15/04/2024 69comments  |  Jump to last
Chelsea 6 - 0 Everton

Everton suffered their heaviest defeat in 19 years and saw their goal-difference advantage over relegation rivals Nottingham Forest wiped out on a horrifying and potentially damaging evening at Stamford Bridge against erratic Chelsea.

The defensive solidity for which Sean Dyche teams are known evaporated amid both his decision to deploy a suicidally high line and disgracefully half-hearted defending by his players against a highly talented side and Cole Palmer ripped the Blues apart on his way to a four-goal haul that inflicted on their increasingly hapless manager the worst loss of his coaching career.

Against a team that has now only won once in 15 Premier League games and which has scored just nine goals since the turn of the year, the game was essentially won for the Londoners before 20 minutes had elapsed when Palmer stole in untracked to nod in his second and make it 2-0 to the hosts.

He added a third in the 29th minute when Jordan Pickford senselessly gave it straight to him with an ill-advised pass looking for Amadou Onana and was comfortably lobbed from 25 yards before the on-fire striker wrestled the ball off two team-mates to stroke home his fourth from the penalty spot in the second half.

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That made it 5-0 and Alfie Gilchrist came off the bench late on to lash home a sixth and leave Everton and Dyche, who lost Jarrad Branthwaite and Nathan Patterson to injury, to make the long trip back to Merseyside contemplating the club’s future ahead of a massive game against Forest at Goodison Park on Sunday.

With Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Idrissa Gueye missing with a tight hamstring and calf respectively, Dyche restored Beto and Amadou Onana to the starting XI, the latter alongside James Garner, but neither central midfielder made it past half-time.

Everton’s mid-section was overrun in the first period; their defence just as porous as Branthwaite was nutmegged by Palmer who collected a lay-off from Nicholas Jackson before curling the ball around Pickford to open the floodgates in the 13th minute.

Ironically, it was Everton who might have scored first when Seamus Coleman fizzed a ball across the six-yard box at the end of a move of rare quality from the Toffees but it flew off Beto’s shin and over the crossbar from close range.

The willing but fundamentally limited Portuguese would have the lion’s share of what few opportunities Everton created on the night but the chasm in quality between the two outfits was embarrassing at times, exemplified by Palmer to whom the visitors could find no answer.

He almost doubled his tally in the 15th minute when Noni Madueke took Conor Gallagher’s pass to the byline and clipped it across the face of Everton’s goal but it was slightly behind the 21-year-old forward who couldn’t readjust his body to bundle it home.

Three minutes after that, though, he did find the net when Gallagher got to the byline as easily as his team-mate had and cut it back for Jackson. Pickford parried the resulting shot but only into the path of Palmer who had continued his run between three statuesque salmon-pink defenders.

Garner’s sloppy giveaway on a what was a torrid evening almost gifted Jackson the third but he sliced his shot narrowly wide before being booked for tripping Palmer but Pickford’s unforgivable sloppiness handed Palmer his hat-trick on a gilded platter.

Despite already being in a desperately deep hole, Everton rallied a bit in the final 15 minutes of the half and had the ball in the net through Beto but he was at least a yard offside when Ashley Young swept the ball in from the right flank.

Beto was in the right place to almost meet James Tarkowski’s volleyed cross off a trademark set-piece but Marc Cucurella shanked it behind before the awkward Blues striker was played in by Dwight McNeil and forced a save from Djordje Petrovic in the 44th minute.

Almost immediately, though, it was 4-0 to Chelsea. Everton’s offside trap was easily sprung and when Cucurella’s cross found Jackson in the area, he took a touch before swivelling home a tidy finish inside the post.

With damage-limitation no doubt on his mind, Dyche withdrew Onana, Garner and Coleman at the break and threw on André Gomes, Patterson and Jack Harrison and Branthwaite had a chance five minutes after the restart but, like Onana just before half-time, couldn’t put his header from a corner on target at the back post.

Palmer went very close to making it 5-0 when Mykhailo Mudryk slipped him in between the centre-halves but Pickford denied him with a smart save with his foot while the England keeper’s failure to grab a low cross from the right almost ended with the ball ricocheting into the net off Patterson a few minutes later.

But things would get worse for Everton, first when Branthwaite limped off to be replaced by Michael Keane and then when Abdoulaye Doucouré clumsily felled Palmer in his own box and referee Paul Tierney awarded a penalty that the Chelsea star converted with aplomb.

Beto seized on a loose ball and belted a right-foot shot off target from just inside the box at one end and Mudryk wasted an opening by side-footing tamely at the keeper at the other but as the game entered stoppage time, Mauricio Pochettino’s men completed their demolition job.

Ben Chilwell ranked a shot goal-wards from the angle that Pickford pushed away to the other side of his area but Gilchrist was there to rap the ball home to make it 6-0.

Patterson was helped off in the aftermath having pulled his hamstring chasing back to try and defend the attack and was replaced by Ben Godfrey. Beto had one last chance at a consolation goal repelled by Petrovic before Tierney put Everton out of their misery following seven minutes of added time.

In the context of what has been a horrendous run of form since that brief flurry of results in December that saw the Toffees win four on the bounce, this implosion plumbed new depths for a team that is getting demonstrably worse under another failing managerial tenure.

