Calvert-Lewin ends scoring drought with potentially crucial penalty

The only thing, Lyndon, is that fight didn't show up until the hat trick substitutes in the second half. We were absolutely awful before that.

But! Hope springs eternal and after those subs we looked much, much better. More of that and we'll be fine.

The cynic in me thinks the only reason he brought 3 subs on at the same time was because he thought Dan Burn’s goal was going to stand.

Well done Dominic for taking responsibility.

Kahunas. 💪🏼

I will argue with anyone who says Dyche deserves credit for the changes. He doesnt. He deserves criticism for his intransigence and tactics. Towards the end we were actually beginning to look the team more likely. Do that from the kick off and go out to try and win games, not to not lose them and give us something to really get behind.

Maybe the dark days are going and MSP end up being the new owners, here's hoping. Coyb.

I think that Dyche playing a advanced midfielder as part of the attack has run it's course.McNeill did play better,.Onana suffered from targeted attention.There was a improvement in play from the first game after the break, but the defence can caught out and untracked runners from midfield are still a problem . Fortunately Pickford was more on his game.Everton have to beat Burnley

If anything, the players just showed that they actually can be trusted to produce when they're allowed to.

Hopefully it's a lesson for Dyche. A turning point. But if I know this guy, then I suspect it's not

VAR was certainly our friend last night. I'm still not in favour of it, but without it we would have lost 2-0.

Dyche needs to sort out the right-back position asap. Godfrey looks like a fish out of water. Onana looked totally fed up coming off. Is he reading the rumours and wants away?

I can't understand why Garner is on the bench. Mykolenko looked every inch someone dragged from a sickbed.

Anyone know when the decision on a second points deduction is due. The media are talking like it's imminent.

I was sitting there full of pain and shame if I’m being honest, and the only thought in my head, was he has got to change it. Make three changes I thought, and the camera suddenly went to the side of the pitch, and I saw three players stripped and ready to come on.

I didn’t expect them to make the impact they did, simply because they were coming into a team that was performing at a confidence shot, very low level, but making subs around the hour mark is so important nowadays, imo, because the pace of the game is frightening.

Because we have to take the game to Burnley, Gomes should start in that no10 role, especially as Doucs seems all at sea at the moment. Him and McNeil are capable of much better form, and boy do we need them to find it.

Calvert- Lewin will be feeling better about himself so he should be given the nod to try and build some momentum with another goal on Saturday. We should take advantage of his confidence boost.

Then we get to the right wing/ right midfield. Ashley Young played better in the second half, but I’m not convinced he’s the answer when needing a positive attacking performance against Burnley. Hopefully Danjuma can come in, or a miracle and Harrison is revitalised.

Patterson would also be an option playing ahead of Seamus and encouraged to run, attack and cross. Successive managers do not trust him though. I’m starting to wonder if there is a payment clause due we don’t want to pay. Or is it just simply that they don’t think he’s good enough?

With another point deduction looking likely, Saturday’s game is a massive opportunity and a must win. Dyche can’t use his 13 match, Mike Walker surpassing, failed defensive system for this one.

Is there?

The contrast between the first 60 minutes and the last 30 minutes was stark. Almost like watching a proper football team.

Get enough points to stay up, get decent ownership and a young ambitions coach to improve this squad.

Nirvana.

Onana looked totally fed up coming off. Is he reading the rumours and wants away.
Can't understand why Garner is on the bench.

Myko looked every inch someone dragged from a sickbed.

Anyone know when the decision on a second points deduction is due? The media are talking like it's imminent.

Our subs especially Garner made a difference, I like Gomes on the ball but off the ball he is a liability hence the massive hole in the midfield when Gana went off. Fortunately for us Bruno had a very quiet game in part to Onanas and Gana's defensive work in the first half.

People probably won't agree with this but Branthwaite showed his lack of maturity at this level with their goal. He should be forcing Isaac onto his left foot but made it easy for the striker to cut in and score, not to dissimilar chance to DCL in the 2nd half and the defender did well pushing Dom onto his left.

A battling point and much better 2nd half performance.

The games remaining against the teams around us are going to be battles from start to finish, we need the players to be on the front foot for 90 mins not just the last 30.

Roll on Saturday.

For me, the midfield against Burnley should be Gana, Gomes and Garner with Onana and Doucoure. It would enable us to get control of the game and to pass to team mates.

Gomes looks so cultured on the ball but off the ball is terrible.

If both of these players are in our academy at 20 years of age they would be rejected for the very reasons above, instead we have paid out 60m for 2 players that I am sure we could have produced in the academy. Dowell or Gomes, Connelly or Doucoure.

