events.

And if they insist on that behavior, introduce them to Tarkowski.

If they hand it out, they should be big enough to take it. And talk of not getting them wound up in case we play 'em again is a bit "wet" IMHO.

We're Everton! IYKYK.

I'm not arsed if we played Newcastle every week, at home or away, but I am concerned if Jordan helps to motivate them and his game suffers because of it. I'm also concerned about the negative media having the opportunity to have a go at Pickford, and thus helping to undermine his confidence.

All I ask of Jordan is that he takes a leaf out of Neville Southall's playbook and ignores the Geordie idiots on or off the pitch.

As you will know if you have read many of my previous posts relating to Jordan, I am a big fan of his and also of Everton – there's nothing wet about my support of Everton or its goalkeeper.

I wasn't at the game but Jordan's theatrics for the crowd were a distraction and got Newcastle fans and players riled up. Their problem… but drawing that attention onto oneself is silly and will come back to bite him.

There is no 'i' in 'team'. I don't agree that he should give as good as he gets. I read somewhere on a post that despite Gordan getting dog's abuse from us, he went to shake Seamus's hand when he had to go off. No fan of his for the way he behaved with us but that would be for me a far better response to the abuse than Jordan's reaction.

Hopefully we can keep the momentum going on Sunday and improve our goal chance conversion rate because, if we do, we will have nothing to fear.

I am not saying Iwobi is useless. But when he was here, it was often pointed out that he was the most creative player, albeit with very meagre numbers for goals and assists. In his absence, playing a style of game he is unwilling or unable to play, we are creating many more chances and goals.

So my point is we traded off the "luxury" of his fleeting moments for a more productive team-wide effort that is yielding better results.

Similar with Gray, he was a very occasional bright spark for us when we seemed to have no creativity or goalscoring ability. But he's gone and been replaced by more industrious players with a net benefit to the team.

I'd love it if, when we win at St James, he plants a massive Everton flag in the centre circle, Souness style!! I don't think Galatasary fans were worried that it would wind up Fenerbache fans!!!

It's showing that it means something to him, that he cares.

In this age of robot footballers, who just talk in clichés, the fact that Pickford's got and shows his personality makes him stand out.

Let's face it, he's never going to stop getting it full on from the Geordies, and they can't give him much worse, so it's not going to really have an impact, other than making loads of Evertonians love him even more!!

So who cares if it winds up a load of scruffy in-breds!!

Unfortunately Arsenal were a completely different opponent.

He celebrated a hard-fought win against a club whose fans have given him nothing but grief for years. Some of their dickhead players then chose to pick a fight, because they're entitled bastards who have become less accustomed to losing, and couldn't handle it.

There are some parallels with the autumn and winter of 1983-84 when Howard Kendall built a team that learned first how not to lose and then win matches.

Many of us and others have not given Dyche the respect over the last 10 years. A manager who has created teams in his own likeness and convinced the players to trust his judgement. With limited resources he is very good at analysing what our players do best and when he has enough available play them so that they can use their own individual skills for the betterment of the team.

Dyche has more premier league nouse than many of his more Highly praised managers. Last night he went head to head with one of the most praised coaches, Eddie Howe, who some of us would have loved to have in charge at EFC.

Newcastle's insistence to play out from the back could not handle our very impressive press. Dubravski continued to play the ball short despite us gaining possession high up the pitch and converting their errors into goals. Maybe he knew there was no point pumping it long as Branthwaite and Tarkowski won every header which was then picked up by our industrious midfield.

Doucouré settled into a deeper role and still scored. Harrison looked a different player from playing more centrally and a bit higher. He was our best presser.

Dyche has certainly used Pickford's kicking ability to miss out our midfield with Calvert-Lewinchallenging every long kick which unsettled Shar and Lascelles.

80 minutes of anxiety followed by 20 minutes of Christmas joy!

COYBs!

Iwobi played for Dyche and did absolutely nothing, like he'd done for the previous managers he'd played under. He had a good few months spell under Frank and then reverted to type.

We grossly overpaid for him (thanks, Brands) and we're lucky to get back what we shelled out.

Average player, and a coward to boot and I for one was glad to see the back of him.

Keep talking like that and you'll have me rambling after watching Howard's Way yet again.

The stick that Jordan has took off them insufferable gobshites down the years has been unbearable.

Oh and by the way you're talking about one of our greatest modern day keepers, certainly no big Nev, but up there if not as good as Martyn and Howard.

The times this gem has bailed us out has been incredible.

And not once has he ever looked to get out or desired a move elsewhere.

Already in my eyes an Everton legend.

And that's not faint praise.

Iwobi has great energy, but his pressing was always half-hearted imo, although it doesn't seem that everyone has this opinion mate.

It's no coincidence that the “real hard yards” are now being completed by our team, and for all Iwobi's energy, I never saw him produce the type of desire for the team, that Harrison showed to get back and defend, just before he won back the ball, to help create our second goal?

All about opinions I know, but I personally think that Everton have suddenly become a much harder working team, now that we have got players who don't mind doing the real dirty work?

UTFTs!

Beeto or Betto or even Beto are a lot simpler than his real name — Norbeto Bercique Gomes Betuncal!

I think we've beet this one to death. Beto move on to other topics.

Stop it. No matter how Dyche described Iwobi, he wouldn't have fit into the team you talk about in your post @(42).