As was the case following what was another dreadful showing at Bournemouth at the end of last month, it would be hard to see how Dyche could survive in his post were it not for the void of leadership at the top of the club with Farhad Moshiri having one foot out the door since September.

Curiously enough, the “absentee landlord” was in attendance at Stamford Bridge alongside 777 Partners representative Joshua Dreyfus, watching where three quarters of a billion pounds has got him and even he must be alarmed at the danger the Club is now in with just two points separating it from the relegation zone.

Demotion to the Championship would be catastrophic and something urgently needs to change before the weekend. Everton are in no financial position to sack and appoint another manager, as much as this display and run of results might demand it, so that means a different tactical approach and, certainly, a radical shift in mentality.

Whether the latest busted flush in the head-coaching role at Everton can achieve it remains to be seen but the club’s very survival may depend on it. Pray this sickening and disgraceful showing is the nadir, Blues; these players owe us a performance on Sunday.

 

Reader Comments (69)

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Anthony Day
1 Posted 15/04/2024 at 00:05:07
I revert back to my original points from the other thread - what is the team trying to do each match? Not concede and score from a corner ? We have no pace anywhere. Our fullbacks don't overlap. Our wingers cut inside and don't cross. We launch balls to a lone striker who is usually 20yrds from a teammate. Carlo showed how to get the best out of DCL - balls into the 6yrd box ! Not rocket science !

We have one proper footballer in Gomes but never play a system to exploit his ability- instead play a system which exposes his lack of pace.

Pickford cannot catch a ball or dominate his area.

We have been mismanaged into a coma and I fear the creditors will pull the plug fairly soon - we are NOT a going concern - 777 are loading us up with expensive debt before they try and take over - at least the PL have rumbled them and put in place conditions they can never satisfy.

If Forest score first then we will lose the match and will ultimately get relegated this season - Dyche can fuck off with his non football however He can leave with some pride if he gets us a minimum of 8 points from the last 5-6 games which should be enough

Mark Andrews
2 Posted 16/04/2024 at 00:08:05
Going down with Dyche
Jason Mcclure
3 Posted 16/04/2024 at 00:19:57
its a piss poor Everton team from every area defence midfield attack.

I'd sell Pickford. Get what ever we can for him. Compare him to Southall... not even close. Slightly bit better than Richard Wright, in my opinion.

Onana is just a show pony but does actually nothing so would be happy to get a fee on him.

As for Dyche the squad he inherited is a shit show but the sands are running out on him. He needs to find a way instead of sticking to this 4-4-1-1 shite. I wouldn't mind if he actually reverted to a 4-5-1. At least it would give a modicum of some control of games.

Peter Gorman
4 Posted 16/04/2024 at 00:22:34
Should the worst happen and the club get relegated, when the vultures circle for our players (ha ha) I can honestly say I couldn't give a shit which of them go.
Michael Whitehead
5 Posted 16/04/2024 at 01:30:36
I've just seen somewhere that we've scored 8 goals since December 27th.

I'm not being funny like but that's beyond belief.

I've actually lost any belief now that Sean Dyche should be Everton boss next season.

He needs to go and so too does the Prehistoric football we play under him, no wonder Burnley eventually got shut.

Arnez Desmond
6 Posted 16/04/2024 at 02:13:42
Today's result was a given (rubbish again!) when the team sheet was released. We were lucky to beat Burnley. We have been poorer since the start of 2024. The big question is what has happened with our recruitment. I'm not talking about the summer transfer windows where the last 2 seasons we were getting bit part players. I'm talking about the recruitment for our second and youth teams the last few years if we had to play 39 year old - Young, 35 year old Coleman, 32 year old - Doucs, 34 year old - Gueye in our team week in and week out.

This team has no pace, we lose the second balls because we are too slow to cover the ground and we don't seem to have talent or leaders. Sean Dyche's performance was not defensible today. Predictable, slow and boring football. I took a short nap while watching the game on my tv at the start of the second half after seeing Young still on the pitch. How on earth was Young able to stay on the pitch today again after the last few performances?

This Everton team needs a major rebuild. We need to rid ourselves of more than half this team. Does 777 have the funds to revamp the squad? We should sue the PL for taking so long on the takeover? Need to go: Coleman, Keane, Doucs, Gueye, Young, Patterson, Onana and Beto. McNeil (slow and bang average). If we sell this lot, is our recruitment team able to get a better younger hungrier squad. If SD wants to sign Harrison, then SD out as well please!

Enough with the excuses because these players earn big wages to kick a football. They need a kick up the arse and competition. I am sure there are PL2 players who can be thrown in the mix. Again if SD does not want to use the PL2 squad, and stick with the current lot, out with SD!

Andy McNabb
7 Posted 16/04/2024 at 03:19:45
Horrible. Are we ever going to be able to emerge from behind the sofa and watch with even a crumb of confidence?

I take my hat off to those of you who watch home and away. You have a level courage I do not possess.

My son's response this morning - 'Glad we live in Australia.' Problem is, we are so bad it even made the sports headlines on ABC Classic FM and they rarely mention the EPL.