But the shape of the game changed on the hour mark, while the ref and VAR were discussing another possible goal for Newcastle, Dyche decided he had to make changes and brought on Garner, Gomes and DCL. The changes saw a marked improvement in our attacking intent, we started asking questions of Newcastle defenders that we hadnt previously. You could tell after about 10 minutes of the changes being made the atmosphere in the ground suddenly changed, Newcastle fans realized this was no longer a walk in the park and Everton at long last had decided to be a lot more attack minded. The brilliant Everton fans were in full voice and the only noise you could hear came from our fans, all of a sudden there was a spring in the step of our players. Garner made a nice turn and shot that hit the post all of a sudden Newcastle looked jittery and slow.
But despite the attacking intent and Garners effort hitting the post it looked like to little to late, until stupidly Dummett pulls down Young in the box. Youngs appeal made the ref consult VAR who unbelievably sent the ref to the monitor, I don't know who was on VAR but to have to ask the ref to look at a stonewall penalty decision just highlights the poor standard of refs we have in this country.
While I was delighted with the draw and pleased with the attacking options we brought on, we should remember if Dummet had done his job properly we would have come home with no points.
Will Dyche adopt the same attacking intent against Burnley I doubt it, he will start with Onana and a lone striker. We owe Doucoure for saving our skin last season and the goals he has scored so far this season, but his impact in recent games has been far less effective. Just got to hope the commission don't give us more points deductions to send us into the bottom 3 so late in the season.

Reading through the thread I'm struck by the criticism in almost all the posts. This was a good result against the odds.

Our fixtures to come are largely good with 2 or 3 exceptions, we should be good enough to stay up with those games to come.

I bet we don't however and they will sneak a goal to go 1 nil up and the whole atmosphere will change to desperation and worry.

Just have a go at them from the off, for fuck's sake. They aren't a top side so stamp your authority on them!!

But he was still the player who impressed me the most because he was brave enough to keep playing, and keep trying to do the right things, even though he started the game off the pace.

That's a great gift to have considering he is the youngest player in our team, and he deserves a lot respect for the way he dug in last night.

Gomes starting a game after putting on a bit of a show will be a damp squid and a liability.

Enough went our way that we got a point we barely deserved but the scales seem forever fixed in the middle with our performances virtually impossible to predict.

I don't know whether he is carrying an injury but Tarkowski seems to have lost a foot from his vertical leap which has potentially cost us at both ends of the pitch in the last two games.

I guess the club must be a pretty miserable place this season with too much affecting the future still up in the air but hopefully all the players can keep focussed on the job that they are very well paid to do.

So, having done my bit for the day, I turned on Toffeetv.com on YouTube and listened into the discussion, The Final Word, on the Newcastle game. And there it was, the penny dropped with me... my frustration with Dyche explained and the reason why we are playing the way we are.

In a nutshell, the conversation hinged on the way the team was set up, the role each player had, the fear and the total lack of threat as a game plan. We are set up not to lose – not to win.

Other teams you see their plan, you see where and how they will try to score: wingers, overlapping fullbacks, even hoofball by ensuring if Calvert-Lewin or Beto win the header, there are one or two to play it off to. The constant crab football because no one wants to be the one who loses the ball, no one wants to play football.

We have two wingers who have no pace to go past a man, a 38-year-old you expect to get up and down a line to cover the full-back and attack. We have sold or got rid of Gray, Townsend, Gordon, Simms, obviously apart from Gordon, because they don't fit with the style of the manager, the way he wants to play.

The players aren't great, we know that, but you see them on the training videos hammering balls into the net… hard to do when you don't get over the half-way line.

They want to win, but they are told to play a certain way. Don't take chances, get behind the ball, do not cross the half-way line. Then we expect a striker, any striker, to win a ball on the half-way line, run on past three defenders, and knock the ball in from 25 yards… or beat a couple of players by the corner flag with no one near him, waiting for your full-back for support.

No style of play, no set plan – get the ball wide, support the striker, win the second ball, overlapping fullbacks, getting crosses in early… You get the drift.

This is the world of Sean Dyche. Yes, we have had a mixed bag of players, but the only game plan the manager has appears to be "Get behind the ball, don't lose it, and try to score from a corner or free kick".

Sean Dyche's coaching manual must have unopened chapters of attacking strategy. We know this team can play better, we have seen them; they cannot be happy playing this way… no threat, play not to lose, and snatch one from a set play.

When a club changes manager, you often see players or the team playing without the shackles hammering into them, they enjoy the game more. It's where a new-manager bounce often comes from, I suspect.

