Man City's superiority tells again, albeit with help

It's playing against 12 men, when they just surround the referee until they get a decision and demand yellow cards. That was meant to stop, but it is clear it carries on for the big teams until they're winning.

The linesman gives a deadball decision 50 yards away, but couldn't see the Rodri handball two seasons ago, or Zinchenko stroking the ball the other day. There's a clear bias or agenda by the officials and media against the non-favourites.

We've had countless decisions go against us and apologies to managers, when the VAR is meant to be making the right decision. The VAR is just another mechanism to help the favourites, dressed up in an underhand way.

The Gomes 'foul' against Spurs was another example of it. Did he touch him? Yes, but was it strong enough for a foul to be a clear and obvious error?

Well put it this way: do you think we would get a goal overturned if it was the other way? No chance. The commentators would just say great finish from Son and weak defending from Everton...

First goal for City should have been prevented, Pickford left too much of his near post available to cover it properly, he may have been unsighted but not great keeping.

City are miles ahead of Everton, in fact possibly in a different galaxy, we've had worse performances against them and there's no shame in losing to them, but with Villa and Tottenham up next at Goodison, we're going to have to get points from some of these encounters else, we'll be right back to square one, with or without the points deduction.

City were always going to come at us more in the second half. I think that Jordan tried to cover all angles for the first goal but would probably have stopped it if he hadn't been partially unsighted.

How the hell was their second a penalty though? Clearly not deliberate, hit at Onana from very close range, were his hands in an unnatural position? Absolutely not. A joke!

Re your first paragraph:

“If the Onana incident happens at the other end of the ground and a City player was involved, I'd want a penalty.”

Think back a couple of seasons and we did have ‘penalty', and a clear penalty, against City, not given despite the VAR's scrutiny. I don't believe all the tripe about things evening themselves out over a season. We don't get a penalty but we might get a contentious throw-in.

They really do pick and choose who they give these penalties against. It's so utterly corrupt.

I agree with most of what you say, but don't believe City are in a different galaxy on play. Dyche allowed Everton to defend too deep, giving unmarked City players the freedom of the space on the edge of the penalty area with our midfield defending the 6-yard box, in an already congested defence. IMO he reinforced his intent by bringing Keane on who was always going to play deep.

They are on a different galaxy finishing, in that they would have scored the Calvert-Lewin chance. Also, their goalkeeper would never have been near the corner flag trying to pass the ball. Very few Premier League goalkeepers would.

Did anyone notice how hyper Pickford was? Too many sweets at Xmas!!!!

The fact we don't get them is of course another argument altogether but yes, it was a penalty.

Pickford didn't have his best night, no doubt about that, very erratic and he got away with one of those against Newcastle when Gordon hit it straight at him; don't mess about.

We need to make sure we are back at it on Saturday because Luton's resurgence could prove a problem if we start getting decimated by injury later in the season.

We played well against one of the best sides in the world, and at no point did we give up; we were also great against an excellent Spurs side and only narrowly got beat so we have many reasons to be happy with this Everton team moving forward.

The last 2 games won't define our season – the upcoming games will, and for those we can be confident in our team and our management at the moment.

Remember, we'd be 10th right now, and I still believe we'll get a few points back on appeal. Whether I'm right remains to be seen, of course, but even if we don't, I still feel we'll climb the table to a comfortable mid-table finish come the end of the season.

We're a good side.

I'm fairly confident we'll get another 6/7 wins in the second half of the season to keep us in the Premier League.

Like it or not, Gueye is essential to our midfield. He pops up everywhere with tackles and covering; without him, we will struggle – especially against a team like Man City. Onana and Gomes were woeful.

The sooner Gueye is back, the better. He was playing very well before his injury and is totally under-appreciated by many.

The penalty. Just another Corrupt 6 rule. Not a chance of being given had that been the other way around.

The shot he pushed out in the first half would have been held by Pat Jennings and then thrown the length of the pitch into the Man City net!!