Jack Convery
8 Posted 16/04/2024 at 04:03:39
Let's face it: we're SHITE. If I could have spelt that in Font Infinite I would believe me. A manager cannot put out a team that shames the club in that way. It was the most shameful display I have ever seen from a team that calls itself Everton Football Club. TArks said he was embarrassed. Sorry but he should have said ASHAMED. We the fans, are the ones who are embarrassed, at how, are once great club has become a laughing stock.

As for Cole Palmer what a player. He simply tore us apart. Arteta what were you thinking buying Havertz and letting Chelsea get him.

Came Last Night:

Cole Palmer in the Impress File. In which a group of footballers fall under the influence of a Russian and Iranian bent on World Domination. They subsequently turn up to play a football game and when the ref blows his whistle to start the game. they have no idea how to play football.

Soon to be followed by Billion Horror Drain, Funeral In Luton, Bullet for Dyche and Sad sight in the Emirates.

Walter White
9 Posted 16/04/2024 at 06:04:49
The players, as absolutely awful as around 95% of them are, are playing to Dyche's so-called tactics.

If we persist with this stubborn, clueless, chewie-chewing, uninspiring dinosaur, we will go down.

As it stands, the only thing that will keep us up is if Luton go into free fall.

Dyche offers absolutely nothing. Not one single positive.

Let Baines take over till the season ends, he can only do as bad as this stubborn cretin.

Doing nothing means nothing will change for the better, roll the fucking dice.

Harry Wallace
10 Posted 16/04/2024 at 06:23:01
Perhaps this scoreline will produce a better result against Liverpool? And if we win that, then a big loss and win may be better than two tight defeats?!

Maybe I am trying too hard to be positive… 😫😫

Jim Bennings
11 Posted 16/04/2024 at 06:34:41
No doubt some fans will come on here soon and tell us not to overreact, well they can fuck right off!

That was embarrassing from start to finish – and from a man one to eleven.

Dyche must have the worst run of results now of any Everton manager stretching back to mid-December.

It's not even just that, it's the style of play which is basically an advert for the death of football.

How can a fellow Premier League team be so fuckin scared of another? You'd think we were an under-10s team.

Yes, the players are tripe; yes, it's the beginning of the end of Seamus Coleman's career now but it is not his fault that we don't play a younger right-back.

Why is Dyche not working on permutations and patterns of play in training all week?

I've seen more creativity in a child's creche than I see with us on a playing field scoring so few goals, not even working Chelsea's goalkeeper last night… this is a Chelsea team that's been leaking goals by the way and has a Cup semi-final on Sunday.

That's me done now with Dyche and his coaching staff which offer nothing but stand on the touchline chewing their fuckin heads off.

Sell that joke Onana who just prances around doing jack shit, sell Pickford who seems to have peaked now and is on the way down in my opinion. There's only Branthwaite that I'd be sore to let go.

This football club is a horrible horrible advert for football and neutral fans are probably right, as much as it hurts to admit.

Rob Hooton
12 Posted 16/04/2024 at 06:53:01
No wonder so many other clubs fans want us to go down, we are anti-football shite.

That was embarrassing beyond belief. Me and my dad were sat with the Chelsea fans and I wanted to leave after Pickford's howler as the writing was on the wall – after only half an hour! As it was, we left at half-time – which I've never, ever wanted to do before.

Playing two old players on one side against the youth and pace of Chelsea was suicidal, yet no other player came out of it well. As others have said, our ‘style' of football is nonexistent and we stink the league out.

I genuinely hate supporting our club at the mo, they've ripped any pride I had up and there's nothing to get excited about.

I said I wouldn't watch the game on Sunday, but this mug will no doubt be watching and hoping for something as usual. They don't deserve us.

Benjamin Dyke
13 Posted 16/04/2024 at 06:54:55
We're plumbing the depths now. We offered nothing.

If Everton was a horse it would be put down. Mentally they've gone AWOL. It'll take a miracle to stay up, it seems.

It doesn't feel like the players or coaches have it in them to get a tune out of themselves. Dire.

Dan Nulty
14 Posted 16/04/2024 at 07:01:07
We can't afford to sack him but I still feel that all these points deductions have taken their toll. Sitting 10 points clear of relegation these last few months, I think we'd have played with far less pressure and more freedom and probably better.

We just look like rabbits in headlights. I actually think we might be done. If the crowd turns on Saturday if we go a goal down, then we have no chance of beating Forest. I can see us losing against Luton too.

I genuinely think we are down now.

Ralph Basnett
15 Posted 16/04/2024 at 07:02:44
No trust in any of the youth but still puts them on the bench.

Dyche has never played the kids but yesterday was his perfect opportunity to do it, getting stuffed but trying to make subs to change the game at half-time, even though three or four down?

The man hasn't got a clue, he could have saved Patterson for the weekend, pulled Young for Danjuma, Chermiti for Doucoure, Warrington for Onana.

They are positive subs, not conservative subs to keep the score down and still go down 6-0!!!!!!!

How the fuck any one who calls himself a manager then gives Young a full game – never mind any game time – is beyond me.

Sack the fucker even though it's too late.

