Often They Hurt You

Everton 1 - 3 West Ham Utd

Often they hurt you… but you can't stop loving them.

On the back of the West Country Blues travel woes, as is usual at present, much travel disruption. But there is always a way.

No trains from Uxbridge so I had to improvise to get to Euston. There is a coach called the Oxford Tube, which stops outside Victoria, where you can connect to Euston. Due to the usual A40 London traffic, I missed my intended train and got to Goodison late, so went straight to the ground. No time for a catch up. Sorry I didn’t get to meet up. 

I got waved in by some very kind stewards who pointed me upstairs. A bit of confusion as someone was sat in my seat. He had a ticket. I had a ticket from my official membership. Both for the same seat. Strange. Even the stewards were confused. No argument, we just asked the stewards to assist and thank you to them for sorting the situation out so we could all take our places.

I’m a fan of McNeil, but he seems to be lacking confidence and form. Keep going, lad, it will come.

I’m undecided on Harrison. He works hard but always looking to cut onto his left foot. I’d rather play players on their natural foot and side. There was one part that stuck out when he cut in because he wanted it on his left and it took the momentum out of the move.

Onana went missing at times, but I still see potential. Maybe I’m being harsh, but our midfield, yet again, was noticeable by their absence, especially as we chased the game.

Beto missed the penalty, but I didn’t think it was that bad. A good save from the keeper is how I saw it. If Pickford saves one like that, we’re praising it. I wouldn’t mind Pickford taking the rare penalties we get. He would just smash it.

A beauty of a cross from Garner and Beto scores a beauty. I thought we’d won it. My brother argues Garner is a good right-back. I’d rather see him in the middle.

Mykolenko is becoming an easy target but had a decent game. Sometimes you just get done. Defenders’ union on my part.

Tarkowski was his usual self. Solid leadership. We had one cleared off the line that looked a dead cert.

But Branthwaite. I keep saying it every week, he simply oozes class. The best football-playing centre-back I’ve watched at Everton since John Stones. I fear we will lose him.

Manager, tactics and changes. I think Dyche has and is doing a good job in the circumstances, but what is the point in leaving the changes that late? The game was there for the taking. Dominic is an in-the-box striker.

As for the Dinosaur label, I seem to recall Ancelotti get that from some. But his instructions were for Calvert-Lewin to get in the box. I don’t mind Dyche, he’s doing his best in frustrating circumstances. Keep going, Sean, and motivate these players.

It was a decent match. End to end and we didn’t play too bad. In fact, ignoring the result and the nature of how it happened, it was a good performance in my opinion. But we increasingly sat deeper to protect the slender lead. If we had kept the momentum, we would have won that.

To lose it in the manner we did was hugely frustrating. We should have had that match buried long before the additional time.

Now is not time to be changing managers again. We have to ride this storm with what we have. At least results mostly went our way. Still 5 points clear with games to play.

I made my way to the Arkless as always. Rammed with West Ham supporters, which was a bit unpleasant. A couple of them were struggling to get to Lime Street, but I had a taxi booked turning up in 2 minutes so told them to jump in with me. They were very grateful and paid for it for which I was equally grateful for.

Well, the train journey home was entertaining, to say the least. First, having to console some poor Evertonian sat on the floor who had clearly had a few too many scoops and some more. I hadn’t really had many, but he was hammered.

Then a fight breaks out. A West Ham supporter on another West Ham spporter. Some bloke about my age and size (I’m 6 foot and 13 stone) smashed some young 17-year-old in the face and broke his glasses and nose. He was going back after him, but no one done anything. So in I went because the poor lad was about to take a proper battering.

I didn’t even know what they were arguing about, but someone had to stop it. I grabbed the aggressor and physically moved him away under arm lock and told him to calm down. I told the young man to make his way two carriages up the train and then re-took my seat.

It ended up with West Ham supporters buying me a drink and we got back to talking about football. The poor drunk Evertonian was oblivious to the event and asleep by now. I had my drink, a chat with the West Ham supporters and went to sleep. Woken up at Crewe when the Police came on board and escorted a few “Irons” off the train.

That made it a late arrival back at Euston. At least the Metropolitan line was back up and running. What a journey!

No time for self pity. Old Trafford next. Dust yourselves down. It’s Everton. Anything can happen.

---

Reader Comments (31)

Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer ()

---

How to get rid of these ads and support TW