I think we've got the makings of a good side, I'm not sure we are actually there yet to say we are a good side.

I think what Dyche has done is get the very last drop of work out of most of these players, he's improved McNeil and Doucoure, just two to mention, so much that they resemble different players.

We work extremely hard and, at the very least, it feels as though we are getting our identity back, that's on the manager.

I still think we are short in some areas: the lack of a consistent ball-comfortable and creative centre-midfielder and potentially a wide player with a bit more pace.

Gomes could be a big asset but, even before his injury in 2019, he was very hit-and-miss and inconsistent; if Dyche can get him to consistently perform, then that could be a solution short-term.

Pickford in particular seems only to want to parry shots. I can only think this is current coaching philosophy.

Okay, I was only an amateur keeper, but the theory when I played (in the last century!) was that, if you parried, it was only to put the ball dead, ie, out for a corner. The exception being to knock a cross off an opposition head.

At other times, the aim was to gather in or catch direct shots. This modern trend both mystifies and irritates me.

Andy #11, or Gordon West!

I wasn't around to see Big Nev. How did he deal with those situations?

Then one day, he went down to Finch Farm and stood behind the goal during shooting practice and said he was stunned just how much modern balls move in flight. It was nothing like in his time and made it very difficult to judge a catch properly.

Gomes Onana Garnier Keane

Shots: 0, 0, 0, 0
Key Passes: 0, 0, 1, 0
Touches: 22, 48, 42, 15
Passes: 11, 38, 25, 13
Passing Accuracy: 54.5, 73.7, 76.0, 76.9%
Tackles: 1, 2, 2, 2
Fouls Won: 0, 0, 2, 0
Fouls: 2, 3, 1, 1

Gomes was the only one to foul in a dangerous area, as per usual, which led to pressure and the Onana arm in the way.

Gomes was the weak link.

Sorry not get the post to line up the figures as I intended.

Man City's squad is absolutely miles ahead of Everton right now and for the obvious reason — they have spent a fortune.

But there were excellent performances all around the pitch for us – indeed swap Foden and Rodri for Gomes and Onana and I think we'd not only have won but we'd have outplayed them. Foden in particular put in a truly world class display.

The challenge is somehow finding these top class players.

As for Pickford, he cocked up when the game was already lost – and got caught out by a moment of brilliance for the equalizer.

Other than that, I thought he was extremely good. A few of his usual superb saves and good distribution, too. Every week a few (often celebrated) goalies get caught out with a high press. He was unlucky it fell to Bernado because not many players would have had the balance under pressure and ability to score.

As for the Calvert-Lewin miss, he did well to get to the cross at all ahead of the defender and keeper. To have steered it in would have taken an extremely good finish. Haaland and other top strikers miss plenty of those – he just gets about 5 better chances to score every match.

If you're going with that line-up, put Gomes behind the striker, not in central midfield.

The problem was when he tired – then you saw the usual stupid tackle in a dangerous area.

I might be wrong, he still should have hit the target, but what I'm definitely not wrong about is that this was the third time Man City players were all over the officials (it was the linesman after this incident) but whereas other teams might get a couple of yellow cards, the opposite happened last night when City were awarded a penalty kick.

The ref changed his mind in a shot, but was it the linesman or a word in his earpiece that made him do so? This is why I think it's imperative that we are allowed to listen to what these refs have got to say.

In the bigger picture, our 16 points is 4 points below the mid-season level normally projected for safety. That said, if form from the first half of the season is matched in the second half we would total 42 points in May, in a position of safety if not comfort.

He was in a central midfield role, his stats are still poor. Having both Gana and Doucoure missing left Dyche with no choice. There was no way he was going to get running about unpressurised like the Spurs game, against Man City.

Gomes does what he always does when he can't get onto the ball, he comes deep to get it. When deep, under more pressure as the defensive line moves up into the space, he coughs up possession and then makes stupid fouls trying to recover the ball. It is more petulance than tackling.