Garry Martin
16 Posted 16/04/2024 at 07:06:13
As bad as we are, at least until last night, our goal difference was our potential saviour from the drop, but, even thats gone now. We can only hope that Luton's 5-1 mauling against City last Saturday helps in our survival.
Ian Jones
17 Posted 16/04/2024 at 07:18:25
Hi Jim, think you've covered most areas there. You mention Chelsea and the leaking defence. The Chelsea team has also been scoring quite a few goals recently, picking up some form. Having said that, we were rubbish. The only thing you haven't covered is that our points deduction merely papers over the cracks. Our form around Christmas when we picked up 12 points from 4 games could be our saviour.
David Currie
18 Posted 16/04/2024 at 07:26:44
Awful night but think the worst is to come, my big worry is that Forest and Luton are far better than us in the attacking and goal scoring part of the game. We are clueless going forward and Dyche never changes formation. I would have tried 3-5-2 as maybe we can score more goals and we still have 5 in the midfield. Since Jan 1 to April 15 we must be bottom of the League in terms of points or second bottom! Now with a few injuries to key players like Jarrod and DCL going to be hard to get the points to stay up.
David Vaughan
19 Posted 16/04/2024 at 07:27:51
Shameful, unfathomable, a display seemingly full of unspoken (but witnessed) surrender to matters unravelling off the pitch.

After nigh on 60 years supporting this once meaningful club, I'm left wanting relegation before administration, but administration before 777. A quick death must be better than a slow death?

As the man said, if we were a horse, we'd be put down. Out of kindness. To its fans.

Danny Baily
20 Posted 16/04/2024 at 07:32:24
Any news on administration?

We could get our act together on Sunday. But the likes of Pickford and Onana need to put a shift in; it went beyond poor decision making on their part for me last night and into poor attitude territory. And Dyche needs to do better as well; if individuals have given up on the cause, then drop them. If goal involvement a for McNeil and Young have dried up, then drop them. And take the sole positive from last night and reinstate Gomes.

Geoff Williams
21 Posted 16/04/2024 at 07:33:09
We must be odds on favourite to be relegated alongside Burnley and Sheffield United. I just can't see us win another game the way Dyche sets up a team. The man is totally clueless
Neil Lawson
22 Posted 16/04/2024 at 07:48:43
Lyndon " we are currently in no position to sack and replace our manager". From my perspective we are already managerless.
Dean Williams
23 Posted 16/04/2024 at 07:51:17
We are doomed. A club mismanaged from the very top down, Deserves all it gets. The fact dyche is still here 6 months after he should have gone, is testament to all our club stands for now. When we go down, we will not come back. I'm embarrassed to be a 50 year blue, the bad times massively outweigh the good ones.
Bill Fairfield
24 Posted 16/04/2024 at 07:59:32
We've got to hope we get lucky and nick a couple of stuffy 1-0 wins,as we did against Burnley. We keep being told by the manager that this squad are an honest group. Really? Some of them are thinking about their move this summer already. God it's difficult to look forward to the next game.
Matt Butlin
25 Posted 16/04/2024 at 08:01:29
Don't tell me, they'll “learn from it” and “go again”.
Michael Stevenson
26 Posted 16/04/2024 at 08:07:09
This is death by a thousand cuts and I just want this season over one way or another.

But what will change next season? We're almost certain to lose Pickford and Branthwaite in the summer and not be able to afford to replace them. Next season already promises to be worse than this with Leeds, Leicester and Ipswich (for fuck's sake) clearly better than us coming up.

After 50 years of supporting Everton, I'm reaching the end of my tether and am almost wishing for administration. We don't deserve to be in the Premier League. Luton and Forest are better than us so let them have it.

Andrew Burns
27 Posted 16/04/2024 at 08:20:05
An absolutly shameful performence from the team, sloppy play, no intrest and it seems that they have already given up. Completely awful !
Mike Hayes
28 Posted 16/04/2024 at 08:26:21
Disgraceful embarrassing performance and tactics (🤷) need to get shut of Dyche and don't say Who - anyone but this 4-4-1-1 Young dinosaur “manager” he's had more than enough time and he can't blame injuries as the players are shite when fit. Drop Pickford Young Coleman (sorry Seamus) McNeil Tarkowski etc - move the U21's in they CANNOT do any worse if there is a worse than this lot - do something to bring back some pride and hope - we've suffered enough from the mismanagement of this once proud club 😡😡😡
Michael Whitehead
29 Posted 16/04/2024 at 08:46:45
Pretty much all the topics covered above on some really good posts on this thread.

It does appear that the tide is turning against Sean Dyche now and as we have known from previous incumbents once that happens the outcome is usually inevitable.

It's not just Dyche but a large portion of it is Dyche and his non-existent coaching staff.

The question that I always ask is when the chips are down that's when you find out what a manager has got in his armoury to use to fight against the odds and can he change, can he be flexible, find solutions.

I always look at the Moyes era during injury crisis's and when we didn't have a single striker to select, he found a way of playing Cahill as lone striker, someone like Fellaini behind him, it worked to as best of it's ability allowed it.

I look at Dyche and he's just continuing to do the same thing game by game, players are regressing rapidly.

I don't recall Jack Harrison being this ineffective at Leeds, I recall a decent player that had an eye for a goal or two.

But we are making everything at the moment look impossible.