Yes, I applauded (and still do) Dyche's organisational skills but I condemn his utter lack of any attacking strategy. It's about workrate, closing down, minimise risk. Then look no further than centre of midfield.

Gomes a few seasons ago was regularly hammered on TW as finished; now, to many, including myself, he is the only person with any creativity to split defences. Yet, once again, from everyman and his dog, we hear that he doesn't work hard enough.

It doesn't matter how good you are if you cannot run back, tackle like a full-back, and finish like a top striker. It's a team game of different skills; you compensate for creativity with workrate – it's a balance. God help us if we get a transfer ban.

I watched Luton against Arsenal this morning; good players Arsenal, but you could also see even Luton had a game plan: get the crosses in, attack down the wings. Watching it, I missed Townsend for Christ's sake! And with Arsenal, it was all about the short stuff, moving off players, one-twos.

It's why we look so bad, because we have no plan, no threat. I feel sorry for Calvert-Lewin, Beto, Maupay, Simms – in fact, any striker – because where is the support, where is the plan? The players are focused to play safe.

A comment was made on Toffee Tv that Burnley won't come to Everton and concentrate on getting 10 men behind the ball… they will set up to win. So should we.

Secondly, I asked after the Bournemouth game “where has Everton gone?” Well even including the first half, I was pleased with the effort I saw in that game.

Gordon getting criticism for his part in this game baffles me. I thought he played well. I think Dyche has decided he is a full back and is going to persist with him. Barnes ran riot against West Ham - I thought he was very quiet in this game.

Mykolenko - dragged off his sick bed Kevin? I thought he had a good game and stopped a certain goal by getting back on to the goal line to prevent Isak scoring his second.

Doucoure isn’t at his best at the moment. It is Ramadan and Doucoure is a Muslim and fasting between dawn and dusk. Hence the special break in the first half.

I am pleased for Calvert Lewin scoring a goal but I am of the opinion that Beto is better at finding space. I would like to see how he fairs with Gomes in our midfield. By the way I would love to see him playing against Van Dyke. I bet you Burn and Cher were glad to see him subbed.

I’ll even give Dyche a shout out for the subs he made. I suppose he didn’t have much choice other than to go for it.

Finally, the away support. You could hear them driving the team on all game but especially in the second half. I am proud of them.

If we keep playing like that we will be OK points deduction or not.

Up the Blues.

Dyche does have a game plan and, for most of the season, we have created chances but not taken them.

Key to his tactics are a fit and flying Doucoure who can cover centre-mid and support the striker, something he hasn't done properly since his injury.

He isn't going to employ wingbacks when we don't have any, we aren't going to play like Man City as we don't have the players, we also don't have a cutting edge up top, what style does that suit? Back to basics, hard running and closing down spaces?

Nobody has been sold due to the style of play, players have been sold out of necessity. Dyche has said as much himself. He didn't want Iwobi to leave. Gordon and Gray wanted out, we needed the money for home grown Simms and Cannon to appease the league which has obviously backfired.

Given our last 2 seasons performances, coupled with fire sales, points deduction and the limbo of ownership I think Dyche is doing better than expected.

I posted after Bournemouth that we need a new manager bounce as it was the first time all season that the players didn't try and I still want that. I don't have a clue who would take the job.

I have never known another Everton manager perform under the restrictions as what Dyche is doing now. The man deserves credit for being professional in all of this. He is the face of the club until new owners get appointed.

He is a dead man walking, new owners will replace him straight away. Then we can start the merry-go-round again.

I agree with you totally. I believe that our players are far better than they are allowed to be under the system Dyche is using. The teams around us despite their position in the table go out to win.

Burnley will not be an easy game, they have been playing well of late and shouldn't be underestimated.

These 2 things we do pretty well, but it's dull as shit to watch. That said, Luton are getting a lot of plaudits for 'having a go' and being good to watch, but they ship goals and will probably get relegated.

So, which do you prefer? Look good, ship goals and go down? Or play dull as dishwater football, safety first, don't concede too many and stay up?

Remember, we're technically on 32 points to Luton's 22. Points deductions not withstanding, I'd suggest we're only one win from safety.

Sean Dyche was employed to keep us in the league, not to win it. You pays yer money, you takes yer choice.

What formation and tactics would you use to make us better and win more games?

Maybe I am just resigned to the fact we have sold our best players year on year and quality is low.

How could we have doubted England's #1?

I think that's a great summary.

The only mystery is why people reckon we should go on the front foot after acknowledging we don't have the requisite players. It's like advocating suicide.

But we have been in a death spiral. The football being shit is acceptable if we get results. We haven't had results for months. So you can understand people's frustration.