If the flag goes up immediately for the obvious offside, he doesn't need to make the challenge. I've Just heard he may be out for months... Mindless!

The game is going to fuck.

Jerome (#6), you have it right, Pickford was back to the version of himself we saw up to last season, all fired up, at times screaming at his own players. At one stage in both the first and second halves, it appeared that Tarkowski had some strong words with him as he was not helping the hoping for cause with his antics.

He is, however, one of the main reasons why we still go in to games with a fair chance of a clean sheet, but the "calm version" of Jordan is the one we need.

How long do we give Everton and Dyche a get out of Dodge card with the, oh hard luck guys, you played brilliantly and should have won but were beaten.

Three games, knocked out of the EFL, no wins, no draws. two losses, two goals for, five against, no points. Do we extend the get out of Dodge card to Wolves, if we play well but get beat?

We are just hovering above the Bottom 3 now and a defeat against Wolves and a Luton win will see us Bottom 3 for the New Year. Something is not working recently, I hope Dyche has his tactical hat on at the weekend seeing as Wolves just battered Brentford away.

Merry Christmas boys, let's hope it's a Happy New Year.

Come on, Paul. The manager and team have done their job. The finger of blame for the current situation can't be pointed at them. With those 10 points, we'd be sat in 10th place. Hopefully the appeal will turn at least some of them around.

Don't punish the team and supporters from a footballing perspective when it should have been a financial one.

You don't win them all, but beat Wolves and progress into the next round of the FA Cup and it's a different picture.

As for the "get out of dodge" card, I imagine that's due to the threadbare squad, the nature of those losses, and the fact that most people recognise just how big a loss Doucoure is to the team.

I agree with others that the officials' decisions were dreadful.

Any justice will be in a 20 points deduction for Man City, but we know that will never happen with the corrupt Premier League.

Yes, he wasn't his calm self. But sometimes that is what you get with Pickford. Good goalkeeper otherwise. I also noticed Tarkowski swinging him roughly back to his goal line

Paul #27,

That would be the view of Howard Kendall. When he managed Man City and an interviewer talked of young side potential, he said they needed to win games.

When I critique Everton, it is pointing out the failings that result in losses. Everton should have been playing 5 yards higher up the pitch in that second half.

We have had three games now when a result was achievable and lost. Now Everton definitely need a result.

The penalty gave City a big chance to score whereas they were most unlikely to score from the open play. In other words, what our team had to suffer was way out of proportion to any perceived offence. This is a general problem football faces in my view. Same in Rugby Union where penalties are dished out for obscure reasons and it's 3 points just given away by the Ref.

I'm afraid I am not so easy-going about Mr Pickford as some opinions expressed above. I am totally convinced he was at fault for the first goal. He shifted his position by a yard to the right and Foden spotted it, hit it beautifully and beat Pickford low left. He was beaten by Richarlison at Spurs in the same spot, low left.

The third goal was an accident waiting to happen. So many times he takes risks being 40 yards out of his goal, taking kicks or joining in playing out from the back. I suppose he does this with the manager's approval so maybe he should not be solely blamed for it eventually going pear-shaped.

So, for me, we were beaten by 2 goalkeeping errors and a dubious penalty.

It is gifting the opposition with an easy tap-in every time.
Every week, we see at least 3 or 4 goals conceded by Premier League keepers using this tactic. What happened to keepers taking the ball full-on in the chest/stomach? Don't give me that crap that the ball is different today, and is swerving, etc.

I predicted Pickford loses us 12 points minimum every season with his pantomime antics. Yes, he does sometimes make great saves – but that is his job! He would become a great keeper if he lost the attitude and ridiculous mistakes. He gifted a goal against Spurs and then 2 against City.
Let's hope his pantomime season finishes before the Wolves game.

I suppose the goalkeeper saves the ball and avoids mishandling it, getting the blame. Something that is better avoided in the English League. Remember Robinson and what happened to him. Is Alan Kelly still the goalkeeping coach?