Jonathan Haddock
30 Posted 16/04/2024 at 08:48:09
This is like watching a never ending horror movie. How much more can we go through. This capitulation will have a massively negative impact on the crucial Forest game on Sunday. The players confidence (those who are fit) will be shot and equally, we the fans are going to be fearful and quiet. I'm seeing it all in my nightmares now!
Charles Ward
31 Posted 16/04/2024 at 08:50:45
I don't know what was worse last night, the debacle on the pitch or seeing the goggle eyed Moshiri in the stands with his carefully chosen cowboy owner to be.

And Arsenal and RS fans are down in the dumps after this weekends results!

Ray Jacques
32 Posted 16/04/2024 at 09:06:23
Watch Sunderland til I Die on Netflix. The last series was crap, so just watch the first two.

As you watch, replace Sunderland with Everton.

Absent owner who wants out, gob shite players who feign injury and see out lucrative contracts, a merry go round of mediocre managers.

Its uncanny.

Donal Armani
33 Posted 16/04/2024 at 09:14:07
Geoff 21

On the Betfair Exchange, where broken hearts don't tend to rule cooler heads, Everton are now 11/2 for relegation, behind Luton (4/7) and Notts Forest (9/4), with Sheff Utd (1/100) and Burnley (1/16) already doomed to their fate.

Dawn awaits..

Mike Owen
34 Posted 16/04/2024 at 09:17:15
Well, I am still hopeful of staying up. We're still not in the bottom three.

Last night, we got undone by Palmer. Without him, I don't think Chelsea would have won by any more than two goals, possibly three.

We had a night where if anything could go wrong, it did, except getting a red card.

The last few months I have been waiting for Jordan to get lobbed like that. Surprised it hadn't happened before.

Of course, the big zero again was inability to score. But I can see us getting a couple on Sunday in the Street End.

We have two games ahead of us that will be like cup finals, Forest and Luton. Anything can happen in a cup-tie. Yeah, like us winning.

Now, I am going out for a walk. With my Everton hat on.

UTFT.

Steve Carter
35 Posted 16/04/2024 at 09:20:11
Well, boys and girls, Oddschecker has us 9/2 for relegation and, unsurprisingly, it's the most popular bet. Get on it. Gives lie to the adage that you can't beat the bookies.
Andrew Bentley
36 Posted 16/04/2024 at 09:21:17
Be interested in other people's views on the following but apart from the obvious shit show at board level there are 2 other observations I wanted to make about Everton at the moment:

1) Lack of competition for places and player edge: start of the season we had Dyche trying people out in different positions to try and find his preferred team. What it meant was that there was competition for places and no complacency from the team. At the start of the season, results may have not been great but the performance of the team was much better than what we are seeing now being served up. Since about November Dyche has stubbornly stuck to the same pegs in the same holes and the performances have dropped off massively. McNeill shouldn't be in the team, Young shouldn't be anywhere near the team, Doucoure has been woeful for months and so on….. but all of them know that they will be in the team on the weekend. This needs changing fast and players need to lose their place ASAP to realise it's not good enough. Put the flaming youngsters in they can't do much worse. What's the definition of madness again?!?

2) players hiding and squad unrest? last 2 games Gana Gueye hasn't played due to personal reasons and then announced he has a tight calf. Now call me sceptical but is there something else going on behind the scenes that we don't know about? Have some players downed tools and fallen out with Dyche as they aren't playing for him at the moment from what I can see. We heard about the Patterson spat on their week away in the sun but the tight squad and morale that Dyche was famous for at Burnley in terms of getting the most out of his players has deserted him now. That gutless performance last night was up there with one of the worst I've ever witnessed and smacks of the end of the era for walker, Walter Smith etc. the only difference this time is that he won't be sacked as we can't afford it. Wondered if anyone else had a view of what's going on behind the scenes. This group don't look like a team fighting for each other or their manager

Phil Wood
37 Posted 16/04/2024 at 09:26:10
Amazingly enough I feel cleansed this morning.
After melting down last night I feel like I have seen the light and have stripped any illusion of a miraculous upturn in form and safety.
I now feel better prepared for any chaos yet to come and look forward to our future in whatever form that takes.
It is what it is.
I detest Moshiri as a front man who has shown no grasp of football or financial reality. How he made it in the business World I will never know. Nor has he ever shown the slightest interest in our Club.
Now "his" money is jeopardy he actually turns up for a game with 777.
I don't want these guys to buy the Club as I think they will epitomise everything that is wrong with "business" in football.
What that would mean to our future I don't know but I wouldn't look forward to a future with the Club lumbered with debt like Utd but without the resources that Utd can generate through a huge fan base.

Kevin Edward
38 Posted 16/04/2024 at 09:42:09
I just don't get Dyche at all.
His mind numbing set ups have often worked away from home, and not having been stuffed has given us a slight edge.

Well now that's been chucked away then the amount of pressure on this bunch of dummies may be too much.
We don't have anyone who can step up and score a goal, it looks really grim from here.
Sunday is a ‘must win' but Forest will score, and based on last night we are done.

Is it the manager? Is it the players? We deserve better, but not having a striker or someone with a calm head in front of goal has killed us.

It's just horrible (as it has been since December) and I just hope that ‘professional'
footballers recognise that they owe us one on Sunday to make up for that debacle.