Me, I've backed him (mostly) – I wanted him hired, and have backed him. Lately, though, my backing is based on "we can't afford to fire him, so keep going". Very much a "what other option is there?"

If you play hoofball all night, it's a strategy that might work if you have players running off Calvert-Lewin. If you want Calvert-Lewin to score, play to his strengths, early balls into the 6-yard box. Patterson, Mylolenko and Coleman can do it, Godfrey, Garner Young and Harrison don't.

Hit and hope doesn't win games, and we need to win games.
When people talk of a team's identity, it's how they set up, how they play.

Our game plan is random, you see other teams tactically target players or pressure certain areas. That's what I mean by an attacking strategy. I don't buy it that the players we have can't play attacking football (not front foot, but tactics!) We are not succeeding with what we are doing.

Some one said draws are not enough and we need to set up to win against those teams we can, and nullify those who are better.

I agree entirely — moreover, how many relegation-threatened clubs play great football?

Nobody loves skill more than me but it's the one thing you can't coach into players. As you say, it's crap to watch but it's about survival and I don't see any realistic alternatives.

In simple terms, yes, football is about winning – so is all sport. However, the Premier League is now set up in such a way that, for many clubs (including Everton), not losing is really what matters more – especially since you get 1 point for a draw.

There are only 3 teams who can realistically win the league, then you have a group who want European football, then you have the mid-table scrappers, and finally those who exist only to attempt to stay in the top flight.

The Premier League has made itself the promised land, the cash cow and green green grass that everyone wants a piece of purely to make money. 17 out of 20 teams are really only there to prop up the top 3, or 14 to prop up the top 6 if you prefer.

The old days of going all out to win the league are the stuff of fantasy nowadays, and Everton are very much a bottom-of-the-table outfit in every sense – both on and off the field.

We've been set up since Moyes left purely to exist in the top flight and nothing else. Half our fanbase even harp on about being in the top flight the longest as though it's some badge of honour that means something – it doesn't mean anything. Nobody cares about history other than fans of clubs themselves; everyone else just shrugs their shoulders. History does nothing for the future.

I'm obviously not party to management meetings at Everton, but I'll lay money that every manager under Moshiri has had the same remit – keep us in the top flight. Hell, most of them even get a bonus for this very feat!

If you think Premier League football is about winning games, it isn't. It's about not losing enough to avoid going down, and that's now become more important than winning. It's the very reason managers like Dyche and Allardyce exist on highly paid contracts.

We need to get Onana clear in the pivot, he plays a good ball in and doesn't waste time doing it. Young can't beat the defender to the by line but he doesn't run away from support. That is what held possession, waiting for support and finding the pass to recycle. Harrison gets isolated and runs too much for the RB to settle.

I think Dyche's one day comment referred to limited time for a certain combination of players. We don't have like-for-like depth in the squad, everything is cobbled together. Some of the work against Newcastle looked positive to me but then I would say that wouldn't I?

I so desperately wanted to believe what Christine was saying @44 but it's classic old-school bollocks in this day and age, harking back to some long-gone ethos that we were still not very good at, thanks to the People's Hero, David Moyes, who schooled us in how to do KITANO.

What would he project onto us every season? Oh yeah… "Get to 40 points, and then we'll see what more we can do."

"Nobody cares about history other than fans of clubs themselves; everyone else just shrugs their shoulders. History does nothing for the future." — Just don't be telling that to the Everton Heritage Society and the custodians of the Everton Collection!

Of course it's about survival, of course it's business, of course we don't matter...
Christ, I have said pretty much the same thing on these pages for years; it's called being pragmatic. But that doesn't mean we have to play crap football. That doesn't forgive how we survive, that only survival matters.

If football is purely a business, then we deserve to be bankrupt. We must still be using typewriters and think that AI is a main road north.

How we do things in life matters. Winning sometimes is about nothing more than surviving, Aspiration is dead for 14 clubs?

That the promised land of the Premier League is the new measure of attainment?
That we should be thankful to play in it against those mighty sides?
That we and the other 14 clubs are nothing more than fodder?
That we should be thankful?

The fans, the players, all aspire, they believe that they are better than just a balance sheet. It's entertainment.

Entertainment is not just the entitlement of the Top Six. And Michael, you're right about KITANO, dreadful football at times from a dour manager, but it was still light years better than Dyche or the way he sets his team up.

We are where we are. Moshiri and Kenwright, ably assisted by Barrett-Baxendale, have truly fucked this club. It may take years to recover but we will.

The Premier League is the new winning to some. A league of also-rans, totally forgettable teams, managers, experiences. That's why this league cannot and should not survive in its current form. It's the unforgivable reality.