Oliver Molloy
39 Posted 16/04/2024 at 09:54:50
Sean Dyche will be paid off come the end of the season - no matter who the owners, that's a fucking certainty no young kids are going to learn under this guy - total one trick pony who hasn't a clue when it goes pear shaped.
In saying that Dyche has no control of a a so called striker who can't put the ball in the back of an open fucking net from two yards, he has no control a keeper who passes the ball directly to the opposition, you can go on and on.

This team is full of players - ALL of them who think they are better than they are and that includes Brainwaithe, who lately has been making too many errors.

Lyndon says the team "owes us a performance on Sunday" - well I certainly won't be holding my breath on that.
Forest will come to Goodison on Sunday knowing full well we are very beatable at home.
Obviously I hope we win, but will not at all be surprised if we don't

My thoughts for the last few months have been if we are not safe by the time we play Luton ( who I think will beat us no matter what ) we are in trouble.

Dave Abrahams
40 Posted 16/04/2024 at 10:03:30
Andrew (36), Yes I have thought something has happened within the club and amongst the players and it looked like they were broadcasting it last night in a complete meltdown of a performance.

No fight whatsoever just a meek surrender by the whole team, Gomes came on and stood out like a beacon of light compared to the other lot, couldn't call them players after that showing, Patterson improved the right side going forward but that wasn't hard to do compared with what had gone previously.

I'll be there on Sunday, will they go all out and make up for last night? Well if they get a win I'll be grateful but they'll have to do much more in the games ahead to make up for that complete disgraceful shambles last night.

Dave Williams
41 Posted 16/04/2024 at 10:14:31
I can't understand why he sent his team out to play an open game. We cannot try to outplay teams. Stick to two solid banks of four and hold on to the point- not what I want to watch but being so limited it's what we have to do against Chelsea.
I'm not throwing the towel in. We are in a better position than four teams so everything to play for. Gomes has to start on Sunday and let's pray that DCL and Gana are fit. It's not so much personnel but attitude now. We have to fight- really fight/ and not just run around to give the appearance that we are working hard. I don't know how he will do it but Dyche has to win on Sunday.We can do it and a win will make it difficult for the other teams and hopefully Forest won't be given any points back though you can bet your last cent that they will!
Never ever give up- our club needs us fans more than ever before now. Turn against the team and we are gone!
Iain Latchford
42 Posted 16/04/2024 at 10:22:01
I think we need 7 points. Luton would then need 10 (due to GD), which would mean winning 3 and drawing 1 of their remaining 5 games which seems unlikely. Get 4 points from Forest, Brentford & Luton, then beat Sheffield Utd on the penultimate weekend. Nerve wracking (again) but surely possible?
Michael Lynch
43 Posted 16/04/2024 at 10:55:53
I have a feeling Forest will get some points back, so it will be us or Luton. I can't see us winning on Sunday, but Brentford - with nothing to play for - is possible, and Sheff U is an absolute must win. Fuck all from the RS and Arsenal, and Luton away is going to be incredibly difficult with their mad little ground and their never say die attitude.

Would 33/34 points be enough to keep us up? I'm not sure it would be.

Kunal Desai
44 Posted 16/04/2024 at 11:00:48
We have won one game in 15 leagues matches and that was a fortuitous win.
I firmly believe we'll be in the bottom three after the Brentford game.
It's then a question as to whether we can pull it out of the bag from Luton away and Sheff Utd at home.
Phil Wood
45 Posted 16/04/2024 at 11:14:49
I do not see where any win is coming from against anyone in this division unless we strike lucky as in the Burnley game.
We have had amazing escapes in previous seasons but we are a lot weaker now due to enforced sales.
I will be there and backing the team as always but expectations are not great. I will treat every point as a bonus.
If other teams are not good enough to claim enough points to overhaul us then great but they all need to play us therefore something will have to give.
Michael Bennet
46 Posted 16/04/2024 at 11:32:35
Phil we don't deserve to be in the Premier league mate..
Rennie Smith
47 Posted 16/04/2024 at 11:45:41
My season ticket renewal deadline is 10 days away, they're really trying their best to convince me to keep my money in my pocket.

We're down to just relying on everyone else shooting themselves in the foot now, the 3 boiled eggs on the sidelines haven't got a clue how to get out of this.

Roger Bingham
48 Posted 16/04/2024 at 12:08:29
Rennie I renewed this morning, my Dad never wavered when they went down shortly after I was born, I am unable to stop myself from believing one day we will return triumphant
Simon Dalzell
49 Posted 16/04/2024 at 12:13:43
I just looked up 'Execrable' and agree with that description. Douche Out.
Dave Abrahams
50 Posted 16/04/2024 at 12:15:11
Dave (41), Your first paragraph was spot on Dave it was a mystery to most of us why the manager played that style he knows it doesn't work with the squad he has got, so do plenty of us fans.

Maybe those who have been calling for Dyche to play a more attacking team will also understand why he has been playing that way, even though it has been a very poor three months spell with it so criticised both ways by some.

He's not the best, wouldn't be here if he was a great manager,saved us last year, looked like we were staying up this year but we are now back in another fight, if we don't get behind the team and help them again who will?

We are all down right now, we will feel the pain and anguish much,much more than any player on the books and I mean any player, most of us have been here longer and really love the club and it is a very true and real love: Jesus why would we stay and support them for a lifetime, as many have, if we didn't.

Niall McIlhone
51 Posted 16/04/2024 at 12:31:30
It is going to be yet another nail biter on Sunday, and the absence of Calvert-Lewin and also additional injuries late on last night leaves the squad threadbare.

All that said, if we as fans play our part, we might just squeeze out a narrow win. I believe we put huge pressure on ourselves by failing to score early in games, and we were fortuitous against Burnley in scoring on the stroke of half-time.

Forest look to be a better side than us, with pace and energy throughout. They are not at their best away from home, however, and are given to lapses in defence.

Although Dyche won't go with a 3-5-2, I feel this would be the best set-up to attack Forest. If Calvert-Lewin is unfit, then play Chermiti up with Beto and utilise Gomes as a No 10 so we can try to play through them as there is zero prospect of good service from wide areas right now.

We are dire, but – as others have said – we still have three winnable home games. Dyche will be well aware that, if he fails to keep us in the Premier League, that will be his last chance of any big job going forward. That alone should be his motivation, as it should for the players wanting to move on with their careers.

Eddie Dunn
52 Posted 16/04/2024 at 12:36:22
In retrospect it was madness to try to press a side that had pace in buckets.

Onana was ambling about like a show pony as usual and Garner was caught on the wrong side of his man regularly.

Doucoure did nothing in the first half and as for Branthwaite – Cole Palmer knew he had the beating of him from minute one.

The England training will have meant that Palmer was rubbing his hands with glee facing his international colleague.

Perhaps this is why Southgate decided not to give Branthwaite his debut.

We saw a lazy, slow uninspired display where McNeil laboured on the break because every one of the Chelsea lads could run faster than him. He has some talent but needs to play at No 10, not on the wing.

For Forest, I would play Danjuma on the wing and the hard-working (if innocuous) Harrison on the right. McNeil behind Calvert-Lewin (if fit).

It's going to be some game against Forest, who will smell blood after seeing that debacle, and hearing our injury news.

Richard Lyons
53 Posted 16/04/2024 at 12:43:04
Maybe if we sell Branthwaite forward (as in the currency markets), we'd have enough money to sack Dyche...
Si Cooper
54 Posted 16/04/2024 at 13:00:48
I'm surprised anyone had a meltdown last night; this sort of result has been threatening for quite a while.
I had hoped for the players to be prepared for a home straight surge after the 3 week break but they came back as weak as ever. It looks like 90 percent of them are running on vapours.
Gomes seems to have found some ‘zen' with his first one or two touches mostly anticipating the opposition and leaving them chasing (slow-moving) ‘smoke'. Unfortunately that is exactly what every Chelsea player did to most of our players, though Doucoure was much better in his more defensive role and Patterson did okay (but his lack of match sharpness showed in the end).
Hopefully this was the final straw for enough of them with the requisite pride, ability and lack of injury to be able to mount a creditable amount of fight for the dwindling number of games remaining.
Sean Kelly
55 Posted 16/04/2024 at 14:39:51
Words fail me after last night except to say this club from management to playing staff has failed us. They don't deserve our support and we don't deserve the stress.
Ed Prytherch
56 Posted 16/04/2024 at 14:42:16
Why should it cost the club to move Dyche? Just give him paid leave and put Baines in charge.
John Kavanagh
57 Posted 16/04/2024 at 14:54:41
Well last night was everything that could reasonably be expected, given the lack of any depth in the squad and the dreadful recruitment. I hope Moshiri enjoyed it as much as I did.

Id put a wheelie bin in the team before wonder buy Beto - at least there's a chance of it being caught offside less and the ball hitting it once in a while and going in. Whoever scouted and approved Beto at over £25 million should be dismissed for gross misconduct. As for our other wonder boy Onana, I'd be surprised if we get back half of what we've wasted on him. Clearly nothing was learned from our very long line of duff purchases. At least we can send Harrison packing in a few weeks though, which is a silver lining on a huge dark cloud over Goodison.

Even allowing for how rubbish our recruitment, team selection and tactics have been, last night went way beyond that. I concur with Andrew B @36 - there's clearly something badly wrong going on at Finch Farm. Mysterious 'sick note' injuries, players clearly not giving a shit and a bust up on a morale boosting trip. Where is Dobbin?

If Forest don't manage to put four past us on Sunday, I'll be shocked.

And the final humiliation for me last night was Sky wheeling out Kenwright's Piece de Resistance, Dele Ali, seeing 'the light at the end of the tunnel' and focussing on (wait for it) - the World Cup!!!! You couldn't make it up. I swear I could hear Levy laughing in the background.

Anyway, I'll still pray for a miracle on Sunday and fingers crossed Dyche and the baldies aren't there to oversee our demise. As Berliners joked in April 1945 'Enjoy the war while you can. The peace is going to be terrible'.

Paul Kossoff
58 Posted 16/04/2024 at 15:11:44
I have been a blue all my life, as all my family and I've never been worried that we would go down, until now. I genuinely believe that we won't get enough points to survive, not with this manger and current team. The players have had more than enough excuses to last a life time, oh it's lack of confidence being the favourite of Mr Dyche, well Mr Dyche, my confidence in you has long gone. The sooner we are done with this season, and manager,and most of the squad, and owner the better.
The head line word I had never heard of to be honest, but now knowing its meaning the following should be sent to players and staff so it sinks in just how badly this lot have let us down, here you are Mr Dyche and players and you should be ashamed of yourselves.

Execrable (adjective as in horrible, sickening) Weak matches. abhorrent abominable accursed atrocious confounded cursed damnable defective deplorable despicable detestable disgusting foul hateful heinous horrific loathsome low monstrous nauseous obnoxious odious offensive repulsive revolting vile wretched.
Paul Kossoff
59 Posted 16/04/2024 at 15:18:42
Ed 56. I would tell Dyche and his mates that he is now in charge of the under 18,s, replace him with Baines till season's end, If Dyche doesnt like it then he can resign, oh and take Thelwell with him he's next to useless as well.
Phil Wood
60 Posted 16/04/2024 at 16:38:25
Jason Cundy was on Talksport yesterday fearing a poor result against Everton. He stated that Chelsea have struggled all season against teams who play deep and hit them on the break like Sheff Utd and Burnley.
"Fortunately" we didn't fall for that one and went at them
Ray Jacques
61 Posted 16/04/2024 at 20:22:17
Until Moshiri and every remnant of his existence depart Goodison Park, the club will be shambolic. Doesn't matter who the manager is or who he plays from our motley rabble of players or whatever formation is chosen for the occasion at hand.

It will just be almost comical failure with the sometime thrashing such as last night.

Mike Price
62 Posted 16/04/2024 at 22:58:59
Agree with most of the above, but we have actually done enough, on the pitch, to be safe already.

If we're relegated it will be an administrative and very dubious, relegation.

Michael Lynch
63 Posted 17/04/2024 at 10:07:09
That's true, Mike @62. We are an awful team, but probably not awful enough to go down without the points deduction.

It's hard to believe, but this team is no worse than the last two seasons' teams, unless Dyche is a better manager than Lampard or Rafa.

I think we will go down, and 99% of the blame lies not with the players or with Dyche, but with Moshiri and the previous board. It's an absolute disgrace.

Going forward, it's hard to see how we will thrive in the Championship with so many of our players either going out of contract, up for sale to head off administration, or utterly fucking useless. It's not like we can play the youth, because it looks like they're shit too.

Happy days, eh?

Roger Helm
64 Posted 17/04/2024 at 13:41:04
I think we are more likely to stay up than go down, as there are even worse sides around, but what then? A fire sale of our few good players to stave off administration, no money to replace them, nothing coming out of the academy.

Another season circling the plughole. As Kenneth Williams said, What's the bloody point? I can only hope there's another billionaire out there, this time with a bit of common sense, with a management team that knows how to run a football club.

Jack Convery
65 Posted 17/04/2024 at 14:28:38
I meant to say after the game on Monday, that I never want to see that god awful kit again. Let's have the amber one back for next season with players who can score and win football matches wearing it with pride.
Sean O’Hanlon
66 Posted 17/04/2024 at 16:19:58
When I watch the teams below us, it is true we are worse than all of them. They play with more commitment, more passion, more speed and a greater desire to win. We will lose all our remaining games and we will be relegated. Accept it and relax. The club needs a huge "reset". We do not deserve to be in the PL.
And please Everton, get rid of that clown Pickford -gifting them 2 goals, which has made his charitable goal give-aways reach double figures.
Paul Hewitt
67 Posted 17/04/2024 at 16:23:57
Sean@66. We won't lose all our games. We will beat forest and Sheffield, maybe Luton. But we'll get at least a draw. Will that keep us up?, I'd say yes.
Karen Mason
68 Posted 18/04/2024 at 11:05:30
I did think that the fact that nothing changed in our play after having 3 weeks off and training camp in Portugal to reset everything, was down to Dyche's stubborness to stick to his 'style' ( and I use the word loosely) of play.
Now I actually think that it is not stubborness. It is that he is incapable of changing things and coaching a different way of playing. I know that some posters say the players are all crap. But in reality, our players, one for one, are equal to or no worse than some of the teams mid-table.
Suggestions of 5 in midfield seems like a good idea until you realize that the game we play is hoof ball. Pickford hoofs the ball long, time after time after time, and by- passes the midfield anyway. So that tactic takes 5 of our players out of the game straight away. How Pickford got a reputation for great distribution is beyond my understanding. Why does he take free kicks from the half way line ? Inevitabley possession is given away EVERY time, as it is when he hoofs the ball up the pitch.
As long as we continue with hoof ball tactics, it's all over and maybe the players know that, so have given up? I know that the points deduction and all the off-field problems must have an impact on players and manager, so I can understand that. They are human.
However, he is out of his depth and the players know this now.
A perpetual optimist all of my life about everything, even I think we will be relegated, as this manager does not have the capabilty to change anything for the better tactically or in team selection.
Sean O’Hanlon
69 Posted 19/04/2024 at 11:42:04
Paul #67. I hope you're right, but after Monday night, I just can't see us winning any of the remaining games. The players' confidence has been blown apart and I don't think Sean Dyche can repair the damage for the team or to his own warped management.

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